The Italian carol Tu scendi dalle stelle is lovely, though perhaps less familiar to Americans than others. Our new twelve-bell arrangement will bring a new bit of joy to your holiday services and celebrations. Our new arrangement of this Christmas song for twelve handbells has versions in Bb major (C5-G5) and C major (D5-A6), so …
Tag: Christmas
Christmas is traditionally celebrated on December 25th as the remembrance of the birth of Jesus Christ (Luke 2).
Liturgically, Christmas is twelve days in length (hence the song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas"), ending on Epiphany (also known as Three Kings' Day).
Churches and celebrants who choose to be less precisely liturgical rejoice with Christmas music (and Epiphany music!) all the way through Advent as well. The important thing is to rejoice, of course.
May 23
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (MENDELSSOHN) (Handbells, 3 or 5 octaves, Level 5)
We bring you a fresh and unusual arrangement of this beloved Christmas song. The irregular meters will keep your ringers on their toes, and will give your congregation a different look at rejoicing during Christmas season! And if you want to be even more intrepid, there’s an optional flute part! Hark! the herald angels sing, …
May 16
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (MENDELSSOHN) – Handbell duet with piano and optional flute
We bring you a fresh and unusual arrangement of this beloved Christmas song. The irregular meters will keep your ringers on their toes, and will give your congregation a different look at rejoicing during Christmas season! If played as a four-in-hand duet, a table will be needed. Also, it would be advantageous to add a …
May 09
Twas in the Moon of Wintertime (HURON CAROL) (handbells, 3 or 5 octaves, plus handchimes, 3 octaves, Level 3)
This is the oldest known Canadian carol. Gitchi Manitou is Algonquian for “Great Spirit”, the Native American name for God, and the lyrics tell the Christmas story as it might have told been near the Great Lakes. Our new arrangement for three or five octaves of handbells (plus optional three-octave chimes) tells the story with …
May 05
Of the Father’s Love Begotten (Handbells, 3 or 5 octaves, plus handchimes, 3 octaves, Level 3+)
The plainchant DIVINUM MYSTERIUM has been around since the thirteenth century. Because it’s a chant, the metrical pattern of the melody is based on the syllabic structure of the text, making the phrases of variable length. This new arrangement, however, is in almost-5/4 (so, with a few 4/4 measures thrown in) – we think it’ll …
Jan 10
Gaudete! (Handbells, 3-8 octaves, plus handchimes, 3-4 octaves, Level 4+)
Here’s our new arrangement of this sixteenth-century Christmas song! It’s scored for three to eight octaves of handbells plus three or four octaves of handchimes – and if you have a percussionist, there also is a cajón part! Purchasing the handbell choir version of this arrangement grants permission to print and maintain up to fifteen …
Dec 24
If you’d like to play and hear bells on Christmas Day – Secret Santa redux!
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day is a pre-Civil War song that sets a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to the tune WALTHAM by John Baptiste Calkin. The theme is “peace on earth, good will to men”, and the words reflect on how hopelessness will give way to glory. And on Christmas Day 2021, …
Oct 21
Away in a Manger (CRADLE SONG) for six handbells and piano
The Christ Child has been born, and sleeps in the manger. This gentle arrangement for six handbells and piano tells the Christmas story with a quiet elegance. Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head; the stars in the heavens looked down where He lay, …
Oct 14
Gesu Bambino (Handbells, 3 or 5 octaves with piano, Level 3)
Gesu Bambino (“the Christ Child”) is a Nativity song from 1917. It’s a lullaby for the Child, but also a call to worship for all others as He awaits them at the Bethlehem manger. Pietro A. Yon, the composer, created the melody so that it would mesh perfectly with VENITE ADOREMUS (“O come, let us …
Oct 11
We have an add-on flute part for Ding Dong, Merrily on High!
Some years ago, Carla and I created an accompanied eight-bell arrangement of Ding Dong, Merrily on High. Well, that was so much fun that when we were preparing to perform a miniconcert with Gary and Martha Matthews, we added a flute part so that Martha, flutist extraordinaire, could be part of the fun – and …