Today is the first day of the 2016 Bay View Week of Handbells! We’ll be spending the next four days playing some great music at the John M. Hall Auditorium in Bay View, Petoskey, 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 article about the Bay View Week of Handbellsand taking a look at our gallery of photos. This year is the first time we’ve been able to drive to the event – from our new home in Holland, Michigan!
At the end of this week’s rehearsals, there will be a concert, open to the public and free to attend. The concert will be held on Thursday, August 18, 2016 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.
This year’s concert repertoire:
Processional by Arnold Sherman
Allegretto arr. Michael Mazzatenta
All Creatures of our God and King arr. Alex Guebert
Concerto for Handbells and Organ in Baroque Style by Michael Helman
The Lord Bless you and Keep You by Peter Lutkin (sung; not played)
The performance will be professionally recorded by Pierpont Productions, so if you can’t make it to the concert, you can order a DVD or CD by calling Pierpont Productions on 231-347-4488.
We’ll be posting updates and photos on our Facebook page as the week goes by. We’d love to see you at the concert!
We’re excited that Larry’s arrangement of Tico Tico no Fubáis on the repertoire list for this year’s Bay View Week of Handbells! The Week of Handbells is an event that’s very special to us.
Information about the sheet music
If you need to purchase a copy of Tico Tico no Fubá for the event, you’ll find it on Choraegus. Please note that the music will be sent to you as a PDF file for you to download and print for yourself. You won’t receive anything in the mail. If you’re unsure about what’s involved in buying music from us, you may find our buying guides helpful, and the step-by-step guide.
If you have any questions, or you’re unable to order online for any reason, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
Videos of Tico Tico
Here are two videos. The first is a demonstration video, produced before this arrangement had ever been played on handbells. The second video is from a rehearsal at the 2015 Distinctly Bronze event, which took place in Portland, Oregon.
This year’s Bay View Week of Handbells repertoire looks as exciting as ever. Here’s the full list of pieces, with composers/arrangers and publishers’ information.
PROCESSIONAL by Arnold Sherman (organ and bells) (Agape 2195)
ALLEGRETTO arr. Michael Mazzatenta (From the Top Music 20428)
ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING arr. Alex Guebert (Choristers Guild CGB962)
OBLIVION by Douglas Anderson (From the Top Music 20426)
SONATA IN BAROQUE STYLE by Michael Helman (Beckenhorst HB497)
GIVE ME JESUS arr. John Behnke (AGEHR AG46025)
TOCCATA ON ‘KING’S WESTON arr. Matthew Compton (Agape 2767)
THE DRUNKEN SAILOR arr. Carl Wiltse (Stained Glass Music)
TICO TICO NO FUBÁ arr. Larry Sue (Choraegus)
AUTUMN LEAVES arr. Andrea Handley (Red River Music RRG5018)
NOLLIRAC CARILLON by Fred Gramann (Unpublished; available only from Heitz Handbells and Music)
GIVE US PEACE IN OUR TIME arr. Donald E. Allured (Composers Music Company HW0550)
CONCERTO FOR HANDBELLS AND ORGAN IN BAROQUE STYLE by Michael Helman (Beckenhorst HB424A)
THE LORD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU by Peter Lutkin (sung; not played)
We can’t wait to get started with rehearsing for this event. This year’s Week of Handbells will be another great one!
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 Handbellsand 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!
We’re counting down to the Bay View Week of Handbells!
So, what is the Bay View Week of Handbells, and why is it something special for us? Why are we counting down the days until we get there? We’ll try to explain some of the magic here.
The Bay View Week of Handbells takes place every year in Bay View, Michigan. Just over a hundred handbell musicians gather together for several days of intense rehearsals, after which we perform a public concert. Donald Allured founded the Week of Handbells in 1978, and Carl Wiltse is the current director of the event. It’s for people who enjoy the challenge of spending time learning the music, and performing to a professional standard. And yes, even though the music is challenging and the rehearsals are intense, we still manage to have fun!
The Week of Handbells is part of our story
For us, the Week of Handbells is particularly special because of the role it played in our long-distance relationship story. Our story started several years ago when we met and became friends online. By the end of 2009 we were spending several hours every day “talking” on Facebook Chat. Our friendship turned into a relationship, and we began to make plans to meet in person for the first time. Our first “real life” meeting took place in August 2010, when Carla travelled from London to Chicago O’Hare. From there, we flew together to Traverse City, where we rented a car and drove to Bay View.
Here is a photo of us before the concert at our very first Bay View Week of Handbells.
Our second Week of Handbells
After our first in-person meeting in 2010, we had to wait a whole year before we could see each other again. During our months apart, we decided for certain that we wanted to spend our future together. We travelled back to Michigan in August 2011 for our second Week of Handbells. That was a busy week for us! Before the start of the event, we made a special journey to Miner’s North in Traverse City to pick up some rings. Then we drove to the Old Mission Point Lighthouse, where Larry proposed, and Carla said yes!
We announced our engagement to our friends at the Week of Handbells, at the evening reception after the first day of rehearsals. Here’s one of our favourite photos of us – taken by Kim Finison at Bay View in 2011.
August 2011 was also the time when our set of Malmark handbells made it across the ocean in Carla’s luggage. Larry transferred them to his suitcase for the journey to California.
After our week in Michigan in 2011, we went back to our separate homes, and soon after that we started the US fiancée visa process to bring Carla from England to California. Carla’s K-1 visa was approved at the end of May 2012, and the race was on to get everything organised for the big move. We managed to time it to coincide with the Bay View Week of Handbells in August!
Closing the distance!
August arrived, and Larry flew to England to collect Carla and her son, and the three of us travelled together to Chicago O’Hare. There, our onward flight was cancelled and we were forced to spend an uncomfortable night camping in the airport. Strangely enough, the makeshift camp was at Gate K1. That’s the same number as the visa Carla had applied for! Bay View Week of Handbells 2012 was a very special one for us, because, for the first time, we didn’t have to say goodbye to each other at the end of the event. It was an amazing feeling to be able to pack up our things and travel home to California together, without having to do that horrible airport goodbye stuff that’s so painful for long-distance couples.
Since then, we’ve been to the Week of Handbells twice more. To say we’re looking forward to the next one would be an understatement. Well, we’re counting down the days on our website, right? So yes, we’re excited!
Even without all the memories that make the Week of Handbells so special to us personally, it’s still an incredibly wonderful handbell event. We always tell people that if we could only go to one handbell event in a year, this would be the one we’d choose. After all, where else can you play handbells in an Auditorium that’s named after a Hall?
And where else can you walk around during your lunch break and see houses like this one?
At the Bay View Week of Handbells, we have Tiara Tuesday!
We have the opportunity to play some exciting and challenging music, which each person works hard to prepare during the weeks and months before the event. That gives us four days to put together the finishing touches as a group, in time to give a superb concert on the Thursday evening.
Apart from the beautiful location, the exciting music and all the happy memories the Week of Handbells holds for us, we know that it’s the people there who make this event so special. Our annual trip to Bay View feels like a journey home; and the friends we’ve made there feel like family to us. For just a few days in August, more than a hundred people are brought together by the music of handbells. We wouldn’t miss it for the world.
A Snail’s Pace is an original composition. Larry wrote it with a plush orange-pink-and-purple snail in mind. This laid-back jazz piece will challenge you – but you’ll enjoy it!
Thanks to the friendly bunch of folks at Pierpont Productions, we’re able to bring you this video. It was recorded at the Bay View Week of Handbells concert in August 2014.
A Snail’s Pace is written for 5-8 octaves and handbells, plus 5 octaves of handchimes. It’s Level 5+. We think you’ll love playing it!
How to get the sheet music
If you’d like to play this piece, it’s available for purchase and download from Choraegus. Purchasing the choir copy of this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to fifteen copies for your handbell group – so you only need to pay once. You can also buy an individual copy for your personal use only. 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 such as concert programs.
Please note that our music is designed to be downloaded as PDFs, so 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. We designed this guide to help you navigate the purchase and download process in a (we hope!) stress-free way.
Any questions?
If you have any questions about buying or playing our music, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help!
