Tag Archives: video

Book us for the 2015 Christmas and Holiday Season!

Need music for your event this winter? It’s time to book us for the 2015 Christmas and holiday season!

Handbells can bring a magical and festive atmosphere to any Christmas or holiday event. We can give a seasonal performance of carols and holiday music. We can provide background music to add that special, welcoming touch to your corporate event or holiday gathering. Nothing says Christmas quite as well as the traditional sound of English handbells beside the Christmas tree. . Our duet performances can bring the sounds of the season to hotel lobbies, church services, shopping malls and private homes!

As the 2015 Christmas and holiday season approaches, we’re looking forward to some fun performances! We’ll be joining VoiceWorks for a concert on December 13th. You’ll also be able to see us at the German Holiday Market in Mountain View. If you’re near El Cerrito, look for us at the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display. We’ll also be adding the beautiful sound of handbells to annual services of remembrance in Palo Alto and Oakland.

Why not listen to some of our handbell duets, and consider booking us for your 2015 holiday event? If you need more information or have questions, please contact us!

The 2015 Christmas and holiday season - with handbells

New 8-Bell Music for Christmas 2015!

In the handbell world, our thoughts turn to Christmas and holiday music before most people have even started thinking about the end of the summer. The dilemma is whether to risk being annoying by talking about Christmas when there are still several months to go, or whether to go full-tilt into the festive season, release new Christmas music, and give all the handbell musicians out there plenty of time to practise it before the season arrives. The end of September is approaching. It feels like the right time to introduce our new 8-bell muisc for Christmas 2015.

The following pieces are all available for purchase and download from our music site – and if you click on each individual title, you’ll be taken to the page with more information about each piece, the bells required, and how to make your purchase. Each piece can be played by two, three, four or more people – and we hope you’ll enjoy them!

Angels We Have Heard on High

The First Nowell

Good King Wenceslas

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

O Come, All Ye Faithful

O Holy Night

Once in Royal David’s City

While Shepherds Watched their Flocks

We hope you’ll enjoy playing some of our new 8-bell music for the holiday season. If you haven’t already done so, don’t forget to check out our new Christmas music for twelve bells too!

New 8-bell music for Christmas
The most wonderful time of the year!

New Music for Handbells – O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go

O Love that Wilt Not Let Me Go is such a beautiful hymn! Today’s our third wedding anniversary. It’s hard to believe that we’ve already been married for three years! Maybe we’re still experiencing that thing long-distance couples complain about – how slowly time goes when two lovers are apart, and how quickly it flies by when they’re together in the same place!

Anyway, it’s time to celebrate our anniversary – and what better way to do that than by publishing a new eight-bell arrangement? This one is the beautiful hymn O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go. The tune is ST. MARGARET, written in 1884 by Albert L. Peace.

“O love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
that in thine ocean depths its flow
may richer, fuller be.

If you’d like to play this piece, the music is available for purchase and download from our music site. We hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we do.

More information about buying music from Choraegus

Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group – so you only need to pay once. Purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials.

Please also note that our music is designed as downloadable PDFs. You’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail.

If you haven’t purchased music online from Choraegus before, you might like to look at our step-by-step guide, designed to help you navigate the purchase and download process in a (we hope!) stress-free way.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about our music, please start by reading our Frequently-Asked Questions. Please contact us if you don’t find the answers you need, and we’ll do what we can to help!

O Love that Wilt Not Let Me Go - handbells

New Music for Handbells – I Sing the Mighty Power of God

I Sing the Mighty Power of God will probably be our last 8-bell hymn arrangement of 2015. We need to turn our thoughts to Christmas and holiday music! This hymn tune is ELLACOMBE; the name of a village in England. This tune is also used as the setting for the Palm Sunday hymn Hosanna, Loud Hosanna.

This piece was a lot of fun to learn, particularly in those moments when the repeated notes failed us, and we felt as though we were playing something more akin to “Waltzing Matilda” than the tune we were aiming for. Try it for yourself, and see if you notice the same thing!

More information about the sheet music for this piece

If you’d like to play I Sing the Mighty Power of God, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.

When you buy music from Choraegus, it will come to you as a digital download – a PDF file. You’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Your purchase of this 8-bell hymn arrangement allows you to print up to 4 copies for your handbell group. Please see our licensing agreement for full details.

If this is your first time buying music from Choraegus, you might find our step-by-step guide useful. We designed this to take you through the purchase process and make it stress-free!

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.

New 12-Bell Music for Christmas 2015!

We’re excited about our new 12-bell music for Christmas 2015! These recordings once again feature Larry’s son J.C., who plays the four bells we can’t manage to play between us.

We didn’t have very much time with J.C on his recent visit. The videos were all made on our first or second read-through of each piece. As a result, there may be be wrong notes or rhythms that are not entirely accurate. We apologise in advance for all those things, but we hope these slightly dubious recordings will provide enough of an idea of how the pieces could sound, given the opportunity for a bit more rehearsal. We hope to have another opportunity to play these arrangements before too long. Please contact us if you have any questions about any of this music, and we’ll be happy to help.

Angels We Have Heard on High

Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella

Ding Dong, Merrily on High

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

We Three Kings

All these pieces are available for purchase and download from Choraegus. Purchase comes with permission to perform these pieces as part of a concert or worship service. We hope you enjoy playing this new 12-bell music!

new 12-bell music for Christmas
Christmas handbells!

New Music for Handbells – To God Be the Glory

Here’s our latest addition to our 8-bell hymn repertoire – a new arrangement of To God Be the Glory.

We play this as a 4-in-hand duet, of course, as there are only two of us. However, there are no special techniques required, and it’s suitable for 2-4 ringers.

Would you like to play this arrangement?

If you’d like to play To God Be the Glory, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.

When you buy handbell music from Choraegus, please note that it will come to you as a PDF file. You’ll be responsible for printing your own music scores, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Purchase of this 8-bell piece entitles you to print up to 4 copies for your handbell group. Don’t pay for more copies than you need to!

If you haven’t bought music from Choraegus before, you might like to look at our step-by-step guide. We designed this to take you through the process in a stress-free way.

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 need, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.

To God Be the Glory - 8-bell

The 2015 Bay View Week of Handbells Starts Today!

Bay View 2015 copy

Today marks the first day of the 2015 Bay View Week of Handbells! The next four days will be full of music at the John M. Hall Auditorium, as more than a hundred handbell musicians rehearse together under the direction of Carl Wiltse.

You can find out more about this event, and why it will always hold a special place in our hearts, by reading our recent post about the Bay View Week of Handbells and taking a look at our gallery of photos.

Come to the concert!

If you’re in the area, and you’d like to attend the free concert, there’s no need to book tickets in advance. The concert will be held on Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 8:00pm in the John M. Hall Auditorium, 1715 Encampment Ave., Petoskey, Michigan. An offering will be taken to benefit the Bay View Association Music Scholarship Fund. You should plan to arrive in plenty of time to get good seats, because it’s a popular concert!

Here’s a recording from last year’s Week of Handbells – it’s Larry’s original composition A Snail’s Pace.

As usual, Pierpont Productions will make a professional recording of the concert. If you’d like your own copy of the recording, you can order one from Pierpont Productions at 231-347-4488. Alternatively, fill out the order envelope available on the day of the concert.

We’d love to see you at the 2015 Bay View Week of Handbells!

New Music for Handbells – Praise Him! Praise Him!

We interrupt our preparations for the Bay View Week of Handbells… to bring you a new 8-bell piece. Here’s Praise Him! Praise Him! This one is fun to play! We recorded it on a beautiful, sunny day in Los Altos.

Would you like to play this arrangement?

If you’d like to play this piece, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus. We play it as a duet, since there are only two of us, but it’s suitable for 2-4 ringers.

Please note that Choraegus handbell music will come to you as a PDF file. You’ll be responsible for printing your own copies of the score, and won’t receive anything in the mail. If you’re new to buying our music, we recommend our step-by-step guide. We designed this with pictures, to help make the purchasing process as stress-free as possible!

Your purchase of this piece entitles you to print up to 4 copies of the music for your handbell group. Please don’t pay for more copies than you need!

Any questions?

If you have questions, you’re welcome to check our Frequently-Asked Questions, and you might find the answer there. If not, please contact us, and we’ll be happy to help!

Praise Him Praise Him - handbells

New Music for Handbells – Wrong Foot Forward

Wrong Foot Forward is our latest handbell arrangement for 8 bells. If you’re looking for a fun challenge in 7/8, this could be the piece for you!

More information about the music

Wrong Foot Forward was written by Sarah Allen and Brian Finnegan of the Anglo-Irish band Flook. We arranged it with their kind permission. It’s a slip jig with a difference, and we’ve enjoyed learning it!

If you’d like to play this arrangement, the sheet music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus. We also have lots of other Irish jigs, hornpipes and traditional tunes. If you’re looking for music to dance to, you might find it on Choraegus!

Please note that Choraegus handbell music comes to you as a PDF file. This means you’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. If you haven’t bought music from us before, we recommend our step-by-step guide! We designed this in an attempt to make the purchase process straightforward and stress-free.

Any questions?

We’re always happy to answer any questions about buying or playing our music. We put together a list of Frequently-Asked Questions, so you might like to look there first. If you don’t find the answer you need, please let us know!

Wrong Foot Forward - handbells

New Music for Handbells – Come Christians, Join to Sing

While we were in Soledad for our #Pinnacles15 adventure, we played through some of our brand new, unpublished pieces. Come Christians, Join to Sing is one of these new pieces.

We didn’t want to annoy other hotel guests by playing handbells in our room. So we decided to find another practice location instead. We chose the pretty church of Our Lady of Solitude in Soledad. We played outside the church, as the sun went down and the light became poorer and poorer. Yes, it was pretty, and fairly quiet. No, it was not easy to see our music!

Here’s Come, Christians, which actually isn’t completely new to us. We’ve played it a couple of times recently in church services. For some unknown reason, we completely forgot to record or publish it until now. It’s a fun and lively arrangement of the Spanish hymn tune Madrid.

Would you like to play this arrangement?

If you’d like to play Come Christians, Join to Sing, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.

If you haven’t bought music from Choraegus before, we recommend reading our step-by-step guide. Your purchase (pay once) entitles you to print up to 4 copies for your group. Please read our licensing agreement for full details.

Any questions?

If you have any questions, please get in touch, and we’ll be happy to help!