I Vow to Thee, My Country is based on the THAXTED theme from the “Jupiter” movement of Gustav Holst’s suite The Planets. In the United Kingdom, it’s sung to words written by Cecil Spring-Rice about dedication to God and country. In some US hymnals, this melody is matched to O God, Beyond All Praising. This …
Tag: 8-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.
As eight-bell repertoire works well with a two-in-hand quartet (two bells each) or a four-in-hand duo, or with a trio where the bells are divided 4-2-2 or 3-3-2. We've even seen one instance of playing eight-bell music with eight ringers with one bell apiece, a la Sacred Harp.
Jun 01
A Little Bird Sang to Me…
We’re getting more music out so that you can play it. Klein vogelijn is a Dutch song about a little bird singing in a tree, sharing its God-given gift of music with the world around it. We hope you’ll enjoy playing it!
May 09
Botany Bay
Sorry, no… we’re not taking a trip to Australia at the moment (we’d love to, one day). But we do have some music that’s played in Australia. Today’s new release is Botany Bay, a song that refers to the penal colony Down Under by that name (you might also remember something from one of the …
May 02
Morning Song
We had the privilege of playing the opening concert at an event sponsored by Handbell Musicians of America’s Area 5 on Mackinac Island in April 2018. It was an opportunity for us to get to know and to share with our fellow handbell musicians from the northern Midwest Our arrangement of MORNING SONG was one …
May 24
Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us
We’ve gotten a lot closer to settling into life in Michigan – it’s been part of the adventure that started when we moved from California in 2016. Now everything is pretty much in place in our new home, and the blue spruces in the woods are happily growing new bits as spring rolls into summer. …
Mar 07
The Boys of Bluehill
Hornpipes and jigs were two of the exciting additions to our repertoire over the past three or four years. In case you haven’t played many of them and were wondering about thematic structure, jigs often (but not always!) have the pattern AA, BB, CC, DD, etc. and can be chained together to add to the …
Jan 08
Epiphany
And a wonderful Epiphany to you! We’re starting 2017 by publishing a new eight-bell arrangement of the German Epiphany carol O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright. Philipp Nicaolai composed the tune at the end of the sixteenth century, and about 150 years later J.S. Bach harmonized it. We wish you a happy 2017, and …
Dec 19
A Carol A Day!
We’ve been posting new recordings of some of our eight-bell Christmas music on the Larry and Carla Facebook page. Do take a look – the dates below will take you to the Facebook posts, and the titles will take you to the pages on this site where you can purchase music! December 26: Angels from …
Nov 24
Ding Dong, Merrily on High
It’s not too late to add one more piece to your eight-bell Christmas repertoire! This time we have something different: A handbells-and-keyboard collaboration on Ding Dong, Merrily on High. There are both piano and organ accompaniments available, and we’re sure you’ll enjoy them!
Aug 27
Wedding Music!
Bells are for weddings! We’ve just released three classical pieces which are wonderful wedding ceremony repertoire: “Air” From Handel’s Water Music Suite in F Major Bourée from Handel’s Water Music Suite in D Major Mouret’s Rondeau, known to many as the music from “Masterpiece Theater” Of course, they also are well-suited to a church service …