We’ve been excited that our handbell musician friends have liked our “Surprisingly Easy”™ music, especially the collections. We’ve heard lots of stories of how our arrangements have found a home with duets, trios, and quartets. We’ve also seen some really nice videos too! The news this week is that we’ve added a second “Surprisingly Easy”™ …
Category: Eight-Bell
Jun 20
A Mighty Fortress is Our God
Difficult times provide opportunities for all-too-rare people to show incredible character. I’ve been following the news a bit in the wake of the church shootings in Charleston – a horrific crime and tremendous injustice – and have been amazed at how the folks at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church are willing to offer forgiveness …
Jun 14
New Music – Greensleeves!
Today we’re releasing our eight-bell arrangement of the English tune “Greensleeves” (aka “What Child is This?” for the Christmas-minded)! The video we’ve posted, of course, is a complete play-through of the piece, and has a squirrel as a bonus (just after the one-minute mark, if you’re watching for it). We really think you’ll like this …
Jun 02
Collaboration in King of Prussia…
As part of our concert with Philadelphia Bronze, we took advantage of our opportunity to work with Martha Alford, their director, to write a new piece for flute plus eight handbells. It’s titled Silver and Bronze, and has a playful mood. Take a look – we think you’ll enjoy it!
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 …
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, …
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 …
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 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 …
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” …