Hal David and Burt Bacharach teamed up to write (They Long to Be) Close to You, a gentle, plaintive song about romances that ended up being daydreams. Although hundreds of artists have recorded this song, most of us remember it as the Carpenters’ big hit of 1970. Our arrangement is scored for three to seven …
Tag: 5+ octaves
The current production range of handbells is seven-and-a-half octaves (G1 through C9). It's an amount of equipment to which many groups aspire, though the cost of all those bells is a major hurdle to cross.
Music for more than five octaves of bells (and chimes) can be orchestral in feeling, but often requires some rather specialized skills on the part of those playing the highest or lowest bells.
Jul 09
Beloved Friend (Handbells, 3-7 octaves, plus handchimes, 2 octaves, Level 3)
Bernie Foulk rang with the Kalamazoo Ringers from 2022 to 2025. I and the rest of the ensemble had hoped to have many more years of ringing with him, but that was not to be. After a short illness, Bernie headed for the next life, and we started missing his wit, charm, enthusiasm, and especially …
Jun 25
Silver Bells (Handbells, 3 to 7 octaves, Level 4)
The film Lemon Drop Kid from 1951 has a scene with a grumpy, unhappy Santa standing by a donation kettle. The impression he presents is completed with a gruff singing voice and a clanky bell. He’s, shall we say, doing poorly at generating donations. Along come Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell. They straighten him out …
Apr 11
Ukrainian Bell Carol (Handbells, 5-7 octaves, Level 4)
Ukrainian Bell Carol was first known as “Schedryk”/«Щедрик» when Mykola Leontovych wrote it in 1916. And then… in 1941, Peter Wilhousky wrote the lyrics entitled “Carol of the Bells”, the title under which credit is usually given in the United States. We present our arrangement of Leontovych’s composition under its “more original” title. We think …
Apr 04
Cavatina (Handbells, 3 or 5 octaves, Level 3)
Stanley Myers’ Cavatina, brings a thoughtful air to the listener. Our arrangement for three or five octaves of handbells imitates the openness and simplicity of the original classical guitar score. Your ensemble will find it quite accessible in terms of the written notes, but will also experience tremendous scope for development of expression as they …
Feb 15
Winter Wonderland (Handbells, 5 octaves, plus handchimes, 3 octaves, Level 5)
According to Wikipedia, Richard Bernhard Smith wrote the lyrics for “Winter Wonderland” while recovering from tuberculosis in 1934. That same year, Felix Bernard added the tune that has now been covered over 200 times! This song speaks fun and romance during the cold season, about playing in the snow, and planning for great time ahead, …
Jun 28
Premiere performance video of “Smiles”!
We premiered our arrangement of Smiles by Lee S. Roberts and J. Will Callahan at the 2023 Bay View Week of Handbells. Smiles came into being in 1917 or 1918 at Mr. Callahan’s Bay View cottage; the bit of Michigan woodland next to the cottage that Callahan formerly owned commemorates the occasion with a sign. …
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 …
Sep 22
Smiles (Handbells, 5-8 octaves, plus handchimes, 2 octaves, Level 5)(Bay View Week of Handbells 2023)
The song Smiles has a long and wonderful history. T. Will Callahan wrote the lyrics in a Bay View cottage near the end of World War I, and it went on to be a tremendous hit, selling about 5,000,000 print copies (before the existence of public radio, or television, or the internet). The connection to …
Aug 14
Escape from No-Note Island, for five to seven octaves of handbells, Level 5
Here’s the story behind this new original handbell composition, Escape from No-Note Island: Handbell compositions are usually written for note ranges that constitute complete octaves of bells. Having this agreed-on convention between manufacturers, composers, publishers, and performers makes it easier to maintain consistency within the ringing art. For instance, “five octaves” refers to the range …