Author's posts
May 23
Why is handbell music notated an octave lower?
In case you didn’t already know, handbell music is notated an octave lower than the bells actually sound. For instance, the “middle C” that handbell ringers read really is the C that’s on the third space (counting upward) of the treble staff. The convention in place, however, is to name a particular note by its …
May 20
It’s small ensemble time!
Small (handbell) ensembles are much more the order of the day after mid-May, at least in the Northern hemisphere. Pretty much everyone in the United States syncs their calendar to the end of the school year, and so family vacations and summer programs ramp up, resulting in a local population decrease as people get out …
May 15
Here’s the “Surprisingly Easy”™ eight-bell “O Worship the King” (LYONS)!
We started writing “Surprisingly Easy”™ variants of many of our eight-bell arrangements years and years ago. That was to provide a faster-to-worship learning time, especially for duets, trios, and quartets who are newer to four-in-hand and ensemble ringing. If you aren’t already familiar with our easier eight-bell scores, they’re generally equivalent to a Level 2 …
May 12
ENGELBERG (Handbells, 2 octaves, Level 2+)
We’ve published a new arrangement of the hymn tune ENGELBERG today. In case you’re happier with hymn titles, ENGELBERG has been paired with several texts: All Praise to Thee, for Thou, O King Divine When in Our Music God is Glorified We Know that Christ is Raised This arrangement is for two octaves of handbells, …
May 10
The Flip
Playing handbell duets is both art and science. The art is about making the music happen, and the science is what has to be done to achieve that physically. The combination/interaction of the two is what you see in our videos and live performances. When we play our really fast music, we each might be …
May 05
“How Do You Play Six Bells at Once?”
Rather curiously, “how do you play six bells at once?” is one of the questions that comes our way now and then. The funny thing about it is summed up something like this: We have a slight familiarity with how to set up what’s called “six-in-hand”. Somewhere along the way we learned, perhaps in a …
May 02
New video of (Level 1) “Newness”!
Newness is one of our very special compositions for handbell choir. In addition to being written for three or five octaves of handbells/handchimes, it’s possible to play it at Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3. The difference between the Level 2 and Level 3 versions is simply whether or not you choose to use …
May 02
What’s our easiest handbell choir piece?
Sometimes we’re asked which of our pieces for handbell choir is the easiest. Hands down, it’s Celebration. This piece is AGEHR Level 1; for those of you not familiar with what that means, the score has nothing smaller than a quarter note. The piece itself is composed of big block chords; if you’re ringing it, …
Apr 29
Free sheet music is fun!
We love to give people a chance to see what we do at Choraegus. Like everyone else, we provide contact information so that you can ask questions or make suggestions. That’s all normal; you’re supposed to be available to deal with what happens. However, we also want you to be able to try out a …
Mar 26
Blessed Assurance (ASSURANCE) (Handbells, 3 or 5 octaves, Level 3-)
Blessed Assurance is one of Fanny Crosby’s all-time classic hymns. It speaks of faith, dependence, and triumph through having an absolute reliance on God and His power. Our arrangement is for three or five octaves, and will be a welcome addition to your ensemble’s repertoire. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of …
