Nov 05

Christmas Roses

We’re heading into Christmas season (well, after “Thanksgiving season” if you live in the USA), and so we’re continuing to refresh and expand our holiday repertoire.

Our ringing friend Maria suggested that we might create an eight-bell arrangement of the lovely carol “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming”, and we’ve taken some time to put one together.

We hope you’ll enjoy the video below, and that you might decide to give a try!

Oct 29

It’s time for another “Surprisingly Easy” collection!

We’ve been getting some hopeful messages asking about when we’ll be creating another one of our “Surprisingly Easy” collections. One friend even said that she’s found them to be very useful for teaching her ringers “four in hand” ringing, while others have said they’re having fun.

So… we’ve just released our third (!) “Surprisingly Easy” Christmas collection. We hope you’ll give it a try, and that you’ll be ringing them to celebrate the holidays!

Oct 22

Midnight

No… we don’t usually stay up until midnight unless it’s Christmas Eve and we’re playing at our church’s 11:00 p.m. service. But we do get to enjoy Christmas midnight by playing the Puerto Rican carol A la Media Noche!

We’ve just added it to the Choraegus store, and hope that you’ll enjoy playing it!

Oct 18

The Most-Requested Handbell Piece of All?

We’ve finally created an arrangement of Mykola Leontovych’s “Ukrainian Bell Carol”, probably better-known as “Carol of the Bells”. We speculate that it’s the most-requested handbell piece of all time, if only because of the title (and Christmas advertisements!). So if you’re a four-in-hand duet, you can have this in your repertoire and not disappoint those who ask whether you can play it!

Ukrainian Bell Carol – for 8 Handbells – arr. Larry Sue from Larry and Carla – Handbell Duo on Vimeo.

Oct 14

Advent is soon… and here’s another piece to play!

As you may know, plainchant was one of the great expressions of church music. It’s been that way for hundreds of years – and some of the songs from those times are still with us. We’ve set Divinum Mysterium (aka “Of the Father’s Love Begotten”) for eight handbells, and think it will go well with your Advent and Christmas services.

Oct 04

But while you look forward to Christmas… another collection!

We’re gearing up for Christmas (because we have to practice our music now to be ready in time…)! It’s an exciting time of year because we love the holidays so much.

We really, really love sharing new music with all of you, because it means you can get something to add to your repertoire as well. So… here’s our first collection of eight-bell Irish jigs! It contains five of the ones that we’ve already released – and if you buy the collection, you can get the five of them for a bit less!

Perhaps you have a friend who’d have lots of fun with them – and maybe ask you to be the other half of the duet? 😉

Sep 14

Christmas is on the Way!

Yes, it’s pretty early to be thinking about Christmas shopping – but not about rehearsing for the holiday season! Most of the handbell directors (and choral directors, too) we know, start choosing their season’s music in August or September so they can focus on the music when everyone’s together.

We’ve posted our first new Christmas piece of 2014. It’s an eight-bell arrangement of “Away in a Manger” (the James Murray melody, which seems to be the more popular one in the USA). The delicate feel of this piece will make it perfect for your Christmas Eve service, or for any other thoughtful, contemplative moment in your December at church.

Aug 11

A New Collection!

We’ve (finally!) put together our first collection of eight-bell hymns! It’s a set of eight arrangements that you can use throughout the year, so you can use it as the bulk of your small ensemble pieces for a whole season (adding in other pieces for Christmas, of course!) – or you can even play them all at the same time as a mini-concert!

Larry and Carla’s Eight-Bell Hymn Collection contains the following:

– Take My Life and Let It Be
– Kingsfold
– When Morning Gilds the Skies
– Just As I Am
– Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart
– Lucerna Laudoniae
– All the Way My Spirit Leads Me
– Simple Gifts

Do take a look – you’ll have fun with these!

Jul 13

To a Wild Rose

We have a new eight-bell arrangement! It’s Edward MacDowell’s “To A Wild Rose”, and it’s perfect for that one-minute spot that you have in your service or program. We have a feeling that many of you have played this on the piano… have fun!

Jul 09

New Music’s Here!

The continuing quest for fun and art proceeds! We’ll be rolling out a bunch of new eight-bell pieces in the next couple of weeks, and we think you’re going to have a lot of fun trying them out.

We’ve put out a new recording of “The Butterfly”, possibly the most popular Irish slip jig of all time (it comes up first in the searches we made, and is way, way ahead of whichever jig is in second place.

And today’s new release is “Moreton Bay”, a thoughtful Australian folk song also known as “The Convict’s Lament” – it, of course, is about the hard life that “new residents” of Down Under had when sent there as punishment for their crimes. Despite the sad story behind the song, it’s a beautiful piece.

Keep dropping by – there’ll be much more music to come!