Saturday, April 24, 2027.Â
Concert begins at 4:00 p.m.
New Location!
Caldwell University Student Center
120 Bloomfield Ave, Caldwell, NJ 07006
(Google Maps Directions: 9 Ryerson Ave, Caldwell, NJ 07006)
Registration opens October 15, 2026
Payment due by January 31, 2027
Born and raised in Canton, Ohio, Michael Joy has lived in Philadelphia, PA since
1974. He received a Bachelor of Music Degree in Theory and Composition from
Baldwin-Wallace University. He studied handbells with Donald Allured and handbell
composition with Arnold Sherman. In 2019 Michael retired from The Shipley School
in Bryn Mawr, PA where he taught for 21 years and developed the handbell program
there. In June of 2025, Michael retired as the Music Director of the First
Presbyterian Church in Ambler, PA after almost 50 years! He started the handbell
program there in 1978.
Michael served as the Executive Editor for the GIA Foundations Series, designed
specifically for developing handbell ensembles in schools. He is the co-author (with
Sandra Eithun) of Pathways to Musical Ringing, a reproducible series from
Choristers Guild. Michael is a published composer and has taught at Handbell
Musicians of America Area festivals and National Seminars, PMEA district and state
conferences, and the 2008 International Handbell Symposium. He was the inaugural
director of the first College Ring-In from 2016-2018. In June of 2019, Michael was
the inaugural conductor for Reaching for Bronze, a handbell event for ringers who
aspire to become advanced level ringers. He received the Donald E. Allured Original
Composition Award for 2011. Jeffers Publishing Company named Michael Composer
of the Year for 2004 for his composition Dorian Dance.
Noel Piercy is a published handbell composer and arranger. Noel has degrees in music education, organ performance, and choral conducting. He began directing handbells in 1982 in Indiana and later in New Jersey. He currently teaches elementary music in Franklin Township, New Jersey and directs the Carillon Handbell Choir at North Branch Reformed Church in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Noel resides in West Caldwell, New Jersey with his wife, Barbara.
