Here’s our eight-handbell version of the universal party favorite, Happy Birthday. After much history and (legal!) discussion between forces outside our control, the courts declared some years ago that the famous tune by the Hill sisters was indeed in the public domain. It’s our pleasure to provide this as a gift to you! Bells used: …
Tag: 8-bell
Starting in 2012, we (Larry and Carla Sue) developed a large repertoire of music for eight handbells which we perform as four-in-hand duets. These pieces ranged from fairly simple to maniacally difficult, and eventually led to the creation of their “Surprisingly Easy”™ eight-bell arrangements so that there would be more options for the ringing world at large.
As eight-bell repertoire works well with a two-in-hand quartet (two bells each) or a four-in-hand duo, or with a trio where the bells are divided 4-2-2 or 3-3-2. We've even seen one instance of playing eight-bell music with eight ringers with one bell apiece, a la Sacred Harp.
Freebies
We have free stuff! That, of course, is so you can get a taste of what we have here at Choraegus. We do hope that you’ll be back to check out the rest of our store, but we’d like to give you a chance to see what’s here first. A large, large portion of our …
Jul 16
I Vow to Thee (THAXTED) for Eight Handbells
I Vow to Thee, My Country is based on the THAXTED theme from the “Jupiter” movement of Gustav Holst’s suite The Planets. In the United Kingdom, it’s sung to words written by Cecil Spring-Rice about dedication to God and country. In some US hymnals, this melody is matched to O God, Beyond All Praising. This …
I Vow to Thee, My Country (THAXTED) – Eight handbells
Gustav Holst fitted his THAXTED melody to Cecil Spring-Rice’s patriotic/worship poem. This profound hymn is most often sung in England. The melody, also, is combined with the hymn O God, Above All Praising. I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above, entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love: the love …
Jun 01
A Little Bird Sang to Me…
We’re getting more music out so that you can play it. Klein vogelijn is a Dutch song about a little bird singing in a tree, sharing its God-given gift of music with the world around it. We hope you’ll enjoy playing it!
May 09
Botany Bay
Sorry, no… we’re not taking a trip to Australia at the moment (we’d love to, one day). But we do have some music that’s played in Australia. Today’s new release is Botany Bay, a song that refers to the penal colony Down Under by that name (you might also remember something from one of the …
May 02
Morning Song
We had the privilege of playing the opening concert at an event sponsored by Handbell Musicians of America’s Area 5 on Mackinac Island in April 2018. It was an opportunity for us to get to know and to share with our fellow handbell musicians from the northern Midwest Our arrangement of MORNING SONG was one …
Apr 17
Need to play for someone’s birthday?
We recorded our eight-bell arrangement of Happy Birthday a few years ago, but realized that we hadn’t made it available for others to play. Since it’s only eight bars long and takes less than a minute to play, we’ve decided to make it free to anyone who would like to get it. Have fun!
O God, Above All Praising (THAXTED) – Eight handbells
Gustav Holst fitted his THAXTED melody to Cecil Spring-Rice’s patriotic/worship poem. This profound hymn is most often sung in England. The melody, also, is combined with the hymn O God, Above All Praising. I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above, entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love: the love …
ENGELBERG – Eight handbells
The hymn tune ENGELBERG has been used with several texts: All Praise to Thee, for Thou, O King Divine When in Our Music God is Glorified We Know that Christ is Raised No matter which one you’re singing, it’s an inspiring melody! Hymn tune: ENGELBERG Find metrically-matched hymn texts Standard Version: ”Dual-Range”™ Score Package: $ …
