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 …
Tag: original work
Most of the music scores at Choraegus were written by Larry Sue, who started Choraegus as a means of getting them before the public and making them available to musicians worldwide. Most are arrangements of existing source material (such as hymns and classical music), but there are a number which are completely original works.
Aug 09
Nocturne (Handbells, 3 or 5 octaves, plus handchimes, 3 octaves, Level 2+)
Nocturne is an original work for three or five octaves of handbells (and three octaves of handchimes). I composed it as an entry in a composition contest, with the conditions being that it had to be Level 2 or 3, and be less than 4’30” in duration. I think you’ll like – or maybe love! …
Aug 05
A new video for “Meditation”!
Meditation, an original composition, has been in our catalog for some time. In case you haven’t gotten familiar with it, we have versions for 2-3 octaves and 3-5 octaves of handbells. Tintabulations Handbell Ensemble of Nevada made the handbell video which we have on our site. Carla wanted to know how Meditation would sound on …
Aug 01
Greet the Morning (Handbells, 3-5 octaves, plus handchimes, 1 octave, Level 3-)
Greet the Morning, an original work for three to five octaves of handbells, draws a picture of waiting for the sun to rise. The night vanishes gradually as the light of dawn overcomes the darkness. It increases in brightness until all of a sudden, the sun peeks over the horizon and starts the day. This …
Jul 25
Walking Home (Handbells, 3-5 octaves, plus handchimes, 2 octaves, Level 3-)
Walking Home, an original work for three to five octaves of handbells, brings to mind that feeling you have when the time to leave work or school has arrived. The special feeling of knowing that you’re headed back to your safest place goes with you and inspires your walk – and the melody in your …
May 02
New video of (Level 1) “Newness”!
Newness is one of our very special compositions for handbell choir. In addition to being written for three or five octaves of handbells/handchimes, it’s possible to play it at Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3. The difference between the Level 2 and Level 3 versions is simply whether or not you choose to use …
Jan 10
Mahler Swing (Handbells, 5-8 octaves, plus handchimes, 2 octaves, Level 5)
I fell in love with Mahler’s symphonies a long time ago. They’re gigantic works which stretch the limits (so far…) of how musical expression can be built. As of the twentieth century, they represent the pinnacle of orchestral composing. Mahler’s first symphony is about an hour in length (around three times the length of Mozart’s …
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 …
Apr 24
Banana Passacaglia (handbells, 3 or 5 octaves, Level 4)
One day on Facebook, a post appeared: Replace one word in the title with “banana.” What’s your favorite handbell piece? With one reply being: Banana Passacaglia And then: I would like for Larry Sue to get to work on this immediately. So, to make a not-so-long story short, it took a couple of days to …
Jan 16
Squirrels
Now and then I’m hit with a flight of whimsy, and often that manifests itself on music paper (or my screen). We have lots of wildlife in our neighborhood, and squirrels are one of the liveliest. They’re completely carefree as well as being random. So I wrote a piece, Squirrels, for three or five octaves …