I arranged “Danny Boy”/”Londonderry Air” for bass handbells over twenty years ago, and after a run at a Silicon Valley retirement facility, finally dared to play in public at the 2004 Area 12 conferences. Unfortunately, technology of the time didn’t give us an easy way to make even a scruffy video of what happened then. …
Category: Popular Music
Winter Dance (Handbells, 7 octaves plus handchimes, 2 octaves, Level 4)
Seiichi Kyoda composed this wonderful piece. His group Uttara-Kuru performed Winter Dance with a synthesis of traditional Japanese instruments (shakuhachi, koto, etc.) and electronica. The picture is of the citizens of a remote village celebrating life with a community dance. Note: This is the score version for Distinctly Bronze West 2024 Handbells (7 octaves) plus …
Jan 15
Mack the Knife (Handbells, 5-8 octaves, plus handchimes, 3 octaves, Level 5)
Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill wrote Mack the Knife in 1928 for the Threepenny Opera. Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitgerald, and Bobby Darin performed it, guaranteeing its place in our music social awareness. It’s such a happy, bouncy song that you’d hardly know it was talking about a hit man. But the legend lives on, and …
Mack the Knife (Handbells, 5-8 octaves, plus handchimes, 3 octaves, Level 5)
Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill wrote Mack the Knife in 1928 for the Threepenny Opera. Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Bobby Darin performed it, guaranteeing its place in our music social awareness. It’s such a happy, bouncy song that you’d hardly know it was talking about a hit man. But the legend lives on, and …
Jan 10
Mahler Swing (Handbells, 5-8 octaves, plus handchimes, 2 octaves, Level 5)
I fell in love with Mahler’s symphonies a long time ago. They’re gigantic works which stretch the limits (so far…) of how musical expression can be built. As of the twentieth century, they represent the pinnacle of orchestral composing. Mahler’s first symphony is about an hour in length (around three times the length of Mozart’s …
Mahler Swing (Handbells, 5-8 octaves, plus handchimes, 2 octaves, Level 5)
I fell in love with Mahler’s symphonies a long time ago. They’re gigantic works which stretch the limits (so far…) of how musical expression can be built. As of the twentieth century, they represent the pinnacle of orchestral composing. Mahler’s first symphony is about an hour in length (around three times the length of Mozart’s …
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, …
Dec 24
Merry Christmas!
As I write this from our home in Michigan, the storms pummeling most of the country have brought us lots of white, fluffy snow. It’s been accumulating all over our neighborhood, and has been constantly falling because of the “lake effect”. We love it here in winter! We hope you’ve had a good year, wherever …
Smiles (Handbells, 4-5 octaves, plus handchimes, 2 octaves, Level 3+)
Smiles, written in 1917 by J. Will Callahan and Lee S. Roberts, is a song about the happiness brought by a dear one’s smile. We have a special, albeit indirect, attachment to this song, because in front of one cottage at the Bay View Association there’s a sign that declares that this cute little song …
Jun 23
Smiles (Handbells, 4-5 octaves, plus handchimes, 2 octaves, Level 3+)
Smiles, written in 1917 by J. Will Callahan and Lee S. Roberts, is a song about the happiness brought by a dear one’s smile. We have a special, albeit indirect, attachment to this song, because in front of one cottage at the Bay View Association there’s a sign that declares that this cute little song …
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