There seems to be no end to the repertoire that can be put into eight handbells. That’s good – we wouldn’t want to run out of possibilities! This time, we have a classical piece to share. Jean Sibelius wrote his Finlandia as a protest against the Russian Empire that wanted to take over Finland in …
Tag: handbell ensemble
This composition is for handbell ensemble. The pitch range depends on the whim of the composer; there are pieces of this type for all ranges of handbells. The number of ringers can also vary quite a bit, but the general rule is that this number is smaller than that of a full-sized handbell choir.
Apr 08
Flow Gently, Sweet Afton
Larry and Carla are part of Inspiration International, a UK handbell ensemble whose purpose is to take handbell music into the lives of people who sometimes feel forgotten by society. Since two of the members are in the USA, it’s a challenge for the three to get together to play. So when Larry and Carla …
Apr 03
Two Titles for One Score!
As you know, many (hymn) tunes are used for more than one set of lyrics. HYFRYDOL, for instance, shows up many times, and often several times in the same hymnal! We have a new eight-handbell score based on the hymn tune DIX, which doubles as the music for For the Beauty of the Earth and …
Mar 29
The “Sleeping Beauty Waltz” for Sixteen Handbells
In February, we made a trip to England to see friends and family. Alan and Gay Cooper were a couple of those friends; in fact, the four of us together comprise the Pizzazz Handbell Quartet. We spent an evening together, and managed to make a rehearsal video of our new sixteen-handbell arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping …
Mar 27
A Glorious Easter!
He is risen! It’s Easter Sunday, and we’ll be heading to church to play eight-bell duets in three morning services in a few minutes. We know many of you will be doing – or already are doing (because we’re in California) this as well, and we hope you’ll have a glorious celebration of our risen …
Mar 26
Sweet Hour of Prayer
Here’s a new eight-handbell arrangement of the famous hymn Sweet Hour of Prayer. The hymn tune was composed by William Bradbury (who gave us many other wonderful tunes as well – can you name one or two?). This arrangement can easily be transposed to work with choir as a thoughtful, meditative piece for your service.
Mar 14
Faith of Our Fathers – New Eight-Bell Music!
As spring rapidly approaches, we’re back to recording more eight-bell music. Our latest release is Faith of Our Fathers, one of the famous hymns of the nineteenth century. This arrangement is easy enough that you should be able to prepare it for Father’s Day!
Jan 25
Sing Praise to God (Who Reigns Above)
Sometimes we end up writing a “standard” and a “surprisingly easy”™ version of a particular piece. The reason for this, of course, is that sometimes the standard versions can be quite challenging. So we don’t want to prevent anyone from being able to enjoy playing a tune because they’re still on the learning curve. In …
Jan 20
One Day!
Well, that’s not a really-I’ll-eventually-get-to-it promise… it’s the title of our just-released eight-handbell hymn arrangement. One Day is one of the hymns that tells of what Jesus Christ did with no uncertainty – He’s our Example, and Redeemer, and Hope. Our arrangement shares the excitement of knowing that! We hope you’ll take a look, and …
Jan 03
O Worship the King!
There are many hymns whose words are sung with multiple hymn tunes (just take a look at your metrical index!). Some time ago we put out an arrangement of the LYONS hymn tune which is commonly used for O Worship the King… and today we’ve added an eight-bell score for HANOVER, one of the other …
