Here’s a new eight-handbell arrangement of the famous hymn Sweet Hour of Prayer. The hymn tune was composed by William Bradbury (who gave us many other wonderful tunes as well – can you name one or two?). This arrangement can easily be transposed to work with choir as a thoughtful, meditative piece for your service.
Mar 14
Faith of Our Fathers – New Eight-Bell Music!
As spring rapidly approaches, we’re back to recording more eight-bell music. Our latest release is Faith of Our Fathers, one of the famous hymns of the nineteenth century.
This arrangement is easy enough that you should be able to prepare it for Father’s Day!
Jan 25
Sing Praise to God (Who Reigns Above)
Sometimes we end up writing a “standard” and a “surprisingly easy”™ version of a particular piece. The reason for this, of course, is that sometimes the standard versions can be quite challenging. So we don’t want to prevent anyone from being able to enjoy playing a tune because they’re still on the learning curve.
In this case, we have a new standard version of Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above which follows the “Surprisingly Easy”™ one we released a while back. No worries – they’re both available through the same web page!
Jan 20
One Day!
Well, that’s not a really-I’ll-eventually-get-to-it promise… it’s the title of our just-released eight-handbell hymn arrangement. One Day is one of the hymns that tells of what Jesus Christ did with no uncertainty – He’s our Example, and Redeemer, and Hope. Our arrangement shares the excitement of knowing that!
We hope you’ll take a look, and that you’ll give this fun new score a try!
Jan 03
O Worship the King!
There are many hymns whose words are sung with multiple hymn tunes (just take a look at your metrical index!). Some time ago we put out an arrangement of the LYONS hymn tune which is commonly used for O Worship the King… and today we’ve added an eight-bell score for HANOVER, one of the other tunes that fit the same words.
Do take a look and see which one is more familiar to you!
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LYONS: |
HANOVER: |
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.
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!