Author: The Chapel Hill Duo

The Chapel Hill Duo’s music goes beyond the boundaries of genre and challenges the ‘classical’ Violin and Cello stereotypes. With years of experience performing Pop, Jazz, Classical, Film and Folk music, and a firm grounding in the perfection of Classical virtuosity, they explore the limits of what is possible with just two musicians, a Violin and a Cello. Although the Duo are loosely based in the East Midlands, U.K., they spend much of their time touring and playing for hundreds of events across the country. Be it a Concert, Wedding, Corporate event, Party or Primary School assembly, Sarah and Jaya love performing and approach all of their engagements with equal enthusiasm. The Duo’s own intricately detailed covers and arrangements are internationally renowned, selling thousands of copies of sheet music a year. Whether they are tackling the latest top 40 chart hits, epic film-scores or old classics, Sarah and Jaya undertake each new challenge with the same energy and commitment. Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide enjoy watching and listening to the Duo perform live and online every year. They have released four albums to date as well as numerous singles of their most popular covers. As a Duo, Jaya and Sarah have performed in numerous world-class venues including Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, the Green Note London, the Bath & Brighton Komedias, Brighton Pavilion, Europe House London and the National Piping Centre of Scotland. They have also had the pleasure of recording for, and playing live on, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio Lincolnshire, among others. In 2011 Violinist Jaya Hanley and Cellist Sarah James met at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London. In 2015 the Duo graduated with 1st Class Honours Performance Degrees in their respective instruments, but they came away with so much more than just a qualification. In November the following year Jaya and Sarah got engaged on top of Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh – when they find the time, they might actually get around to planning their own wedding!

Christmas Music Quiz 🎉🎄🥳 Name the song! + Answers (No cheating!)

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Welcome to our Christmas Music Quiz! 😃 Perfect for Christmas Parties and Family get-togethers over the holidays. Or, you know, just a normal Tuesday evening 😂 answers are at the bottom of this page. We hope you enjoy and have a very Merry Christmas! 🎉🎄🥳

Answers (no peeking!)

Classic Christmas Songs

1. All I Want For Christmas – Mariah Carey

2. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) – originally Nat King Cole

3. Merry Christmas Everybody – Slade

4. Step Into Christmas – Elton John

5. (Simply Having A) Wonderful Christmastime – Paul McCartney

6. Christmas Wrapping – The Waitresses

7. Blue Christmas – Elvis Presley

8. Last Christmas – Wham!

Modern Christmas Songs

1. Santa Tell Me – Ariana Grande

2. Underneath The Tree – Kelly Clarkson

3. Merry Christmas – Ed Sheeran & Elton John

4. One More Sleep – Leona Lewis

5. Christmas Lights – Coldplay

6. Snowman – Sia

7. My Only Wish – Britney Spears

8. Mistletoe – Justin Bieber

Christmas Carols

1. Away In A Manger

2. Carol Of The Bells

3. Good Christian Men Rejoice/In Dulci Jubilo

4. Oh Holy Night

5. Silent Night

6. We Three Kings

7. The First Noel

8. O Come All Ye Faithful

Christmas Films

1. ‘Somewhere In My Memory’ from Home Alone

2. ‘Do you Wanna Build A Snowman?’ from Frozen

3. ‘Walking In The Air’ from The Snowman

4. ‘Thankful Heart’ from The Muppets Christmas Carol

5. ‘Main Theme’ from The Holiday

6. ‘Glasgow Love Theme from Love Actually

7. ‘What’s This?’ from The Nightmare Before Christmas

8. ‘White Christmas’ from White Christmas, but first featured The Holiday Inn in 1942

#chapelhillduo #violin #cello #christmas #christmasquiz #christmasfun #education #musiceducation #musicgame #musicgames #musicteaching #christmasgame #christmasgames #christmascarol #christmassongs #christmasfilm #christmasfilms #classicchristmas

We won!!! TWIA 2024 Best Musical Act in the East Midlands 🙌

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We are absolutely thrilled to announce that we are the 🏅WINNERS🏅 of The Wedding Industry Awards 2024: Best Musical Act in the East Midlands!!!! 🤩🏆✨🎉🎻🎶

We can’t put into words how incredibly grateful and lucky we feel and would like to once again thank you ALL for your support and kindness over the years 🥰

To all our wonderful wedding couples who voted for us – winning this award is incredible, but the real prize is knowing that we did right by you all. If we can add just a little bit of extra joy and excitement to what was always going to be a magical wedding day, then we’re doing it right. So thank you all ❤️

The Wedding Industry Awards recognise and celebrate the amazing people who work in all areas of the wedding industry. It felt absolutely incredible to be surrounded by so many talented and dedicated professionals. Whether you made it through in your category or not, congratulations to EVERYONE!!! You are clearly loved and appreciated by your clients, so keep doing the amazing work you do!!! 🤩

We are officially in the running for best musical act in the country 😱 Nationals in January… 🤞

P.s. thank you to the lovely Maddie at Norwood Park for sending us this little clip of the announcement 🫶

#twia2024 #twiaeastmidlands #TheWeddingIndustryAwards #EastMidlandsWeddingSuppliers #UKWeddingSuppliers #UKWeddingAwards #weddingmusic #weddingmusicians #weddinginspiration #weddingideas #weddingplanning

“We can’t thank you enough” – client review from Hodsock Priory Wedding

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We recently received a beautiful thank you card in the post and we can honestly say it made our week ❤️

Performing during the evening reception at Hodsock Priory

“Where do we start?! It’s been an absolute pleasure from when I first met you almost two years ago, to listening to you both play to us on zoom, to having you play on our wedding day – we can’t thank you enough.”

The new Mr & Mrs outside the beautiful Hodsock Priory: www.hodsockpriory.com

“You created the perfect ambience and so many of our guests commented on your incredible talent. Thank you so so much for also being the most lovely, down to earth people.”

Performing as guests arrive at Blyth Church

“Walking down the aisle to you playing Canon in D was an absolute dream.”

Here comes the bride! Charlotte making her entrance to Pachelbel’s Canon in D

Thank you SO much for your kind words Charlotte & Joe 🫶 playing for you guys was an absolute pleasure, from guests arriving at the Church right through to the evening reception at Hodsock Priory. It’s a day we’ll remember for a long time!!! 😍🎻🎉

The groom refrains from turning around as he eagerly awaits the arrival of his bride

All photos captured by the amazing Essie: www.estherlouisetriffittphotography.com

#weddingreview #clientreview #weddingindustry #weddingvendor #weddingsupplier #weddingday #weddingmusicians #weddinginspiration #weddinginspo

7 Years of playing Stand By Me by Ben E. King 😱

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It’s been 7 years since we first performed Stand By Me by Ben E. King and it’s been a staple on our playlist ever since. It’s such a timeless, classic tune, I don’t think we’ll ever get bored of it. Jaya loves pretending to be an old-timey string orchestra in the bridge section 😂

#standbyme #beneking #weddingtiktok #weddingguest #standbymesong #violinclassic #classicwedding #weddingsongideas #weddingtrends #cellolove #violinjazz #cellojazz

Wedding Music Tips: Creating your playlist.

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Wedding Tips: Choosing music for your playlist. Here are some tips on how to create a varied playlist for your wedding day that will keep your guests interested and entertained! We hope this helps any prospective Brides who are struggling with their music choices! Good luck and have fun picking your music!


#bridetobe #weddingplanning #weddingplaylist #weddingplaylistideas #weddingtrends #weddingtips #weddingtips101 #ceremonymusic #drinksreceptionmusic #studioghibli #merrygoroundoflife #joehisaishi @norwoodng25

Why we’ll never get bored of playing at weddings! 😍

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We often get asked “do you get bored of playing at Weddings?” Nuh-uh. Not even a little bit. Even if the music is the same, every Wedding is different and we have special memories from every single one we’ve played at 😍

One time the Groom’s nephew, who had been learning ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ by Nirvana on guitar, asked if he could play it with us after he spotted it on our playlist. OF COURSE! we said PULL UP A CHAIR! His Dad gave him his guitar (intended for use during speeches later on), we tuned and started…

He was incredible! 🤩 it takes some nerve to sit down with a couple of strangers and perform in front of about 20 people without rehearsing a single note! He absolutely nailed it 💪 it’s a moment we’ll keep with us for a long time. The look on the Bride’s face says it all 🥹

Photo credit: Michael Cottingham of Reflections

@norwoodng25 #smellsliketeenspirit #nirvana #pageboy #weddingmusic #drinksreception #musiceducation #youngmusician #inspiringmusic #musiciansofinstagram #weddinginspiration

We are Regional Finalists in the 2024 Wedding Industry Awards! 👏🎉

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We are so excited to announce that we’ve been selected as an East Midlands Regional Finalist in TWIA 2024! 🤩👏🎉

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you ALL for your unending support over the years ❤️ all we’ve ever wanted to do is bring happiness to others through our music! We feel so lucky, not only to be able to call this our job, but to be able to do it together as husband and wife 😍 we have visited some incredible places and met some truly amazing people over the years… we can’t wait to see what the future holds! ✨

Regionals – here we come!!!


#TWIA #TWIA24 #theweddingindustryawards #weddingawards #weddingsupplier #weddingvendor #weddingindustry #musiciansofinstagram #violinistsofinstagram #cellistsofinstagram #weddingmusicians #weddinginspo