The Southern Harmony hymn tune HOLY MANNA, often sung as Brethren, We Have Met to Worship or God, Who Set the Star-Spangled Heavens, here is set for eight handbells in the range C5-C7. We think of a sparkling stream where all of our cares are washed away by God’s love and care, and want to keep playing it over and over as we continue to be refreshed!
History aside, though… we really enjoy this piece because it’s just Fun to Play!
Brethren, we have met to worship and adore the Lord our God;
Will you pray with all your power while we try to preach the Word?
All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down;
Brethren, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.
Brethren, see poor sinners round you slumb’ring on the brink of woe;
Death is coming, hell is moving, can you bear to let them go?
See our fathers and our mothers, and our children sinking down;
Brethren, pray and holy manna will be showered all around.
Sisters, will you join and help us? Moses’ sister aided him;
Will you help the trembling mourners who are struggling hard with sin?
Tell them all about the Savior, tell them that He will be found;
Sisters, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.
Let us love our God supremely, let us love each other, too;
Let us love and pray for sinners till our God makes all things new.
Then He’ll call us home to heaven at His table we’ll sit down;
Christ will gird Himself, and serve us with sweet manna all around.
Church Calendar: Harvest/Thanksgiving
Hymn Tune: HOLY MANNA
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Other arrangements available for accompanied six handbells.
Purchasing this 8-bell arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group (plus the accompaniment/instrumental score(s), if part of the purchase) – so you only need to pay once. Purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. See our licensing agreement for full details, and please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs.
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I just heard these arrangements Tuesday-bought 2 of them and now I want the rest! I wanted to practice this song before it was even half over! These are fantastic-beautifully arranged, fun (we sight-read 2 tonight!), very playable and gorgeous-sounding. I can’t wait to try more!
Author
Thank you, Lorrie! We’ll be looking forward to hearing about all the fun you’ll be having!
Do you have any practice notes to share. Primarily how to hold two bells in each hand. A friend and I want to try these pieces. We are intermediate experienced bell ringers with 4 in hand, but usually the upper octaves only. Any help you can give is appreciated
Author
Hi Mary,
I (Larry) hold my bells in American four-in-hand (“ring and knock”), and Carla uses British four-in-hand. It really doesn’t matter which style you use as long as your comfortable with it; for instance, you might prefer Alternate Shelley, and that would work perfectly well.
We have an article about how we determine our assignments for eight-bell music. We found, early on, that it made the most sense to have our bells in what we regard as our “standard” setups so that we could minimize the changes in thinking we’d need from piece to piece. For instance, my starting point is G5/B5 C6\A5, while Carla’s is E6/D6 F6\G6. If we have flats or sharps, those generally replace the associated white-key bell.
“Holy Manna” is one of the exceptions, because the C5 is so much heavier than the G5, so I have C5/G5 C6\A5 (what I call “heavy primaries”, which are easier to play) and Carla has E6/D6 C7\G6. If that turns out to be a bit unmanageable, you might try transposing upward, say, to G5/D6 G6\E6 and B6/A6 G7\D7 – though this could sound a bit plinky. You’d have to decide where the balance between playability and timbre is.
Probably the best general rule is to practice at a tempo you can play successfully, and then work up to the score tempo – and to give yourself enough time to learn the music solidly!
Thanks again for your interest in our music!
Larry