Sep 21

Angels We Have Heard On High (GLORIA) – for six handbells plus piano

Our piano-accompanied six-handbell arrangement of Angels We Have Heard On High (hymn tune: GLORIA) provides an opportunity to play as a two-bells-each trio. Another possibility is to play as a duet where one ringer plays four bells and the other (perhaps a younger/newer player!) plays two bells.

The six bells in the score are accompanied by piano; if you don’t happen to have an accompanist available, we also have an accompaniment MP3 available for purchase.

Sep 17

Shall We Gather at the River? – for eight handbells and piano

Our arrangement of Shall We Gather at the River for eight handbells and piano will work well with your small handbell ensemble (duet, trio, or quartet)!

Shall we gather at the river,
Where bright angel feet have trod;
With its crystal tide forever
Flowing by the throne of God?

Yes, we’ll gather at the river,
The beautiful, the beautiful river;
Gather with the saints at the river
That flows by the throne of God.

Sep 14

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (CAROL) – for six handbells plus piano

Here’s our six-handbell arrangement of the usual American melody for this carol. We think it shows a bit of Richard Willis’ (the composer’s) musical background – did you know he studied with Felix Mendelssohn?

It came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold:
“Peace on the earth, good will to men, from heaven’s all-gracious King.”
The world in solemn stillness lay, to hear the angels sing.

Our piano-accompanied six-handbell arrangement of It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (hymn tune: CAROL) provides an opportunity to play as a two-bells-each trio. Another possibility is to play as a duet where one ringer plays four bells and the other (perhaps a younger/newer player!) plays two bells.

The six bells in the score are accompanied by piano; if you don’t happen to have an accompanist available, we also have an accompaniment MP3 available for purchase.

Sep 10

Jesus es Mi Rey Soberano (MI REY Y MI AMIGO) – for eight handbells

Isn’t it amazing that the King of Kings wants to be our Savior … and our Friend? It’s our joy to make our eight-bell arrangement of this hymn available.

Jesús es mi Rey soberano,
Mi gozo es cantar su loor;
Es Rey, y me ve cual hermano,
Es Rey y me imparte suamor.
De jando su trono de gloria,
Me vino a sacar de laescoria,
Y yo soy feliz,
Y yo soy feliz por El. 		Jesus is my sovereign King,
My joy is to sing your praise;
He is King, and he sees me as a brother,
He is King and he gives me his love.
Leaving his throne of glory,
He came to take me out of my debt,
And I am happy,
And I am happy in Him.

Sep 07

O Come, O Come Emmanuel (VENI EMMANUEL) – for six accompanied handbells

This Advent hymn originates from as far back as possibly the 12th century. It first appeared in English as translated by John M. Neale in 1851.

O come, O come, Emmanuel / And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here / Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel / Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Our piano-accompanied six-handbell arrangement of O Come, O Come Emmanuel (tune: VENI EMMANUEL) provides an opportunity to play as a two-bells-each trio. Another possibility is to play as a duet where one ringer plays four bells and the other (perhaps a younger/newer player!) plays two bells.

The six bells in the score are accompanied by piano; if you don’t happen to have an accompanist available, we also have an accompaniment MP3 available for purchase.

Sep 03

Angels We Have Heard on High – our second version for eight handbells!

We love the Christmas carol Angels We Have Heard on High so much that we now have a second “standard” eight-bell version! We hope you’ll enjoy it enough to play both arrangements during the holidays!

Aug 31

Simple Gifts – for six accompanied handbells

Shaker songs are fantastically good as six-bell music! “‘Tis a gift to be simple”, yes… but this arrangement is a lot of fun to play!

‘Tis a gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free
‘Tis a gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come ’round right.

Our piano-accompanied six-handbell arrangement of nineteenth-century Shaker tune SIMPLE GIFTS provides an opportunity to play as a two-bells-each trio. Another possibility is to play as a duet where one ringer plays four bells and the other (perhaps a younger/newer player!) plays two bells.

The six bells in the score are accompanied by piano; if you don’t happen to have an accompanist available, we also have an accompaniment MP3 available for purchase.

Aug 27

The Spider Song – for eight handbells (and free!)

Okay… we hedged our bets with respect to the title, because this children’s song is called Itsy Bitsy Spider in the US, Incy Wincy Spider in the UK. Fortunately, the hand motions are the same in both places. You’ll have fun with our free eight-bell arrangement!

Aug 24

Al die willen te kaap’ren varen – for six accompanied handbells

Clearly, there’s a tiny bit of (ancient) gender bias when you announce “all who want to be privateers, must be bearded men”. But eating rancid bread doesn’t sound like much fun. Perhaps it’s a somewhat silly song in today’s world, but it’s fun to play!

Al die willen te kaap’ren varen
Moeten mannen met baarden zijn
Jan, Pier, Tjores en Corneel
Die hebben baarden, die hebben baarden
Jan, Pier, Tjores en Corneel
Die hebben baarden, zij varen meeAl die ranzige tweebak lusten
Moeten mannen met baarden zijn
Jan, Pier, Tjores en Corneel
Die hebben baarden, die hebben baarden
Jan, Pier, Tjores en Corneel
Die hebben baarden, zij varen mee

Al die deftige pijpkens smoren
Moeten mannen met baarden zijn
Jan, Pier, Tjores en Corneel
Die hebben baarden, die hebben baarden
Jan, Pier, Tjores en Corneel
Die hebben baarden, zij varen mee

Al die met ons de walrus killen
Moeten mannen met baarden zijn
Jan, Pier, Tjores en Corneel
Die hebben baarden, die hebben baarden
Jan, Pier, Tjores en Corneel
Die hebben baarden, zij varen mee

 All those wanting to sail
Must be men with beards
Jan, Pier, Tjores and Corneel
They have beards that have beards
Jan, Pier, Tjores and Corneel
They have beards, they sail with themIf you want to eat rancid bread
Must be men with beards
Jan, Pier, Tjores and Corneel
They have beards that have beards
Jan, Pier, Tjores and Corneel
They have beards, they sail with them

Those who smoke the fancy pipes
Must be men with beards
Jan, Pier, Tjores and Corneel
They have beards that have beards
Jan, Pier, Tjores and Corneel
They have beards, they sail with them

All those killing the walrus with us
Must be men with beards
Jan, Pier, Tjores and Corneel
They have beards that have beards
Jan, Pier, Tjores and Corneel
They have beards, they sail with them

Our piano-accompanied six-handbell arrangement of the Dutch folk song Al die willen te kaap’ren varen (“All who want to be privateers”) provides an opportunity to play as a two-bells-each trio. Another possibility is to play as a duet where one ringer plays four bells and the other (perhaps a younger/newer player!) plays two bells.

The six bells in the score are accompanied by piano; if you don’t happen to have an accompanist available, we also have an accompaniment MP3 available for purchase.

Aug 20

We have a new “Surprisingly Easy”™ Christmas Collection!

It’s been quite a while since we released a new collection of “Surprisingly Easy”™ Advent/Christmas/Epiphany arrangements – here’s the fourth one!

It includes the following:

Here’s a compilation video of the music: