If you’re a church musician, August/September is about the time to start the new season (should I delay the first rehearsal until after Labor Day*? what can we have ready for the first Sunday we’re scheduled? And so on, and so forth). If you’re in a minor squeeze because that first service with music is …
Category: Handbells
Aug 23
Bay View: Winding Down from the High
We’re heading home from Michigan after five wonderful days at the Bay View Week of Handbells. For those of you who don’t know about it, BVWoH is a handbell performance event where about 100 musicians get together, rehearse for about twenty-five hours, and perform in an evening concert. It’s a huge commitment (among other things, …
Aug 16
Praise Him! Praise Him!
We’re in Harbor Springs, Michigan for a few days. It turns out that we’ve arrived on the hottest weekend of the whole year – it’s about 90º F. outside, so we’re thankful for air conditioning! We have a day to kick back before rehearsals start tomorrow, and plan to have a nice time, probably in …
Aug 15
Sixteen Bells and Michigan
We’ve added a new sixteen-handbell score to our catalog, Prelude No. 1 from J.S. Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier”. You can play it as a four-in-hand quartet (as friends from Bells of the Sound demonstrate in their video), or you can gather as many as eight musicians to play it. Take a look! * * * We’re …
Aug 10
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Today, we’re releasing our new eight-handbell arrangement of “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”. It’s a great piece with which to start the new season, especially if you’d like to give your full-size bell choir a bit of additional time to prepare their first piece for service. Do take a look, and pick up the …
I Sing the Mighty Power of God (ELLACOMBE) – Eight handbells
The Bible says that it is the Person and power of the Lord Jesus Christ that holds the universe from falling apart. That’s true not only in physics, but also in our own lives as well. This arrangement of I Sing the Mighty Power of God has some delightful counterpoint that will challenge and enchant …
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (NETTLETON) – Eight 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 …
Aug 04
Wrong Foot Forward
We’ve just released our arrangement of “Wrong Foot Forward”, a new generation Irish jig by Brian Finnegan and Sarah Allen of the band Flook. It’s on their album “Haven” – and it’s a lot of fun! You might ask yourself why Brian and Sarah chose this title. Well… there are two kinds of Irish jigs. …
Jul 19
And Here’s Some New Twelve-Bell Music!
We’ve just added seven new twelve-handbell arrangements to our catalog! You can play these as anything between a four-in-hand trio to a sextet of ringers with two bells each. And they’re fun, because they’re a bit challenging (well, okay, some of them are just plain challenging!) – but if you practice, you’ll find they have …
Jul 14
Summer Doldrums?
It’s summer, and most of us are in off-season mode. That, of course, is because we traditionally synchronize our handbell (or choir) year to when folks are in town, so that means mid-August to mid-June. When we think of playing bells during the summer, we call around to see who’s available, and see whether we …
