Tag: 6-bell

Starting in 2012, we (Larry and Carla Sue) developed a large repertoire of music for eight handbells which we perform as four-in-hand duets. These pieces ranged from fairly simple to maniacally difficult, and eventually led to the creation of their "Surprisingly Easy"™ eight-bell arrangements so that there would be more options for the ringing world at large.

Larry had shoulder surgery in early 2020, and Carla suggested creating a new lie of music for six accompanied handbells. The "accompaniment" part came about, of course, because six bells result in sacrificing at least one scale tone to satisfy the numeric constraint. Surprisingly, six-bell pieces have turned out to be a rich field for exploration.

As eight-bell repertoire works well with a two-in-hand quartet (two bells each) or a four-in-hand duo, six-bell repertoire works nicely with a two-in-hand trio or a "four-in-hand sesquisoloist" (one-and-a-half four-in-hand players).