It’s Sunday today, and lots of people are headed to church. We sing a lot at church, whether it’s from the hymnal to words on a projection screen. Some of us know all the lyrics by heart, and that’s a great thing for those days when you need the song but don’t have the hardcopy …
Category: Handbell Ensemble
Jan 12
Sleeping Beauty Waltz
We’ve arranged a number of classical works for handbells. Some are relatively straightforward, while others present a fun challenge. One of the latter is our arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty Waltz for sixteen handbells. Your four-in-hand quartet will have a great time with this nineteenth-century piece… but if you might also give it a go …
Jan 11
Day by Day
The hymn Day by Day has been a source of comfort and peace to many believers as they go through their lives. Phrases such as “grace I find to meet my trials here” and “I’ve no cause for worry or for fear” bring the reassurance that no matter what happens, God is still in control …
Jan 10
“Dual-range” scores
Almost all of our eight-bell scores are sold as “dual-range”™ packages. Carla and I work from the octave of bells from G5 to G6, partly because those all fit in the case of equipment we take to gigs. There’s an extra pocket in our case, so we put a few other bells – Ab6, A6, …
Jan 08
“Surprisingly Easy”™ Eight-Bell pieces
As we continued to venture into the world of eight-handbell arrangements, we noticed that there was a need for some more accessible works in the genre. So we started adding our “Surprisingly Easy”™ arrangements. In general, our guideline is that a “Surprisingly Easy”™ score a) is easier than the “standard” score, if it exists, and …
Jan 07
One of our very first eight-bell pieces!
Today’s arrangement is our Holy Manna for eight handbells. It was one of the first four-in-hand duets written when we (finally!) were together in California, and it still is one of our favorite concert pieces. A story: Carla moved to the US in 2012, and just after we arrived home in California, the organist at …
Jan 06
Epiphany!
For epiphany, here’s one of our newest eight-bell arrangements. It’s of the Swiss Christmas carol Es ist für uns eine Zeit angekommen (“For unto us a time is come”). It’s a lively song of rejoicing at the Christ Child’s birth. Purchasing this 8-bell arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies …
Jan 05
Merry Twelfth Day of Christmas!
For the twelfth day of Christmas, I’ve decided to take a slightly different tack in this post. In 1892, Tchaikovsky was commissioned to write a series of twelve pieces for a music magazine. The collection is called The Seasons. Sometime ago, I arranged The Seasons for two octaves of handbells. When Carla and I recorded …
Jan 04
Merry Eleventh Day of Christmas!
We’ve made it through most of the twelve days Christmas, and are approaching Epiphany. As a prelude to that, here’s our twelve-bell arrangement of What Child is This?. Enjoy! Purchasing this 12-bell arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to six copies for your handbell group – so you only need to pay …
Jan 03
Merry Tenth Day of Christmas!
Today is the tenth day of Christmas (as opposed to the commercial interests who would have us just get it over with and move on to Mother’s Day… possibly with a short stop at Valentine’s Day as we head there!). We’ve had loads of fun with our eight-bells-plus-piano-plus-optional-flute arrangement of Hark! the Herald Angels Sing. …
