Jan 17

New “Newness” video!

We’ve continued to make videos of our works for handbell choir. Here’s a new five-octave version of Newness, an original work for three or five octaves of handbells, plus three octaves of handchimes.

Newness can be played either as a Level 2 or a Level 3 piece. To play it as a Level 2 piece, play all notes indicated for chimes with bells instead; this eliminates most changes and four-in-hand. The score is Level 3 as written.

Jan 14

Come Down, O Love Divine (DOWN AMPNEY) – (Handbells, 3 or 5 octaves, plus handchimes, 3 octaves, Level 3-)

This lovely hymn tune was written by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Here’s our handbell arrangement for three or five octaves of handbells plus three octaves of handchimes.

Purchasing the handbell choir version of this arrangement grants permission to print and maintain up to fifteen copies for your handbell ensemble; purchasing the single copy version grants permission to print and maintain one copy. Purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. See our licensing agreement for full details, and please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs.

Jan 10

Gaudete! (Handbells, 3-8 octaves, plus handchimes, 3-4 octaves, Level 4+)

Here’s our new arrangement of this sixteenth-century Christmas song! It’s scored for three to eight octaves of handbells plus three or four octaves of handchimes – and if you have a percussionist, there also is a cajón part!

Purchasing the handbell choir version of this arrangement grants permission to print and maintain up to fifteen copies for your handbell ensemble; purchasing the single copy version grants permission to print and maintain one copy. Purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. See our licensing agreement for full details, and please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs.


Gaudette

Jan 01

Happy 2022, and Thank You!

Happy New Year! It’s time for celebration and a bit of relaxing and making resolutions… uh, okay. Maybe not all of those. Many of us have had a difficult year, and are hoping the next trip around the sun is more user-friendly than the one that’s just ended. We hope you have some optimism, however guarded it may be!

Carla and I would like to thank all of you for shopping with Choraegus. We’ve had a wonderful time hearing about how you’ve been able to use our music to keep your handbells active in your churches, schools, and wherever else you may be. The music must continue, because it makes our lives better.

We’re planning to continue writing and publishing music for the foreseeable future (naturally!). Not only are we anticipating new additions to our hundreds of arrangements for six, eight, twelve, and sixteen bells; our catalog of pieces for full-sized handbell choirs will be growing as well. We’ll have music to fit your playing opportunities!

So we thank you for investing in your musical endeavors with our music, and hope that the coming year will be a good one. It’s an honor to serve you.

Blessings, and Happy Ringing!
Larry & Carla

Dec 24

If you’d like to play and hear bells on Christmas Day – Secret Santa redux!

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day is a pre-Civil War song that sets a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to the tune WALTHAM by John Baptiste Calkin. The theme is “peace on earth, good will to men”, and the words reflect on how hopelessness will give way to glory.

And on Christmas Day 2021, you can get this arrangement free of charge from Choraegus!

The score for our piano-accompanied eight-handbell arrangement of I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day comes as a package containing versions in D major (D5-D6) and G major (G5-G6). The D major version is in the key to which the song is most often sung; the G major version uses a more easily-managed set of bells, especially if you’re playing four-in-hand (but is not in a comfortable range for most vocalists).

Our arrangement comes with three verses. There are separate accompaniment MP3s available for both transpositions. Note: If you choose to play our arrangement as a sing-along program element and want to sing all five verses, it will be easy for you to work out which verses you’d like to repeat with a (live) accompanist.

I heard the bells on Christmas day / Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat / Of peace of earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come, / The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along th’unbroken song / Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head: / “There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong, and mocks the song / Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: / “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, / With peace on earth, good will to men.”

Till, ringing, singing on its way, / The world revolved from night to day
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime, / Of peace on earth, good will to men.

The eight bells in the score are accompanied by piano; if you don’t happen to have an accompanist available, we also have an accompaniment MP3 available for purchase.

Purchasing this 8-bell arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group (plus the accompaniment/instrumental score(s), if part of the purchase) – so you only need to pay once. Purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. See our licensing agreement for full details, and please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs.

Find Larry and Carla on Facebook!

Dec 24

Secret Santa

Just for today (Christmas Eve 2021), we have a little gift for you. Our new twelve-bell version of Silent Night is free of charge!

Merry Christmas from Choraegus!

Larry & Carla

Dec 01

Happy Birthday to Us!

Thank you to those of you who have purchased and played our music! We’ve enjoyed seeing your videos, and have sometimes even been able to been there to see you from the audience. We appreciate having a part in your performances, and even more, in your ministries. Perhaps it underscores the thought that we’re all in this together, and that this is a way we can team up to make this world better.

Tomorrow (December 2, 2021), Choraegus will celebrate 26 years of bringing music to the people. We’d like to invite you to celebrate with us. For one day – Choraegus’ birthday – you can get 26% percent off everything in our store. All you have to do is apply the coupon code CHORAEGUS26 when you check out, and our e-store will crunch all the numbers for you.

Kindly remember that time zones are a way of life for us, so the magic 24-hour day will be based on Eastern Standard Time (UTC-5).

We look forward to hearing from you!

Nov 29

Jesus Paid It All (ALL TO CHRIST) – for eight handbells

The message of Jesus Paid It All goes far beyond the title. True enough, He gave Himself to pay the penalty of our sins, but the hymn text also intimates that we have an infinite debt to Him that goes along with receiving the free gift that He offers. Of course… it’s impossible to repay an infinite debt, and so the chorus says:

I hear the Savior say, Thy strength indeed is small,
Child of weakness, watch and pray; find in Me thine all in all.”

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

Here’s our eight-bell version of this hymn.

Purchasing this 8-bell arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group – so you only need to pay once. Purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. See our licensing agreement for full details, and please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs.

Nov 08

The Lord Bless You and Keep You (BENEDICTION) – for Sixteen-Handbells

Peter Lutkin composed this famous benediction in 1900. It’s a favorite farewell song at the Bay View Association, a Chautauqua institution located near Petoskey, Michigan. Our arrangement is written in the same key as the original, so your congregation or vocal ensemble can sing the SATB parts along with the handbells.

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord lift his countenance upon you,
and give you peace;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you,
and be gracious unto you.
Amen.

(The Lord Bless You and Keep You begins at 1:28)

Purchasing this 16-bell arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to eight copies for your handbell group – so you only need to pay once. Purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. See our licensing agreement for full details, and please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs.

Nov 04

Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken (AUSTRIAN HYMN) – for eight handbells

Here’s the grandiose hymn that also serves as the national anthem of Germany. It was composed by Haydn (possibly with a Croatian song as source material), and today it still inspires Christians around the world.

We’ve added our “standard” arrangement for eight handbells to our repertoire!

Purchasing this 8-bell arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group – so you only need to pay once. Purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. See our licensing agreement for full details, and please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs.