stuff to ararnge for handbells

[Tash]

me and my friend have promised to either compose or arrange something forour handbell ensemble. but since composing takes too much time we're opting for arranging. someone's already taken the nutcracker, so we were thinking the blue danube waltz. any other random suggestions??!

[timothy42b]

Flight of the Bumblebee, for sure.

[pianistimo]

church music?  simple tunes.  shaker tunes.  copeland comes to mind - but not sure which songs.  vaughn williams tunes?

[pianistimo]

'ring out, wild bells' comes to mind.  'ring out the old, ring in the new...'  i think it's a new years type song.  forget who the composer is.  will look it up.

the arrangement i had i thought was by sibelius, but i can't find it.
i did find thea musgrave's original composition which she divided up into sections.  you can see here:  www.theamusgrave.com/html/ring_out_wild_bells.html

it could show the various types of ringing.  some people think that bell ringing is just clanging it around.  but, you can get different 'feels' from how the bell is rung and what the tempo is.  she describes each feeling here;  declamatory, sombre, lamenting, exhilarated, mysterious, peaceful.

[quantum]

Gustav Holst - Jupiter.  He also wrote a hymn based on a theme from this.

Stockhausen - Klavierstucke I - IV (they are relatively short)

Mozart - Viennese Sonatinas (or what were originally Divertimentos for 2 clarinets and basoon, then transcribed for piano and called the Viennese Sonatinas)

Widor - Toccata, from his Symphony for Organ No. 5.  This is a very celabratory sounding piece.  I'd imagine it goes with bells very nicely.