If you’ve watched our eight-bell videos, you may have noticed that Carla and I hold our handbells in different ways. The handbell terminology is that she’s using “British four-in-hand”, while I’m using “American four-in-hand”, which is also known as “ring and knock”. The difference will always be there, because we each are sticking with what …
Category: Eight-Bell
Jun 04
Our first US duet performance
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 …
May 31
New freebie: “Daisy Bell” for eight handbells!
Daisy Bell, also known as A Bicycle Built for Two, was written in the late nineteenth century by Harry Dacre. If you’re movie buff, you’ll probably remember that it was sung by Hal, the computer from 2001, A Space Odyssey. I remember learning it from my mom and grandmother. Most people I know sing only …
Daisy Bell (Eight handbells)
Daisy Bell, also known as A Bicycle Built for Two, was written in the late nineteenth century by Harry Dacre. If you’re movie buff, you’ll probably remember that it was aung by Hal, the computer from 2001, A Space Odyssey. I remember learning it from my mom and grandmother. Most people I know sing only …
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 …
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 01
Update to “Dona Nobis Pacem”!
We’ve learned that there are some folks might not be able to play our G5- and F5-based scores of Dona Nobis Pacem. For instance, there are sets in England that have white keys C5-G6, and maybe F#s and Bbs, and therefore won’t have all the needed notes. To help work with this, we’ve added C5- …
SUNRISE [OMNI DIE] – Eight handbells
The SUNRISE hymn tune (also titled OMNI DIE) from the eighteenth century is paired with with several different texts: At Thy Feet, O Christ We Lay Spirit Working in Creation Daily, Daily, Sing to Mary At thy feet, O Christ, we lay thine own gift of this new day; doubt of what it holds in …
Dec 19
Merry Christmas 2023!
As usual, our December has been our busy performance season. People associate handbells with Christmas, so that’s when they book us. We’ve been at some fun places: Holland Kerstmarkt. Between Thanksgiving and mid-December, we were the ambience for our city’s Dutch Christmas market. It’s an outdoor event, so we pre-chill our bells, bundle up, and …
