That Easter Day with Joy was Bright is sung to the 15th century hymn tune PUER NOBIS. It’s traditionally sung for Easter, but can be played for Advent asOn Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry. Our …
Come, Thou Almighty King is a grand hymn about our need for the Lord to have our loyalty. The tune ITALIAN HYMN was written in 1769 by Felice de Giardini, who had a thoroughgoing musical …
According to Wikipedia, Richard Bernhard Smith wrote the lyrics for “Winter Wonderland” while recovering from tuberculosis in 1934. That same year, Felix Bernard added the tune that has now been covered over 200 times! This …
I suppose that, given there are a finite number of hymn tunes in existence, that at some point there will arise the opportunity to make a second (or third, or…) arrangement of a melody that’s …
It’s our pleasure to publish Barbara Butcher’s original song Love is Patient, Love is Kind. This accompanied vocal solo based on I Corinthians 13 works perfectly with weddings, and has a very, very simple (and …
In 1933, John Jacob Niles heard a bit of music from Annie Morgan, a Appalachian girl, and used it as the basis of his song “I Wonder as I Wander”. It brings out the mystery …
The French carol He is Born celebrates the birth of the Christ Child calmly and innocently. However, matters change when this pretty melody crosses over the Channel to be expressed as a lively jig! Our …
Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine is sung to the ancient hymn tune RESONET IN LAUDIBUS from the 15th century. It tells the wonder of the first Christmas from Joseph and Mary’s perspective. Our eight-bell arrangement brings …
Here’s a dual-purpose arrangement that you can play as Sing We Now of Christmas for Christmas, or as Now the Green Blade Riseth for Easter! Sing we now of Christmas, Noel, sing we here! Hear …
Living in this world means getting to rub shoulders with people from many different cultures. We’ve learned that there’s a rich heritage that our Hispanic friends have to share with us. Here’s a carol from …
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!
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We’re in Bay View, Michigan for the annual Bay View Week of Handbells. About 100 handbell musicians will gather next week to rehearse for four days, and then will perform in our concert on Thursday evening at 8:00. Do drop by John M. Hall Auditorium at the Bay View Association if you’re nearby – you’ll enjoy the program!
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 score for your own ministry!
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. The “regular” ones, usually danced by the men, have two triple beats (six eighth notes) per bar. “Slip jigs”, usually danced by the women, have three triple beats (nine eighth notes) per bar. But…”Wrong Foot Forward” has seven eighth notes per bar – so you can imagine what it will do to the unprepared dancer!
We truly enjoyed hearing Sarah’s rendition of “Wrong Foot Forward”, on which she adeptly plays five minutes of continuous music on a flute that she feeds with ultraquick “snap breaths”. Here’s our version, without having to worry quite as much about breathing!
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 a wonderful sound, and will work well in your concerts of worship services. Do take a look – you’ll find the demonstration videos on the pages for the pieces!
Farandole: We hinted at having an arrangement of Georges Bizet’s famous piece in the previous post. Our twelve-bell score gives each player quite a bit to do, and will be an exciting piece to share with your friends.
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee: This part of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is one of the reasons that it’s been a world favorite for over a century.
Morning Has Broken: Cat Stevens helped make this song famous a relatively small number of years ago, but it actually has been around for much longer than that.
My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean: You probably have sung this from time to time at campfires, or maybe when you’ve been on the water someplace.
O Worship the King: Twelve-bell hymns are great for any service! This arrangement would be perfect as a prelude or as gathering music.
Shenandoah: This American folk song recalls gentle rivers, gorgeous scenery, and idyllic times.
There is a Fountain: The Christian faith is filled with vivid imagery. This hymn recalls the magnitude of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.
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 can find music that works.
Good news! If you have only two or three (or four, five, or six) friends who can get together to play in church or for a picnic, we have plenty of music for you to try. Our videos of our eight-bell music are presented as four-in-hand duets, but our friends have played them as trios and quartets as well. We’d like to mention “Ring 4 Glory” of Pacific Grove, California, who have played some of our eight-bell scores.
Our more recently-released twelve-bell scores are loads of fun, too. Who would have thought that Georges Bizet’s famous Farandole could be condensed into just a dozen notes? And we’re planning to add some more to what we have, so drop by now and then to check!
We’ve been excited that our handbell musician friends have liked our “Surprisingly Easy”™ music, especially the collections. We’ve heard lots of stories of how our arrangements have found a home with duets, trios, and quartets. We’ve also seen some really nice videos too!
The news this week is that we’ve added a second “Surprisingly Easy”™ eight-bell hymn collection. Most of them are “golden oldies” because they’ve been in our hymnals for centuries (literally!). But… they’re still great hymns with great lyrics, and we still worship with them today – that’s a testament to how great they are!
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above
All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name (CORONATION)
At the Cross
Great is Thy Faithfulness
Jesus Shall Reign
He Keeps Me Singing
Do take a look – we think you’ll love playing these new arrangements!
Difficult times provide opportunities for all-too-rare people to show incredible character. I’ve been following the news a bit in the wake of the church shootings in Charleston – a horrific crime and tremendous injustice – and have been amazed at how the folks at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church are willing to offer forgiveness to the killer despite the loss of their friends and relatives.
Martin Luther, I think, would have commended them for the staunchness of their faith. It’s one thing to acknowledge what the Bible tells you to do, but still another to act on it. Perhaps that’s what the brave monk who, in 1517, posted his 95 Theses at the church at the Wittenberg Castle Church, was thinking about when he wrote the words:
That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.
A greater hope than that which this life offers awaits us, and it’s founded on the God who made it possible for all men (and women, and children) to be saved from their sin.
As part of our concert with Philadelphia Bronze, we took advantage of our opportunity to work with Martha Alford, their director, to write a new piece for flute plus eight handbells. It’s titled Silver and Bronze, and has a playful mood. Take a look – we think you’ll enjoy it!
We just returned from a terrific weekend in Philadelphia (“just” meaning: “we-had-weather-based-flight-delays-and-had-to-rush-from-gate-to-gate-for-our-connecting-flight-and-had-a-shuttle-driver-who-was-trying-to-find-his-last-passenger-for-our-ride-home-and-didn’t-get-back-until-2:30-a.m.” … but who’s counting?).
Anyway, the concert we shared with Philadelphia Bronze went beautifully, and we had lots of fun making – and making music with – friends who we’ve mostly known only via social media till now. We’re very thankful for their idea to create such a program, and to make it so much fun!
We’ve recorded our practice tracks as an MP3 of the score with an overlaid click track. If you need to vary tempo for your rehearsal, you can make this adjustment via apps such as AudiPo or ASD (Amazing Slow Downer).
