Here’s our arrangement of the universal party favorite, Happy Birthday, for three to seven octaves of handbells (add handchimes if you wish!). After much history and (legal!) discussion between forces outside our control, the courts declared some years ago that Happy Birthday, the famous tune by the Hill sisters, was indeed in the public domain. …
Category: International Music
Happy Birthday (Handbells, 3-7 octaves)
Here’s our arrangement of the universal party favorite, Happy Birthday, for three to seven octaves of handbells (add handchimes if you wish!). After much history and (legal!) discussion between forces outside our control, the courts declared some years ago that Happy Birthday, the famous tune by the Hill sisters, was indeed in the public domain. …
Mar 02
Flower Drum Song (凤阳花鼓) (for handbells, 3 or 5 octaves, Level 4)
Flower Drum Song Feng Yang Hua Gu (凤阳花鼓) may have been composed as far back as the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.). It comes from Fengyang County in Anhui Province, and is said to have been sung by people affected by floods in that region as part of asking for donations to recover their living. Here’s …
Flower Drum Song (凤阳花鼓) (handbells, 3 or 5 octaves, Level 4)
Flower Drum Song Feng Yang Hua Gu (凤阳花鼓) may have been composed as far back as the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.). It comes from Fengyang County in Anhui Province, and is said to have been sung by people affected by floods in that region as part of asking for donations to recover their living. 左手锣右手鼓手拿着锣鼓 …
Jasmine Flower (茉莉花) (handbells, 3 or 5 octaves, plus handchimes, 2 octaves, Level 4-)
The Chinese folk song Mo Li Hua (茉莉花) dates back to the 18th century, and is one of the most popular Chinese tunes of all time. The title translates “jasmine flower”. Our arrangement is Level 4-, which means your ensemble will have lots of fun playing it. It’s also a great selection for concert repertoire, …
Feb 08
Jasmine Flower (茉莉花) (handbells, 3 or 5 octaves, plus handchimes, 2 octaves, Level 4-)
The Chinese folk song Mo Li Hua (茉莉花) dates back to the 18th century, and is one of the most popular Chinese tunes of all time. The title translates “jasmine flower”. Your ensemble will have a great time playing our arrangement of Jasmine Flower. It’s a great selection for concert repertoire, or for a cultural …
What if you have nine (or ten, or eleven…) ringers?
Are you considering our eight-, twelve-, or sixteen-bell music, but appear to have more ringers than are needed to play? That’s a good problem to have, because it means you’re on the way to enjoying even more music! But if you have, say, nine ringers, that would appear to be too many for sixteen bells, …
Jan 15
How Can I Keep from Singing?
It’s Sunday today, and lots of people are headed to church. We sing a lot at church, whether it’s from the hymnal to words on a projection screen. Some of us know all the lyrics by heart, and that’s a great thing for those days when you need the song but don’t have the hardcopy …
Jan 10
“Dual-range” scores
Almost all of our eight-bell scores are sold as “dual-range”™ packages. Carla and I work from the octave of bells from G5 to G6, partly because those all fit in the case of equipment we take to gigs. There’s an extra pocket in our case, so we put a few other bells – Ab6, A6, …
Jan 07
One of our very first eight-bell pieces!
Today’s arrangement is our Holy Manna for eight handbells. It was one of the first four-in-hand duets written when we (finally!) were together in California, and it still is one of our favorite concert pieces. A story: Carla moved to the US in 2012, and just after we arrived home in California, the organist at …
