This gentle Spanish-language hymn reflects on the fact that no matter what may happen to us, we belong to God. We hope you’ll enjoy this eight-bell arrangement! Pues si vivimos, para El vivimos y si morimos para El morimos. Sea que vivamos o que muramos, Somos del Señor, somos del Señor. If we live, we …
Category: Handbell Ensemble
Nov 05
O Give the Lord Wholehearted Praise (GERMANY) – for eight handbells
This hymn first appeared in W. Gardiner’s Sacred Melodies in 1815. Here’s our eight-bell arrangement! O give the LORD wholehearted praise. / To him thanksgiving I will bring; with all his people I will raise / my voice and of his glory sing. His saints delight to search and trace / his mighty works and …
Oct 29
Funeral Tango – for eight handbells
This somewhat twisted Chopin arrangement/tango/twelve-bar blues came to life as part of the final Low Ding Zone concert series. We’re pleased to offer our seriously boiled-down eight-bell arrangement of this work. Red rose is optional, of course.
Oct 22
Now the Green Blade Riseth/Sing We Now of Christmas (NOEL NOUVELET) – for six handbells and piano
Here’s a brand new earworm for you – it’s the French tune NOEL NOUVELET in 7/8 meter. There are two hymn titles associated with the melody (Sing We Now of Christmas and Now the Green Blade Riseth), so you can play this two times each year! Now the green blade rises from the buried grain, …
Oct 19
For All the Saints (SINE NOMINE) – for eight handbells and piano
Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote the music for this hymn in 1906. Strangely (or not!), the hymn tune is SINE NOMINE, which is Latin for “without name”. Whether or not it actually has a name, therefore, is for the philosophers to sort out… but the hymn is probably most often used on All Saints’ Day when …
Oct 15
Now Thank We All Our God (NUN DANKET) – for eight handbells
In the U.S., Now Thank We All Our God is one of the hymns that makes an annual appearance in November (because of the national Thanksgiving holiday, of course)… but it really can (should?) be played all year round! Here’s a new eight-handbell arrangement for you to play!
Oct 12
Sussex Carol/On This Night All Christians Sing (SUSSEX CAROL) – for six handbells and piano
The Christmas song Sussex Carol is also known by its first lyric line “On this night all Christians sing”. It’s a joyous melody, and we have a wonderful time playing our arrangement of this Christmas carol for six handbells and piano! On Christmas night all Christians sing to hear the news the angels bring; on …
Oct 08
Good Christian Men, Rejoice (IN DULCI JUBILO) – for six handbells and piano
Rejoice! Rejoice! The melody in our six-bell-plus-piano arrangement weaves around the accompaniment, creating a joyous setting for the English carol. Good Christian friends, rejoice with heart and soul and voice; give ye heed to what we say: Jesus Christ was born today. Ox and ass before him bow, and he is in the manger now. …
Oct 07
“Dual-Range”™ Eight-Bell Music!
We’ve been hearing about how some ringers out there have wondered why our eight-bell music was written in the range G5-G6. The main issue that came up was that playing those pieces as a quartet would result in “nontraditional” ringing assignments (say, G5/A5 rather than A5/B5). Why not, say, write using F5-F6? The reason is …
Oct 05
Come, Ye Thankful People, Come (ST. GEORGE’S WINDSOR) – for eight handbells and piano
Come, Ye Thankful People, Come is most often sung in the United States at Thanksgiving. It’s a harvest-is-over song that uses bringing the crop from the fields as an illustration of God bringing His saints home after they’ve completed their earthly responsibilities. Here’s our arrangement of this hymn for eight handbells and piano. Come, ye …