Twelve-Bell Hymns
List of Hymn Arrangements for Twelve Handbells
Here’s a quick compilation of our hymn arrangements for twelve handbells. Each title is a link to the corresponding webpage. TITLE HYMN TUNE Accompaniment available Ah, Holy Jesus HERZLIEBSTER JESU All Creatures of Our God and King LASST UNS ERFREUEN All Glory, Laud and Honor ST. THEODULPH All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name DIADEMATA …
Ah, Holy Jesus (HERZLIEBSTER JESU) – Twelve handbells
Johann Crüger wrote the music for Ah, Holy Jesus, a Good Friday hymn that remembers the sacrifice Jesus offered for our salvation. The singer raises the question of whether Jesus had done anything to deserve crucifixion, and comes to the necessary conclusion that it was their own sin that led to the Savior’s willing sacrifice …
All Creatures of Our God and King – Twelve handbells
All Creatures of Our God and King reflects on the various aspects of the life that surrounds us. Each verse comes to same conclusion: Regardless of where we are or what happens, we are called to praise God for His greatness and goodness. All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and …
All Glory, Laud, and Honor (ST. THEODULPH) – Twelve handbells
One of the great Palm Sunday hymns is All Glory, Laud, and Honor. The text was written by St. Theodulph in the seventh century (!), and Melchior Teschner composed the tune we know about a millennium later. All glory, laud, and honor to You, Redeemer, King, To whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas …
All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name (DIADEM) – Twelve handbells
All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name is often sung at Easter, because it proclaims the greatness of our Lord and the salvation he has won for us. The lyric has been set to a number of hymn tunes; this arrangement uses the DIADEM melody. All hail the power of Jesus’ name! Let angels prostrate …
All Things Bright and Beautiful (ROYAL OAK) – Twelve handbells
Cecil Frances Alexander wrote All Things Bright and Beautiful in 1849. The joyous text and its happy melody are perfectly matched! All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all. Each little flow’r that opens, each little bird that sings, He made their …
Amazing Grace – Twelve handbells
Amazing Grace is one of the best-known hymns of all time. John Newton wrote it in the eighteenth century, and from then till today it still brings forth the message of soul saved and life changed. Amazing grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am …
Battle Hymn of the Republic – Twelve handbells
Battle Hymn of the Republic is one of the best-known American patriotic hymns of the nineteenth century. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord, He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored, He has lost the fateful lightening of His terrible swift sword, His truth …
Be Thou My Vision (SLANE) – Twelve handbells
Be Thou My Vision, usually sung to the hymn tune SLANE, is a heartfelt and eloquent prayer by a believer who wants to follow the path God offers. Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art Thou my best Thought, by day or by …
Beach Spring – Twelve handbells
The Sacred Harp from the nineteenth century has been a popular source of music for American hymnody. Many hymn texts have been set to the tune BEACH SPRING: Come, All Christians, Be Committed As a Fire is Meant for Burning God of Day and God of Darkness Come and Find the Quiet Center God, Whose …
Children of the Heavenly Father (TRYGGARE KAN INGEN VARA) – Twelve handbells
If you’ve been going to church for a while, you or your children have probably sung (the translation of) Children of the Heavenly Father. Children of the heavenly Father Safely in His bosom gather; Nestling bird nor star in heaven Such a refuge e’er was given. Neither life nor death shall ever From the Lord …
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (NETTLETON) – Twelve handbells
John Wyeth or Asahel Nettleton wrote the lovely hymn tune NETTLETON back in 1813, and the message of the text Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing that are set to it continues to comfort and inspire Christians today. Come, thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace; Streams of mercy, never …
Faith of Our Fathers (ST. CATHERINE) – Twelve handbells
The Christian faith is all about continuity. God has made the Church so that it grows and lives by believers telling other people about His infinite grace and the salvation they can have. Many of us can trace a bit of our “spiritual lineage” through those who made it possible for us to come to …
Give Me Jesus – Twelve handbells
Our heritage of African-American spirituals is a rich one. Give Me Jesus is about how the most important thing in life – or death – is Jesus, our Lord and Savior. In the morning, when I rise, in the morning, when I rise, in the morning, when I rise, give me Jesus. Give me Jesus, …
Hark! the Glad Sound (CHESTERFIELD) – Twelve handbells
The hymn Hark! the Glad Sound, arranged for twelve handbells, anticipates the Savior’s coming. It speaks of the triumphant kingdom He will establish, and is suitable for Advent or Palm Sunday. Hark, the glad sound! The Savior comes, the Savior promised long! Let every heart prepare a throne, and every voice a song. He comes …
He Leadeth Me – Twelve handbells
Making progress in the Christian life isn’t about hacking our own path through the jungle; it’s about following the path God lays our for us. He leadeth me: O blessed thought! / O words with heavenly comfort fraught! Whate’er I do, where’er I be, / still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me. He leadeth me, …
His Eye is On the Sparrow (SPARROW) – Twelve handbells
The Almighty God is worthy of the worship we give Him. Part of this worship comes in the form of singing, and His Eye is On the Sparrow provides a way to raise our voices to honor Him. Why should I feel discouraged? Why should the shadows come? Why should my heart be lonely and …
How Can I Keep From Singing? – Twelve handbells
Christian joy depends only on God and His everlasting goodness. Because of that, believers have the power to rise above even the most troubling of times and circumstances. Here’s our twelve-bell arrangement of this How Can I Keep From Singing? My life flows on in endless song above earth’s lamentation, I catch the sweet, though …
How Great Thou Art (O STORE GUD) – Twelve handbells
Worshipers love the grandness of the Swedish hymn How Great Thou Art by Carl Gustav Boberg. English-speaking congregants have had the joy of singing it because of Stuart Hine’s translation work. O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder Consider all the works Thy hand hath made. I see the stars, I hear the …
Immortal, Invisible God Only Wise (ST. DENIO) – Twelve handbells
Hymns have long been a means of trying to understand the unfathomable nature and Person of God. Immortal, Invisible God Only Wise, to the tune ST. DENIO, speaks of how God is beyond our comprehension who reaches to us from His throne. Immortal, invisible, God only wise, In light inaccessible hid from our eyes, Most …
Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee – Twelve handbells
Beethoven wrote nine symphonies. He was an amazing composer, creating wonderful music during his later years even though he had gone deaf. One of his best known symphonic melodies in the choral world is the “Ode to Joy” from his final symphony, the tune for the hymn Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee. Joyful, joyful, we …
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms – Twelve handbells
I love the hymns my church sang when I was a teenager. Leaning on the Everlasting Arms was always an expression of the total joy that comes from relying on God’s power to live life. What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms; what a blessedness, what a peace is mine, …
Morning Has Broken – Twelve handbells
The traditional Gaelic tune BUNESSAN is better known to most of us as the music to the popular hymn Morning Has Broken (popularized by Cat Stevens in the 1970s). Our piano-accompanied six-handbell arrangement of the hymn tune BUNESSAN provides an opportunity to play as a two-bells-each trio. Another possibility is to play as a duet …
My Shepherd Will Supply My Need (RESIGNATION) – Twelve handbells
Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He seeks us when we stray, and guides us when we stay by His side. And one day, He will take us to be in His presence forever. Our twelve-bell arrangement will give your congregation an opportunity to reflect on these wonderful truths! My Shepherd will supply my need, Jehovah …
O Worship the King (LYONS) – Twelve handbells
The text O Worship the King has been matched with a number of melodies. This arrangement uses the LYONS hymn tune. O worship the King all-glorious above, O gratefully sing His power and his love: Our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days, Pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise. O tell of His might …
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (LOBE DEN HERREN) – Twelve handbells
The title from Joachim Neander’s German 1680 chorale, reads even more impressively in German: Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren. “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” has been a church favorite for many years – after all, our very lives depend on God and His infinite power. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, …
Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers (HAF TRONES LAMPA FÄRDIG) – Twelve handbells
This Swedish folk melody has been used as the tune for the hymn Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers based on lyrics written by Laurentius Laurenti in 1700. You’ll enjoy playing it for your congregation! Rejoice, rejoice, believers, and let your lights appear! The evening is advancing, and darker night is near. The Bridegroom is arising and soon …
Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us (BRADBURY) – Twelve handbells plus piano
Jesus tells us that He is the Great Shepherd, and that we are His sheep. Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us is an appropriate description of those who follow Him in faith, because we need the Lord’s guidance to walk through life. Savior, like a shepherd lead us, much we need Thy tender care, In …
Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above – Twelve handbells
Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above was first published in the Bohemian Brethren’s Kirchegesange in 1566. It speaks of constant reliance of God and His ability to make our lives what He wants them to be. Sing praise to God who reigns above / the God of all creation, The God of power, the …
Singing I Go – Twelve handbells
We’ve arranged William Kirkpatrick’s happy, lively hymn Singing I Go (also known as The Trusting Heart to Jesus Clings) as a very accessible score for twelve bells. Your ensemble of three to six ringers will enjoy playing this! The trusting heart to Jesus clings, Nor any ill forbodes, But at the cross of Calv’ry sings, …
Take My Life and Let It Be (MESSIAH) – Twelve handbells
Hymnody, the body of hymns that we have and sing, often combines the same words with several different tunes. Sometimes we also match the same melody with different words – it can enrich our Christian musical experience. In this case, Louis Hérold wrote the hymn tune MESSIAH, which also works with the same words as …
There is a Fountain – Twelve handbells
Christ’s giving Himself in sacrifice on our behalf has inspired tremendous emotion over the centuries. Sometimes the triumph of His resurrection comes through; other times it’s about how terrible His death had to be to provide the redemption that now is available to all who will believe. There is a Fountain has contemplative, thoughtful words: …
Thou Hidden Source of Calm Repose (ST. PETERSBURG) – Twelve handbells
Charles Wesley, one of the great Methodist hymn writers, wrote Thou Hidden Source of Calm Repose in 1749. Thou hidden source of calm repose / Thou all-sufficient love divine, My help and refuge from my foes / Secure i am, if thou art mine: And lo, from sin, and grief, and shame / I hide …
To God Be the Glory – Twelve handbells
Fanny Crosby and William Doane were a “dynamic duo” of hymn-writing in the decades on either side of the year 1900. She wrote the words, and he composed the music. One of their best-known hymns is To God Be the Glory. Personal note: This was the favorite hymn of Larry’s great-aunt Pat! To God be …
We Praise Thee, O God Our Redeemer/We Gather Together – Twelve handbells
The hymn We Praise Thee, O God Our Redeemer, also sung as We Gather Together, was adapted from a sixteenth-century Dutch folk song, and endures in our hymnody as a glorious way for us to turn our hearts to God. We praise you, O God, our Redeemer, Creator; in grateful devotion our tribute we bring; …
