Free arrangement: When They Ring Those Golden Bells

Filed in Free Lessons on January 20, 2012



Here is an arrangement of "When They Ring Those Golden Bells."

When They Ring Those Golden Bells (Free download sheet music)

This is part of the 15-minute arrangement series but don't be surprised if this takes more than 15 minutes to learn.  The harmony is very dense, meaning lots of accidentals.  I will not do this kind of thing all the time but for those of you who love harmony, this should float your boat.  There are a few chords in here that are pretty dissonant.  If they are not your taste, just change the music to something you like better.

Because the harmony is difficult, I have ruthlessly eliminated anything I could from this arrangement to make it easier to play.  I removed extra notes, simplified runs, etc. The guts of it though is what I would play and in fact what I am planning on playing when I record this later in the year.

That being said, subtle things are very important and I have introduced some subtlety in this arrangement that I have not used in the other 15-minute arrangements.  For example, I included grace notes.  I use tons of grace notes when I play and consider them pretty critical to what I do so I gave you a taste of them here.  Also, I have been pretty specific here about voicing--not just the notes to play but how long to hold each note.  Watch that carefully because it makes a big difference.

And here is the video of me playing it.  (If you don't see a video below, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MUodMqs1W0)




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Lance
1/20/2012 3:28:12 PM

I laughed out loud when I saw this. This is so you Greg. Great harmony.

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Glenn Tabor
1/20/2012 5:49:06 PM

Strange question. Greg do you ever worry about the music being too pretty? This style almost feels a little out of place to me. The chords are stunning but it just feels a bit too much like a show or fancy dinner club. Is that a concern?

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mitch
1/21/2012 12:27:42 AM

Frankly, Glenn, I wouldn't be worried about that at all. I feel this melody lends itself to a little more to the "dense" harmony Greg talks about. May be simply personal taste though :).

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toddt
1/22/2012 3:51:03 AM

I love the arrangement. I always hear people play this song more like the version Greg put on his Facebook that someone else did. I love how Greg has such an original take on old hymns. To glen i've been to churches where this arrangement would work, you just have to know who you are playing too. I visited a church and some friends asked me to play something before church started. I started playing the hymn when we all get to heaven in a very singing convention sort of way and my friend said you can't play like that here. I just said oh I'm sorry and started playing something else I didn't get my feelings hurt and no one got offended.

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Gregg
1/22/2012 10:20:41 PM

Greg,
You give out the printed arrangement in a PDF file. What notation software do you use? Do you enter with a midi keyboard or one note at a time with the software. I would like to print out my own arrangements.
Thanks

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Greg Howlett
1/22/2012 10:24:30 PM

I use Finale and I use the speedy entry option. This arrangement takes about 2 hours to get into Finale.

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Ricardo
2/10/2012 11:50:29 PM

Greg -


Do you have any thoughts on this song how it could be made better, or anyone that reads this blog. I like it be it is a simple hymn and a bit boring at times.

"Day is Dying In the West"



http://www.smallchurchmusic.com/Score_PDF/DayIsDying-Chautauqua.pdf

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