We’ve wanted to have an eight-bell arrangement of Silent Night for some time. If you count your way through the score, you’ll find that the melody has eleven notes. Since eleven is a lot more than eight (to two four-in-hand handbell ringers), we couldn’t initially figure out how to make it into one of our …
Category: Larry and Carla
Sep 26
Mu Süda Ärka Üles
The Estonian handbell ensemble Campanelli visited the eastern United States in 2017, performing in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. We had the privilege of tagging along with them for the week, and enjoyed their company and friendship. When we all went to the Malmark factory for a tour, Inna, their director, had us join …
Jul 16
I Vow to Thee (THAXTED) for Eight Handbells
I Vow to Thee, My Country is based on the THAXTED theme from the “Jupiter” movement of Gustav Holst’s suite The Planets. In the United Kingdom, it’s sung to words written by Cecil Spring-Rice about dedication to God and country. In some US hymnals, this melody is matched to O God, Beyond All Praising. This …
Jan 01
Happy 2018!
Happy New Year to all of you (or as they say in some places, “all y’all”)! We’ve had a fun year finding videos and receiving emails about who’s been playing our music. The greatest number of stories are about our eight-handbell repertoire. Most of what we’ve seen is videos of four-in-hand duets or one-bell-in-each-hand quartets …
Ring
Choraegus has loads of handbell music for you to try, rehearse, and perform. We have scores of all sizes: Six accompanied handbells. Two or three ringers, plus piano accompaniment. Eight handbells. Two to four ringers, sometimes with piano or organ accompaniment. Our eight-bell pieces come in two varieties: “standard” and “Surprisingly Easy”™ (sometimes described as …
May 24
Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us
We’ve gotten a lot closer to settling into life in Michigan – it’s been part of the adventure that started when we moved from California in 2016. Now everything is pretty much in place in our new home, and the blue spruces in the woods are happily growing new bits as spring rolls into summer. …
Mar 31
Warner Robins, Georgia
We’re heading to Warner Robins, Georgia today! It’s a city about 70 miles south of Atlanta that grew up around an Air Force base. The purpose of our trip is to put on a concert at the Christ United Methodist Church there. The entire program will be our own eight-bell music, including selections such as …
Jan 08
Epiphany
And a wonderful Epiphany to you! We’re starting 2017 by publishing a new eight-bell arrangement of the German Epiphany carol O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright. Philipp Nicaolai composed the tune at the end of the sixteenth century, and about 150 years later J.S. Bach harmonized it. We wish you a happy 2017, and …
Jul 03
Children of the Heavenly Father
We have a new eight-bell arrangement, Children of the Heavenly Father. As far as our eight-handbell pieces go, this one is on the easier side – but it’s still fun to play and hear. We hope you’ll give it a try!
Jun 13
For those of you with Yahoo email accounts…
We’ve noticed that some of our customers who have email accounts at yahoo.com are having to wait as much as several days for their download links to arrive. It appears that our e-store is sending the links immediately after purchase, so we’re trying to contact Yahoo to ask for their help in figuring out what’s …
