As we say hello to the month of April, here’s a new 8-bell arrangement – the hymn For the Beauty of the Earth.
The useful thing about this tune is that it also doubles as the Christmas carol As With Gladness, Men of Old. Two titles for the price of one!
Would you like to play For the Beauty of the Earth?
If you’d like to play this piece, it’s available from Choraegus.
When you buy handbell music from Choraegus, it will come to you as a digital (PDF) file. That means you’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Your purchase will entitle you to print up to 4 copies of this 8-bell arrangement for your handbell group. Please see our licensing agreement for full details.
If you haven’t previously purchased music from Choraegus, you might like to look at our step-by-step guide. We designed this to make the process as stress-free as possible!
Any questions?
If you have any questions about buying or playing our music, please check our Frequently-Asked Questions, in case the answer is there! If you don’t find the information you’re looking for, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
Have you ever heard about the tradition of “love padlocks”? A couple of years ago, we read about a bridge in Paris, France. This bridge was a famous location for couples to place padlocks known as “love locks”. We read more – and found out that a “love lock” is a padlock that a happy couple can lock onto a bridge or fence, as a symbol of their love. The lock usually has names or initials on it. By tradition, the key is thrown away, to show that the happy couple’s love will last forever.
We read that there are “love locks” locations in many places across the globe. Sometimes the local authorities view the locks as a public nuisance, and remove them. However, in other places, the padlocks are considered a romantic tourist attraction, popular with locals and visitors alike.
Finding a love lock of our own
Being a pair of hopeless romantics, we didn’t want to let an opportunity pass us by! We weren’t making any plans to visit Paris any time soon, so we looked online for a “love locks” location closer to home. There was a place that looked perfect – a purpose-built structure at the Museum of Art in Los Gatos, California.
We ordered an engraved padlock from a company called “Make Love Locks”, and this is what it looked like. Note the extreme purpleness:
A place for our love lock
On Valentine’s Day 2014, we drove to Los Gatos to lock our padlock in place. We found the Museum of Art, and saw a fence-like structure, with some padlocks on!
We locked our padlock in place, but didn’t do the traditional thing of throwing away the key. If we ever needed to remove the padlock, we’d prefer to do it without having to hack it apart! Here is the padlock in place, in all its purple glory:
Fast forward to June 2015…
We read online that authorities had removed 45 tons of love padlocks from the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris. Apparently, the weight of the locks had been bringing down parts of the fencing on the bridge. We were very relieved that we hadn’t put our padlock there! It seemed like a fun idea to go back to Los Gatos and check that our lock was still in place.
We arrived at the Art Museum late in the afternoon, and headed straight for the love locks fencing. Where was our purple padlock?
We had a few moments of panic, until we looked more closely at some of the padlocks in front of us. Suddenly we saw it! Of course, we’d been looking for purple. Sadly, our padlock hasn’t fared very well in the strong sunshine, and has faded to more of a lilac-grey. Still, we were relieved to see it, and glad that we could still read the words on it.
Do you have a love padlock too?
So, that’s the story of our love padlock. We hope to go back and visit it again some day! If you and your partner have a love padlock of your own somewhere, why not let us know on our Facebook page. We’d love to see a photo too!
What do you do when it’s the Fourth of July, and you’ve finished eating party food and having fun with family and friends? The answer is… play handbell duets, of course!
An impromptu handbell duet performance
We were in Hayward, California for a family gathering, and we decided we needed to burn off some of the calories we’d consumed at lunch time. We were driving in the direction of home, and noticed the Chapel of the Chimes. Suddenly looked like a great location for a Concert With No Audience!
The Chapel of the Chimes is a 61-acre cemetery, crematorium and funeral home complex. It didn’t appear that we’d be disturbing anyone with our music, so we set up our table and bells. We played duets for around forty minutes! It was a great opportunity to play through some of the music for our visit to Los Altos Lutheran Church the following day. We also brought out some of the older pieces we hadn’t played for a very long time!
We had the usual interesting challenges that go with outdoor performances – a strong breeze, traffic noise, and even some festive firecrackers! The location and the sunshine also made it a very stripy-looking performance, as you can see from the video!
The following pieces are on the video:
America, the Beautiful
Come, Christians, Join to Sing
Drink to Me Only
Beautiful Dreamer
A Mighty Fortress
Moreton Bay
Great is Thy Faithfulness
Danny Boy
Botany Bay
Earth and All Stars
I Need Thee Every Hour
The King of Love My Shepherd Is
Allegro
We hope you enjoyed our handbell duets at the Chapel of the Chimes. All the pieces we played are available (or coming soon!) from Choraegus. If you’d like to book us for a performance with an audience, please let us know!
Last weekend, we saw the opportunity for another Concert with No Audience in Walnut Grove, California. We set up by the side doors of the Presbyterian church there, and played for an hour or so. There was no audience except the passing traffic, the birds, and a couple of passers-by.
We enjoy giving these “concerts” from time to time. In reality, a concert with no audience is probably not much more than another rehearsal. What makes it different is the possibility that an audience might arrive without warning. When we rehearse, we go back and practise passages of the music that need improvement. When we give a concert, whether to an audience or not, we’re selecting pieces that are performance-ready, and playing them to the best of our ability.
Here’s a video with excerpts from some of the pieces we played, all of which are currently available (or soon to be available) from Choraegus.
Would you like to host a concert – with an audience?
If you’d like to book us to perform a concert at your church, or a performance for your event, please contact us. We’ll bring the music, and you can provide the audience!
We were excited to be performing for the second time at the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display in El Cerrito! This display has been a tradition since 1950, when El Cerrito resident Mr Sundar Shadi began by placing a single star in his hillside yard. Every year, the display grew as Mr Shadi made more handmade figures from papier-mâché and recycled materials. Soon it became a much-loved place to visit. Mr Shadi considered it his gift to the people in the community. He continued to put up the display annually until 1996, when age and failing eyesight forced him to stop.
After Mr Shadi’s death in 2002, thanks to the efforts of the Soroptomists of El Cerrito, the Professional Firefighters Contra Costa County Local 1230, local businesses and volunteers, the Shadi sculptures made a triumphant return. They are now in a new location, on Moeser Lane. This year, you’ll be able to see them until December 26, lit up between 5:00pm and 10:00pm every evening.
We played handbell duets on the opening night of the display this year, and were pleased that it wasn’t as cold or windy as last year! Playing handbells on such a steep slope is a bit of a challenge, but we’re fortunate to need only our small percussion table and music stand, so there’s not too much likelihood of anything falling over.
You can find more of our photos of this year’s Holiday Display on our Facebook page.
If you have the opportunity to go to El Cerrito and see the display, we thoroughly recommend it! It’s a wonderful tradition; a reminder of times past, and a lovely way to start the holiday season.
When Carla lived in England, visiting a German Holiday Market was an important part of the run-up to Christmas. With spiced apple cider, Lebkuchen, live music, twinkling lights and a festive atmosphere, a German market is always a great place to buy gifts, and get into the holiday spirit. Carla missed the sights and sounds of the traditional Christmas Markets during our first Christmas together here in California.
So we were very happy to discover, in 2013, that the German International School of Silicon Valley was planning a German Holiday Market here in Mountain View! We played handbell duets there, and had a great time. This year, we were pleased to return for the 2014 Holiday Market.
After several days of heavy rain, the sun shone over Mountain View on the morning of Saturday, December 13th. We played Christmas and holiday duets to open the market, and then came back for another session in the early afternoon. When we weren’t playing handbells, we enjoyed looking at the crafts and gifts. Yes, we bought some European chocolate and gingerbread for Christmas!
We had a lovely time at the market, and were sorry not to be able to stay longer. Holiday markets always seem even more special in the evening, when the Christmas lights are twinkling! You can find our photos from the event on our Facebook page.
Last night we played our handbell duets at the Kara Annual Service of Remembrance.
Kara is based here in the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s an organization that provides grief support for children, teens, families and adults who have lost someone close to them. Kara also helps families dealing with terminal illness.
The annual candlelight service is a meaningful event where members of the community gather to light candles of memory, hope, courage and love. There’s live music, memories, laughter, tears, and a lot of support and genuine caring. After the service, there’s a reception, where people can gather to chat and share their stories with others in the community.
This is the third year we’ve taken part in the Kara Annual Service of Remembrance. We always find it a moving and humbling experience to share our music in an atmosphere of such love and support. There is grief too, of course, but so much courage and caring.
Handbell music seems to fit very well in remembrance services. People find comfort in hearing well-known hymns such as Amazing Grace, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing and Just As I Am. We’ve also played secular songs like Ma Navu and Moreton Bay – to soothe the soul and help to bring peace.
Our thanks go to all at Kara for inviting us to be part of this meaningful event.
