Well, more like arrangements and transcriptions, but either way here’s what I’ve come out with recently. My handbell ensemble was scheduled to play for a German women’s society dinner this last week, so I did an arrangement of “O Tannenbaum” specifically for the event. Those who have played or heard my music before would say it’s a “typical Pfitzinger piece.” :-) I called it “Tannenbaum Variations” because it’s variations on that song. Go figure. It starts out like a waltz, then become a jazz waltz with a swing style, followed by a rather minimalist version with the top bells doing “sleigh bells” over it, then more upbeat verse that’s almost like a march or polka, followed by a “rock style” verse. It was a lot of fun and the people at the dinner seemed to like it. If you like, you can listen to it.

That’s all that I wrote for Christmas this year. But I DID just finish a neat transcription of Mozart’s “Ave Verum Corpus.” If you’ve sung it, you’ll know that it’s one of the more beautiful pieces Mozart wrote. I did a transcription, staying as close to the original as possible, but had the melody that’s normally sung by the sopranos in the choir played on handbells and all the rest (other voice parts and instrumental accompaniment) covered with chimes. The result is that the piece takes 3-5 octaves of chimes, but only 2 octaves of handbells. Kinda different and not very long (3:08), but I think it’s really rather nice. I’ve got an mp3 of it here (with a basic handbell soundfont) or here (with a “choir aahs” sound).

As always, let me know if you want to see a PDF of any of these.

[tags]handbells, handbell music, Christmas, compositions, Mozart, bells, chimes[/tags]