Dr. Richard Bell, Founder and Conductor

Dr. Richard Bell is currently in his eighth year as associate professor of music at Clayton State University. His teaching areas include orchestra, conducting, double bass, music education, music composition and music theory. He is also the conductor of the Southern Crescent Symphony.  A strong advocate for music education throughout the state, Richard is a graduate of the Arts Leaders of Metropolitan Atlanta class of 2018, a member of the steering committee for the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Arts and Culture Strategic Plan and the state advisor for the collegiate division of the Georgia Music Educators Association. He holds bachelors and masters degrees from Florida State University and a doctorate from the University of Georgia. He taught middle school and high school orchestra in the Clayton and Henry County schools for 29 years and served for two years on the faculty of Reinhardt University as conductor of the Reinhardt Orchestra. During his time in the public schools he served as president of the Georgia Music Educators Association and the Georgia Chapter of the American String Teachers Association. Dr. Bell has presented sessions at the GMEA In-Service Conference, the American String Teachers Association National Conference, the Music Educators National Conference and the National Association for Music Education in Ireland. As a composer he has numerous published and commissioned works for school orchestra. His double bass teachers included Ralph Jones, Lucas Drew and Pamela Andrews. Awards received during his career include the Georgia Music Educators Association Distinguished Career Award, the Georgia String Teachers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation Award, the Walmart Foundation Teacher of the Year Award, the STAR Teacher Award and the Clayton State University College of Arts and Sciences Gene Hatfield Service Award.