Margi Zearley. . . .
is the Founder and Director of Sonoran Bells. Her vision was -- and continues to be -- a group of dedicated ringers who could present the most challenging handbell music in a variety of venues, and who would entertain and teach audiences of all ages as well as inspire the next generation of ringers.Although you may have seen Margi directing in front of Sonoran Bells, you will now most likely find her (subtly) directing while ringing in the group, either surrounded by bass bells, or at the top with four-in-hand, or pretty much anywhere in between. (You can recognize her as the one ringing not just with her hands and arms, but with her entire body.)
Margi grew up with piano and violin and later added guitar and recorder; she discovered handbells around 1987 when three black boxes turned up in her first classroom in Maryland.
Margi received her B.S. in Music Ed from Penn State University and her M.M. in Choral Conducting from the University of Arizona. She has also completed coursework at Concordia Lutheran Wisconsin School of Music and participated in the AGEHR Conducting Master Class with Dr. William Payn.
Prior to starting Sonoran Bells, Margi taught elementary music in Catalina Foothills School District for 5 years. She now teaches chorus and bells at Tortolita Middle School in the Marana School District. Margi is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She enjoys, cooking, doing things with her two children Donny & Katrina, and "dating" husband Chris. She also likes wine tasting, shopping, traveling with her family, and watching football (especially Penn State, as GO BLUE can be heard clearly in her neighborhood on fall Saturdays). Her travels have taken her as far as Italy, where she was once played with a handbell group for two weeks. If the right Power Ball ticket turned up, there would be travel to Australia and around the world, and then a special house for every kind of bell known, where she would devote her life to teaching people to ring.