Jun 02

We Had a Great Time in Philly!

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!

Here’s a video of our opening number: “Allegro” from Vivaldi’s Concerto in A Minor (RV 522)!

May 29

Philly… Cheesesteak Time!

We’re in Philadelphia for the weekend. The reason is wonderful: Philadelphia Bronze has invited us to share a concert with them, so we’re getting share our eight-bell duets with friends who have been online, but who now will be “in real life” friends too!

Today (Friday) is a sightseeing day. We’re going to make the pilgrimage to the Malmark factory, where we’re planning to take a tour to see how they make the bells we play (yes… we know that Schulmerich and Whitechapel also make fine musical instruments!), and will try to spend a bit of time playing some of our music there, perhaps in the parking lot because the factory building makes a great video backdrop? 🙂

We’ve been told more than a few times that we simply *must* have a Philly cheesesteak for lunch. Tim, our rowmate on the plane, said that they’re just not made the right way anywhere else (we’ve heard this nearer home concerning San Francisco sourdough bread…). So we know what’s for lunch!

There’ll be more news to come – if you want to get the first-run news, check at the Larry and Carla site!

May 17

Concerts with No Audience

What if you put on a handbell concert, and no one came to see it? We’ve played in some programs of this sort that had small audiences. It can be bit discouraging, because most of us would prefer to be performing to a full house at Carnegie Hall (and earning 50% of the gate receipts, of course). Unfortunately, we as a musical community seem not to have built up the public image of handbells to the point where “build it and they will come” is the norm – yet!.

So… we have a fix for that! It’s our new “Concerts with No Audience”™ approach to life. We’d rather play than not, and on sunny days it’s at least as much fun to practice outside as in, or just to go somewhere else rather than stay in the same old rehearsal space at home. And the best thing is that we get to keep 100% – ALL – of what people pay for the tickets! 😀

We’ve sponsored a couple of these “Concerts with No Audience”™, and they’ve been a roaring success (especially when Harleys and well-loaded semihaulers pass by). There have been occasional cheers (from the kids playing ball in the street – when they score, of course). And we get the usual looks of puzzlement – What are they doing? How do they do that? – from people who see us. But the scenery is wonderful, because we get to choose where we go, and with eight-bell music, we can pop into practically any place and perform for people who aren’t there.

By the way, if you’d like to book us for a concert with audience, you can contact us at larryandcarla.com!

Concert with No Audience™ in Oakhurst, California

Concert with No Audience™ in Walnut Grove, California

Apr 19

Tico Tico!

We were privileged to have our arrangement of Zequinha Abreu’s Tico Tico no fubá selected for Distinctly Bronze West 2015, where nearly 120 ringers participated in its world premiere performance under the baton of Dr William Payn. Because DB is a high-level event, our friend Alex Guebert created some wonderful percussion parts for the occasion, and now they also are available for purchase!

Here’s a rehearsal video!

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.

Mar 17

Hooray! New twelve-bell music!

We have eight new titles that we’ve added today, and they’re all for twelve bells (C5,D5,E5,F5,G5,A5,B5,C6,D6,E6,F6,G6)! They’ve been arranged in the spirit of our eight-bell music: A fresh look at the genre with some fun twists for ringers to enjoy. Do take a look at them!

Mar 17

Sixteen Bells!

We’ve just released a couple of new small ensemble arrangements. They’re larger-scale than our eight-bell arrangements, requiring twice as many notes. You can play them as four-in-hand quartets, or with eight ringers with two bells apiece, or anything in between.

We think they’ll be great fun for whoever plays them, so please take a look!

Feb 20

Here’s some new music!

We’ve just released our newest “Surprisingly Easy”™ collection of eight-bell pieces. This time it’s a set of hymn arrangements that you’ll find suitable when you need to prepare something for church but have only a few people to ring. Or you might have been thinking about getting into playing eight-handbell duets – these are a great way to start!

This collection contains these hymns:

  • A Mighty Fortress is Our God
  • Fairest Lord Jesus
  • Hyfrydol
  • I Need Thee Every Hour
  • Take the Name of Jesus with You
  • Take My Life and Let It Be (hymn tune: MESSIAH)
  • This is My Father’s World
  • To God Be the Glory

Feb 09

More new music is on the way!

We truly appreciate the response we’ve had to our music over the past couple of years. That’s especially true for the new generation of eight-bell music that we’ve had the privilege of publishing. Well, okay… we wrote it, so we publish it.

Anyway, it’s been great fun to find out that so, so many hymns, folk songs, and even classical pieces can be adapted to this minimalist part of the handbell world, and we’ll continue to celebrate that fact by releasing some new titles in the near future.

We hope you’ll enjoy making the next leg of the journey with us!

Jan 28

2015 seems to have started, finally!

It’s nearly the end of January… and it feels as if the year is trying to run away without us!

We finally are getting around to releasing a brand new piece! We debuted it in our Alzheimer’s benefit concert on January 23rd. We call it “Grizzly’s Peak”, but you might know it by another title. 😀

Nov 27

Throwback Thursday

No… this isn’t a reference to how Thanksgiving used to be. Rather, it’s about music!

Until recently, all we had for our piece A Snail’s Pace was a simple Finale playback MP3. The notes were there, but the piano patch just didn’t show how it would sound with real-life handbells.

But… at the Bay View Week of Handbells in August, A Snail’s Pace was one of the pieces selected for the repertoire, so courtesy of Pierpont Productions we have a video of over a hundred handbell musicians playing it!

Just surf to our product page for this piece, and you’ll find the video there!

Happy Thanksgiving!