There are a number of hymns where the lyrics preceded the music by being written as a poem. Once in Royal David’s City was written by Cecil Frances Alexander, and a year after its publication Henry John Gauntlett composed the melody IRBY that we know and love. Historical footnote: Mrs. Alexander wasn’t a one-hit wonder… …
83 results for G major
Marvelous Grace (MOODY) – Six handbells and piano
Marvelous Grace was a favorite hymn when I was a teenager. The message is timeless, and the singing was always strong and glorious. It’s all about the complete and perfect salvation given to us by the Lord Jesus when we believe. Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt, …
How Great Our Joy (JUNGST) – Six handbells and piano
Joy is celebrated many ways. This “call and response” carol provides a special opportunity to show what’s possible with handbells, because of consecutive phrases that are alternately forte and piano. While by the sheep we watched at night, glad tidings brought an angel bright. How great our joy! Great our joy! Joy, joy, joy! Joy, …
Sussex Carol/On This Night All Christians Sing (SUSSEX CAROL) – Six handbells and piano
This traditional English Christmas Sussex Carol is also known as “On Christmas Night All Christians Sing”. The arrangement we see in our hymnals is almost certainly the one written by Ralph Vaughan Williams… but the unharmonized tune is far older than that. On Christmas night all Christians sing To hear what news those angels bring; …
Good Christian Men, Rejoice (IN DULCI JUBILO) – Six handbells and piano
Good Christian Men, Rejoice is a joyous Christmas carol set to the energetic tune IN DULCI JUBILO. This tune is thought to have been written in the fourteenth century by Heinrich Seuse, and its original lyrics are “macaronic” – a combination of Latin and German/English. Good Christian men, rejoice with heart and soul and voice; …
O Little Town of Bethlehem (FOREST GREEN) – Six handbells and piano
The Christmas carol O Little Town of Bethlehem reflects the quiet joy of the Savior’s birth. This arrangement is of the hymn tune FOREST GREEN, the melody more often used for Phillip Brooks’ lyric. O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go …
In the Bleak Midwinter (CRANHAM) – Six handbells and piano
The poem often comes first… Christina Rosetti wrote the words for Scribner’s Monthly in 1872, and then a few years later (1906, to be precise), Gustav Holst set her verse to music. The result: In the Bleak Midwinter, one of the most reflective and well-loved of all Christmas songs. In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind …
Angels We Have Heard On High (GLORIA)- Six handbells and piano
Angels We Have Heard on High is based on the nineteenth-century French song Les Anges dans nos Campagnes and is traditionally sung to the hymn tune GLORIA. The lyric tells us of how the angels came from heaven to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child. Our piano-accompanied six-handbell arrangement of Angels We Have Heard …
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (CAROL) – Six handbells and piano
Edmund Sears wrote the words to It Came Upon the Midnight Clear in 1849, and it’s sung on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean (just with different tunes). This arrangement is to the American melody, CAROL, composed by Richard Storrs Willis. It came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old, From angels bending …
Simple Gifts – Six handbells and piano
Shaker songs are fantastically good as six-bell music! “‘Tis a gift to be simple”, yes… but this arrangement of Simple Gifts is a lot of fun to play! ‘Tis a gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free ‘Tis a gift to come down where we ought to be, And when we find …
