Scott Joplin, who is often regarded as the “King of Ragtime Music”, wrote for a variety of instrumental ensembles, but his primary instrument was the piano. So… the thought finally arose: Choraegus has the Tigress Rag as a piece for five to seven octaves of handbells. It was the second-place finisher in the “All That …
Category: Instrumental
Tigress Rag (Solo Piano)
“Tigress Rag”, written in the style of Scott Joplin, was the Second Place Winner of the 2011 Bells of the Sound “All That Jazz” composition contest. It’s dedicated to Larry’s wife Carla, and this is the piano solo version of the handbell score. Price:
Ding Dong, Merrily on High – Eight Handbells with Organ or Piano, plus optional flute
The sixteenth-century English tune Ding Dong, Merrily on High is quite popular at Christmas. It reflects the joy of the season, and invites us to share in the joy of heaven at the birth of the Son of God. Here we have a team effort between eight handbells and a keyboard instrument (piano or organ). …
Heather’s Dance – Handbells, Harp, and C/Bb/Eb/F Instrument
Dancing in the Highlands is the picture for this unusual trio (… a quartet if you add bodhran!), Heather’s Dance, originally scored for handbells, harp, and bowed psaltery. Bells scored are D5, E5, F#5, G5, A5, B5, C6, D6, E6, F#6, G6, A6, B6, C6, D6, and E6, with D6-E7 on bell tree). Keyboard may …
Eight-Bell Collaborations
“Eight-bell collaborations” are arrangements (or original works) for eight handbells and other instruments. Most of the time, the “other” is piano or organ, but we also have pieces such as “Heather’s Dance” that have a more unusual instrumentation (bells, harp, and other instrument). Some of these were created for a melody that didn’t… well, almost …
Silver and Bronze – Ensemble Piece for Flute and Eight Handbells
In May 2015, we (Larry and Carla) were in a concert with Philadelphia Bronze. While we were deciding on repertoire for the program, the idea of a collaboration between Martha (on flute) and us (on eight bells) arose. Here’s the result! We also have an adaptation of this original piece for handbells and organ. If …
Play
I’ve been writing instrumental music since the 1970s. It all started with the occasional “can you put together a part for flute/clarinet/violin… for this hymn?” things, and moved into small ensembles. I even had the privilege of creating an orchestration for a song I wrote, once. And since I started writing for handbells, it’s been …
About
I started Choraegus ShareMusic as a way to share my music with the public. My initial impression was that I was arriving a bit late in the game. What I didn’t know, being a newbie, was that 1995 actually was still in the beginning stages of the Internet. There were only about 25,000 Web sites …
