Dec 05

Advent’s in Full Swing!

This coming Sunday will be “Advent 2” (imaginative, yes? 😀 ). It’s the second of the four Sundays before Christmas. It’s a season of preparation for the coming of the Christ Child, and many churches put a lot of effort into making it something to remember.

If you participate in the music ministry at your church, you know what I mean. Choirs are learning loads of music, and in many places even the children are rehearsing a drama presentation to thrill their parents (as well as the rest of the congregation). I remember, fondly, many years of learning and directing Christmas cantatas at churches I’ve attended.

For those of us who are handbell musicians, the holiday season can be even more active. That’s because there are opportunities to play in many other places – seniors’ communities, Christmas parties, and even family gatherings – that are added to our normal church commitments. If you’re in a community handbell choir, you almost certainly are putting on a series of concerts as well.

Now and then we’ve heard from friends, though, that they have only a handful of handbell ringers available for their Christmas Eve services. And they’ve also told us that our music for eight bells (and twelve-bells, and sixteen bells) has made it possible for them to keep the music going right up to Christmas morning (well, technically, midnight at the end of Christmas Eve when that Very Special Service ends in candlelit, thoughtful darkness). If you’re need some music to play with smaller numbers, we invite you to take a look!

No matter what, though, we wish you a wonderful Advent and Christmas, and hope the Savior who came to give life to this world will bring bright and hopeful light to your heart.

Nov 26

We Gather Together

It’s Thanksgiving Day, possibly one of the highest-caloric-content dates on the American calendar. There’ll be turkey, potatoes/rice, candied yams, stuffing, cranberry sauce, ham, mulled cider, and pies, pies, and pies for many of us today (perhaps to carbo-fat-protein-load for Black Friday?).

Anyway, we’ve just added our eight-bell arrangement of We Gather Together (hymn tune KREMSER) to our catalog, and hope that you’ll take a look at it. Perhaps you can buy a copy and take it to the feast tonight! 🙂


Nov 11

Veteran’s Day

(Larry writing…)

It’s incredible to think about the sacrifices “The Greatest Generation” made on our behalf. In the desperate times of World War II, they saw the need and committed themselves to solving the problems created by the Axis powers. It was no different twenty-five years before, when a different – but still huge – conflict enveloped so much of the world.

There were many other conflicts before that, and there have been many since. Yet, somehow, our world hasn’t disintegrated – God has watched over us, and sent heroes and heroines to stand in the breach created by our frailties.

That’s why we celebrate Veteran’s Day in the USA, and why in the UK it also is a time to remember the sacrifice of those who gave their lives for us.

We remember.

Oct 23

Christmas (Rehearsal) is on the Horizon!

If you’re a musician, practice for anything starts weeks ahead. If it’s a big presentation like a church Christmas concert, then my experience has been that those rehearsals start about three months in advance. After all, we want to put our best foot forward on the evening when we have one of the largest congregations of the year!

We’ve been posting lots of music that you can play for Christmas (and the rest of the year as well!):

  • Eight-bell music has been our biggest category of pieces. It’s particularly exciting to us that we now have enough Christmas pieces of this type to fill an entire two-hour shift at the Salvation Army kettle without having to repeat anything.
  • Twelve-bell pieces – for four-in-hand trio, two-in-hand sextet, or anything between, build upon the existing body of twelve-bell music. Did you notice that Georges Bizet’s Farandole fits quite nicely into a dozen diatonic notes?
  • Sixteen-bell music is a great idea for those times you have enough intrepid four-in-hand ringers who want to play some challenging music. By the way, we’re looking for videos since the two of us haven’t yet mastered Danny Lyons’ famous eight-in-hand technique!
  • There also are other pieces for “regular” handbell choirs. They range from two to seven octaves, so there’ll be something for your group (even though those pieces may not specifically be for Christmas – no matter, it means you’ll have more time to practice before spring!

Do look around. We hope you’ll find lots of music to play, and that you’ll have a wonderful holiday season.

Sep 23

O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go

Now and then we’ll be in church, and ask ourselves, “Would the song we just sang work with just eight bells?” Then we check the hymnal, count the number of melody notes, and start wondering… until we get home and try writing an arrangement.

That’s what happened with O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go a few Sundays ago. We hope you’ll like it!

Sep 17

New Eight-Bell Music!

We have one more eight-handbell hymn arrangement to share before we start bringing our new Christmas selections out!

Sep 10

Go Tell It on the Mountain

Bass handbell ensemble music hasn’t been doing a lot of growth since Low Ding Zone decided to head off into the sunset. Come to think of it, LDZ might have been the only source of music of that sort for most of its existence.

Anyway, one piece that LDZ might have played, but certainly never managed to record, is Go Tell It on the Mountain. Fortunately, the Seattle Bass Handbell Ensemble made a great video of it on 2009!

Sep 04

Twelve-Bell Christmas Music is Here!

We’ve been holding onto five new twelve-bell Christmas arrangements, and the time has come to let you have a look at them. You’ll find them to be loads of fun, and there’s plenty of time to prepare them for the holidays!

Here are our new pieces – we hope you enjoy playing them!

We also thank J.C. for helping us with recording the videos!

Aug 28

Welcome to the New Season!

If you’re a church musician, August/September is about the time to start the new season (should I delay the first rehearsal until after Labor Day*? what can we have ready for the first Sunday we’re scheduled? And so on, and so forth).

If you’re in a minor squeeze because that first service with music is starting to look a bit tenuous, we have good news for you. We’ve just released our third “Surprisingly Easy”™ Eight-Bell Hymn Collection. We’re sure you’ll like it – the seven hymns that comprise it are long-time favorites in many churches:

Praise to the Lord
Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above
All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name (hymn tune: CORONATION)
At the Cross
Great is Thy Faithfulness
Jesus Shall Reign
He Keeps Me Singing

All you have to do is get the music, and then find two, three, or four handbell players. As they say in England, “easy peasy”.

Have fun, and welcome to a new music season!

*For those of you who aren’t familiar with US holidays, Labor Day is the first Monday in September.

Aug 16

Praise Him! Praise Him!

We’re in Harbor Springs, Michigan for a few days. It turns out that we’ve arrived on the hottest weekend of the whole year – it’s about 90º F. outside, so we’re thankful for air conditioning! We have a day to kick back before rehearsals start tomorrow, and plan to have a nice time, probably in the hotel. 🙂

Meanwhile, wherever you are, and whatever temperature it is in your neighborhood, we have a new eight-bell arrangement to share with you. Fanny Crosby is one of the great names in American church music, and we’ve added our new “standard” version of her hymn “Praise Him! Praise Him!” to the Surprisingly Easy™ one we published awhile ago.