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 …
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.
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 …
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) …
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 – …
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 …
Sep 17
New Eight-Bell Music!
We have one more eight-handbell hymn arrangement to share before we start bringing our new Christmas selections out!
Sep 10
Go Tell It on the Mountain
Bass handbell ensemble music hasn’t been doing a lot of growth since Low Ding Zone decided to head off into the sunset. Come to think of it, LDZ might have been the only source of music of that sort for most of its existence. Anyway, one piece that LDZ might have played, but certainly never …
Aug 16
Praise Him! Praise Him!
We’re in Harbor Springs, Michigan for a few days. It turns out that we’ve arrived on the hottest weekend of the whole year – it’s about 90º F. outside, so we’re thankful for air conditioning! We have a day to kick back before rehearsals start tomorrow, and plan to have a nice time, probably in …
Aug 10
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Today, we’re releasing our new eight-handbell arrangement of Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing. It’s a great piece with which to start the new season, especially if you’d like to give your full-size bell choir a bit of additional time to prepare their first piece for service. Do take a look, and pick up the …
Aug 04
Wrong Foot Forward
We’ve just released our arrangement of “Wrong Foot Forward”, a new generation Irish jig by Brian Finnegan and Sarah Allen of the band Flook. It’s on their album “Haven” – and it’s a lot of fun! You might ask yourself why Brian and Sarah chose this title. Well… there are two kinds of Irish jigs. …