The birth of the Christ Child has been an occasion for great joy for centuries. Go Tell It on the Mountain gives us both the command to proclaim the coming of the Savior as well as a song by which to declare it. Our new Level 3- arrangement is for three octaves of handbells, and …
Category: Handbell Ensemble
Oct 05
Angels, from the Realms of Glory (REGENT SQUARE) (Handbells, 3 octaves, Level 2)
Angels came from heaven to celebrate the birth of Christ. It’s amazing to compare how it must have been in God’s glorious presence with the humble stable of Bethlehem. Yet they came, and they marveled! This new arrangement for three octaves of handbells is perfect if you have a relatively novice group, or if you …
Angels, from the Realms of Glory (REGENT SQUARE) (Handbells, 3 octaves, Level 2)
Angels came from heaven to celebrate the birth of Christ. It’s amazing to compare how it must have been in God’s glorious presence with the humble stable of Bethlehem. Yet they came, and they marveled! Angels from the realms of glory / Wing your flight o’er all the earth; Ye who sang creation’s story / …
Sep 30
Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow – Twelve-Handbell Version
Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow is an African-American Christmas spiritual. It’s about the message that drew the shepherds (well, at least one shepherd) to follow the Christmas star to find the Christ Child. The spiritual is a “call and response” song – one way it’s been done in many Black churches is to have the …
Sep 26
Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming (ES IST EIN ROS’) (Handbells, 3 octaves, Level 1)
Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming dates back to sixteenth-century Germany. Its lyric combines the image of Jesus Christ as the Rose of Sharon and the Root of Jesse, plus the traditional impression of celebrating Christmas in winter. It was translated to English by Theodore Baker in the nineteenth century. Our arrangement for three octaves …
Angels We Have Heard on High (GLORIA) (Handbells, 3 octaves, Level 2-)
Angels We Have Heard on High is based on the nineteenth-century French song Les Anges dans nos Campagnes and is traditionally sung to the hymn tune GLORIA. The lyric tells us of how the angels came from heaven to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child. Our three-octave handbell arrangement is a very accessible Level …
Sep 22
Smiles (Handbells, 5-8 octaves, plus handchimes, 2 octaves, Level 5)(Bay View Week of Handbells 2023)
The song Smiles has a long and wonderful history. T. Will Callahan wrote the lyrics in a Bay View cottage near the end of World War I, and it went on to be a tremendous hit, selling about 5,000,000 print copies (before the existence of public radio, or television, or the internet). The connection to …
Sep 11
Four Twelve-Bell Hanukkah Songs!
A friend asked if we could come up with some twelve-bell music for Hanukkah. We’re happy to say that we found four songs that worked nicely! Hanukkah, O Hanukkah – a lively, happy song about the Jewish Festival of Lights, the annual holiday commemorating the miracle of God’s provision and sustenance. The symbol for this …
Aug 07
The Twelve Days of Christmas – for handbell trio!
The Twelve Days of Christmas has been a holiday favorite for a long time, so much so that there’s an annual update about the cost of a partridge in a pear tree, two turtle doves, three French hens… For the dedicated true love person, it details a serious financial enterprise! Our arrangement for handbell trio, …
The Twelve Days of Christmas – Handbell trio
The Twelve Days of Christmas has been a holiday favorite for a long time, so much so that there’s an annual update about the cost of a partridge in a pear tree, two turtle doves, three French hens… For the dedicated true love person, it details a serious financial enterprise! Our arrangement for handbell trio, …
