I created a handbell chart for the primary song, Oh, Hush Thee, My Baby. I have 2 chart options: one that plays the suggested ostinato on the verses. The other option plays chords. Either handbell chart will help you implement handbells into your singing time lesson plan!
Before adding the handbells to this song, I introduced Oh, Hush Thee, My Baby into singing time last week using my lesson plan HERE.
Since my primary kids are now familiar with Oh, Hush Thee, My Baby, the bells are a wonderful way to get the kids to sing it over and over again without even realizing it!
Our primary will be singing this song in sacrament meeting the Sunday before Christmas and performing with the handbells.
Now, if you are unfamiliar with handbells, I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend familiarizing yourself with my handbell post HERE. I go over information like:
- where I purchased my bells
- how I use them in singing time with my handbell rules
- how my charts generally run
- and LOTS more!!
My handbell charts typically require the additional 5-note add on set (the yellow box pictured above in addition to the red box). So if you have recently purchased the Merry Bells basic 8-note set (which is essentially the red box ONLY), and want to use my charts, you will either have to omit all the sharp notes in my chart or find a way to purchase the additional set asap (the yellow box). All these details are gone over in detail in my post linked above.
Okay, on to my handbell chart details!
I am trying a few new things with my Oh, Hush Thee, My Baby handbell chart! I’ve never before differentiated between the octaves with my handbell charts.
The orange box pictured above gives you additional 7-notes to give you octaves. So if you don’t have the orange box, and only have 1 purple note in your handbell set, you can just have the same purple bell play the entire time (you’ll disregard where it says “LOW” on the chart.
Usually I just have all the purple bells play all the purple notes. But I’ve decided to give it a try this time around since the ostinato only plays the “B” note octaves. I’ve differentiated between the 2 bells by adding the word “LOW” in white to my chart. The ostinato is only found in the verses. For the chorus I’ve used chords.
I’ve tried to match my chart with what is written on the tip of the handbell (the Low/B handbell is part of the orange box and the B/7 is part of the red box):
The words in the lower righthand corner on my charts are the words that are sung when the bell is played, along with the counting. This is to help you direct the music.
The first note on page one is played when you sing “hush” on the 1st verse and is held for 3 counts (123). The next note is played on the word “ba-” (part of the word baby) and held for 2 counts (1 2), then the next note comes in on count 3 where nothing is sung on count 3.
Each note is played individually until you get to the chorus. On the chorus, the 3 notes in the 1 rectangular box on the same line are all played together. These are chords. Again I’ve notated the words that are sung when each chord is played:
To accommodate the white bell in the Merry Bells set, my red “C” notes will now display a white letter “C.” This indicates that the red and white bells can play this note.
If you don’t have the octave bells, or would rather just play the chords throughout the entire song, I have another chart that plays the chords for both the verses and the chords (it omits the ostinato in the verses):
Clear as mud? Let me know if you have questions! Choose the chart that works best with your primary’s set of handbells! Make sure to scroll through all of my other singing time lesson plans that incorporate the bells HERE.
If you are looking for more Christmas singing time lesson plans, scroll through those posts HERE.
These printables are filed on my Resource Library page under Song Title > Oh, Hush Thee, My Baby.
