Sep 06

Elysium

Elysium was commissioned from our friend Susan Nelson by Laurie and Rusty Sanders. It’s a thoughtful, pensive piece for three to five octaves of handbells plus optional flute descant. After a very brief time on “out of print” status, we’ve brought it back in the Choraegus catalog.

Do check it out!

Jul 24

The Bass Ringer’s Notebook, Second Edition

Exciting news! When Above the Line Publishing decided to ride off into the sunset, it took the original Bass Ringer’s Notebook with it. Quite a few bass handbell ringers already had copies, but there were those who still were looking for a copy of their own. The need still existed!

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve added the Bass Ringer’s Notebook, Second Edition to our catalog. The material therein has been augmented with more ideas for making your bass ringing technically precise, musically expressive, and physically safe.

There’s a new YouTube playlist of the techniques described. These videos provide a dynamic presentation of the skills every bass ringer should understand. They’re also the basis for the illustrations in the book, because the printed stop-action sequences are frames from those videos.

This book isn’t about a single way to “sling the buckets”. Rather, it provides practical options that give you the choice of how you approach the instrument, and that means you can use the ones that best fit you personally.

It may have taken a few years to get to this new edition, but in the words of Low Ding Zone, the World’s First Bass Handbell Ensemble, it’s been “Worth the Weight”. We anticipate that the second edition of the Bass Ringer’s Notebook will be an important resource in your quest to “Support Low Standards”. 🙂

Bass Ringer's Notebook, Front Cover

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.

On a recent weekend trip to Lapeer, Michigan, we played at a friend’s church. It was the fourth Sunday of Easter, aka Good Shepherd Sunday. This gave us a chance to premiere our new eight-bell arrangement of Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us.

Apr 15

“Tigress Rag” for piano!

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 Jazz” composition contest created by the Bells of the Sound in 2011! However, handbell music typically has more simultaneous notes than a person’s normal complement of fingers, so the handbell score doesn’t work very well for a solo pianist.

So… we now have a solo piano version of the Tigress Rag. Do take a look!

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 Vivaldi’s Allegro, the Irish jig The Butterfly, and our unpublished arrangement of Kíla’s Gwerzy.

If you’re close enough to Warner Robins to share the evening of April 1, 2017 with us at the Christ United Methodist Church, we hope to see you there!

Mar 07

The Boys of Bluehill

Hornpipes and jigs were two of the exciting additions to our repertoire over the past three or four years. In case you haven’t played many of them and were wondering about thematic structure, jigs often (but not always!) have the pattern AA, BB, CC, DD, etc. and can be chained together to add to the time the dancers are dancing. Hornpipes often (but not always!) have an AABABA structure. Both are in compound triple meter (but very occasionally not, such as Wrong Foot Forward), and have a happy lilt.

We’ve added a new hornpipe, The Boys of Bluehill. No one seems to know its exact origin, or which boys or hills it’s about, but we know you’ll enjoy playing it!

Feb 17

Easter is on the way

Yes… it still is two months before Easter, but church musicians usually have to think a bit ahead so that they can get their practice time before playing in church.

So we’re releasing our new eight-bell arrangement of Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed. It’s the Ralph Hudson version which sets Isaac Watts’ words to the tune MARTYRDOM, adding the refrain “At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light…”. It’s a hymn that’s been around for over a century of Holy Weeks.

We hope you’ll give it a try, and that you’ll use it to enhance your Easter service as we consider the infinite sacrifice Jesus paid for us on the cross.

Jan 15

Faster service!

Good news! We’ve done some work on our e-store, and have upgraded it so that when you pay for music, the web page indicating the purchase is complete also has your download links. This means you won’t have to wait for an email with those links before you can get your music (note: our site will still attempt to send the email…).

We hope you like the change – have a great 2017!

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 hope that your musical endeavors will be joyous ones!

Dec 19

A Carol A Day!

We’ve been posting new recordings of some of our eight-bell Christmas music on the Larry and Carla Facebook page. Do take a look – the dates below will take you to the Facebook posts, and the titles will take you to the pages on this site where you can purchase music!

December 26: Angels from the Realms of Glory
December 25: Joy to the World
December 24: Away in a Manger (American version)
December 23: Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming
December 22: O Holy Night
December 21: Once in Royal David’s City
December 20: O Little Town of Bethlehem
December 19: Sussex Carol
December 18: Of the Father’s Love Begotten
December 17: Good Christian Men, Rejoice
December 16: Jolly Old Saint Nicholas
December 15: Still, Still, Still
December 14: The First Nowell
December 13: The Wassail Song
December 12: The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came
December 11: Los Peces En El Rio
December 10: ‘Twas in the Moon of Wintertime
December 9: See, Amid the Winter’s Snow
December 8: Angels We Have Heard on High
December 7: The Seven Joys of Mary
December 6: Whence is that Goodly Fragrance Flowing?
December 5: Jingle Bells
December 4: The Snow Lay on the Ground
December 3: People, Look East
December 2: Savior of the Nations, Come
December 1: O Come, O Come Emmanuel