The arranging of Latter-day Saint hymns for English handbell ensembles is a highly niche, yet fascinating, subject that I’ve been learning about while working on a book-length history of the Bells at Temple Square. While modern English handbell ringing has flourished in Protestant worship since the 1950s, it remains relatively rare within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Because of the unique structural constraints of our local wards, the commercial market for handbell arrangements of uniquely Latter-day Saint hymns is vanishingly small. Yet, despite these hurdles, a handful of creative arrangers have quietly begun building a developing repertoire tailored specifically to our worship.
To understand why this repertoire is so small, it helps to look at how handbell ringing developed. While handbells have existed for centuries, the modern ensemble tradition only began taking shape in the 1950s. Before that, handbells were mostly played as novelty acts in traveling variety shows, pub entertainment, or British ringing competitions. They caught on among enthusiastic hobbyists in New England for a time, but once two prominent Presbyterian churches in New York and Pennsylvania embraced bell choirs, Protestant churches across North America followed suit. This shift brought professional church musicians into the fold, ensuring that Christian hymns and church-appropriate anthems became a cornerstone of published handbell literature. To this day, Christian church ensembles drive the handbell publishing industry.
Latter-day Saints mostly did not get involved in establishing and running handbell ensembles, particularly at the institutional level. The Church operates under a structure that creates distinct financial, spatial, and liturgical barriers to supporting ward handbell choirs:
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Financial: Wards operate on centralized, lay-managed budgets that rarely prioritize expensive specialized instrumentation.
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Spatial: Meetinghouse chapels lack space to set up bulky equipment and standard padded bell tables.
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Liturgical: The “low church” tradition of sacrament meetings limits musical variety primarily to congregational singing and occasional “special musical numbers” by a limited selection of instruments.
As a result, Latter-day Saints interested in handbell ringing historically joined Protestant church choirs or community groups. When LDS-centric ensembles emerged in the late twentieth century, they were almost always grassroots endeavors that were officially community ensembles—such as Tintinnabulation in Las Vegas or Bountiful Bells in Bountiful, Utah. The notable institutional exception is the Bells at Temple Square, established in 2005.
Because ward handbell choirs are virtually non-existent, the commercial market for arrangements of uniquely Latter-day Saint hymns remains vanishingly small. However, a handful of arrangers and directors have quietly built a small, niche repertoire.
What Has Been Arranged So Far?
Because the Latter-day Saint hymnal shares a vast amount of music with broader Western Christianity, Latter-day Saint bell ensembles already have thousands of published pieces available to them. But when it comes to hymns unique or iconic to the Restoration, there are just a few key contributors:
1. Early Community Commissions (Bill Ingram and Utah Valley Handbell Choir)
In the 1990s, Karen Eskew-Wyllie founded the Utah Valley Handbell Choir (an independent community ensemble). Seeking arrangements of iconic Latter-day Saint hymns, she connected with prominent handbell musician Bill Ingram, who arranged two flagship pieces:
Both were recorded on the choir’s 2000 album, Inspire-Ring Hymns.
2. The Bells at Temple Square (Tom Waldron)
While the Bells at Temple Square mostly perform standard published literature, founding conductor Tom Waldron arranged three Latter-day Saint hymns specifically for the ensemble during his tenure:
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“This Is the Christ” (frequently performed by the ensemble and maintained in their active repertoire after Waldron’s retirement)
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“Come, Come, Ye Saints”
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“The Spirit of God”
3. Practical Adaptations for Sacrament Meetings (Daniel Lee Gibby)
Outside of choir directors, ringer and composer Daniel Lee Gibby has emerged as a primary provider of Latter-day Saint handbell sheet music. While his published works through From the Top Music feature complex, large-ensemble arrangements of hymns from the Protestant Christian tradition, his self-published arrangements on Free Sacred Sheet Music and his personal site intentionally address local ward constraints.
Designed for as few as 4 to 16 ringers, often requiring no tables or incorporating piano accompaniment (similar to the popular “12-bell” small-ensemble style used elsewhere in the handbell community), his catalog includes a few uniquely Latter-day Saint hymns and children’s songs:
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“I Love to See the Temple”
Notably, among the Latter-day Saint hymn and children’s songs arrangements discussed in this post, only Gibby’s are currently available to the general public.
Looking Ahead
It is encouraging to see how a handful of arrangers have solved the logistical puzzle of bringing handbell music into Latter-day Saint meetinghouses. As more Latter-day Saints musicians continue to experiment with and use handbells, there remains plenty of room for growth. I, for one, would love to see this catalog expand to include arrangements of beloved favorites like “Far, Far Away on Judea’s Plains,” “High on the Mountain Top,” “I Know That My Redeemer Lives,” “Our Savior’s Love,” or “Jesus Is the Way.”
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