Many of you know that Carla and I (Larry) were in a long-distance relationship between California and England for several years. After getting engaged in 2011, we worked on getting her a fiancée visa; it was approved in time for August 2012 to be the Month of One-Way Plane Tickets.
I flew from California to England, then we went from England to the Bay View Week of Handbells, and from there back to California to get married. Before that all happened, we’d already started putting down roots at the Los Altos United Methodist Church (and one in Los Altos… not the one in Long Beach).
And when we got back, Paul, the LAUMC organist, asked us to play in the morning services. The date was September 9th, which meant we had just three weeks to get ready. We’d already started practicing eight-bell music, so it seemed to be reasonable. Then something like this happened:
Larry & Carla: “Sounds good. How many pieces should we play?”
Paul: “How about three?”
Minor shock. That was because our entire eight-bell repertoire at that time consisted of three pieces. So off we went to practice, and then we played everything we knew for our new church family. That, of course, meant not only learning new music for future opportunities, but also writing it first. So began a wonderful four-year relationship with LAUMC which would have continued through the present had we not moved to Michigan.
“Holy Manna” was one of the three pieces we played that wonderful morning. The video, as it happens, was from a concert we played on a 2019 visit to California. Enjoy!
Holy Manna – for 8 Handbells – arr. Larry Sue from Larry and Carla – Handbell Duo on Vimeo.
