Jennifer Cauhorn, Music Director | Dawn Bates | Brenda Bayne
Amy Dutro | Robin Elliott | Sarah Gardner | Jennifer Gliesman | Sandy Greeb
Paul Holcombe | Kathy Kellum | Marie Kramer | Wendy Ransom | Joyce Schmelzer | Tom Terwilliger
Jennifer Cauhorn, Music Director:
Jenny is the founder and current Music Director of the Queen City Bronze handbell ensemble. Jenny has an extensive handbell resume dating back twenty years. She was a founding member of the Tulsa Festival Ringers and has rung for the Dallas Handbell Ensemble and numerous church bell choirs. In addition to handbells Jenny has also logged 30 years experience playing flute and 35 years playing piano. She currently works as Executive Director of Handbell Musicians of American and volunteers as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for abused and neglected children.
Dawn is the Treasurer of Queen City Bronze and brings a strong musical and financial history to the group. Dawn began a musical career as a flute player while in school and has established a love of handbells over the last several years. Dawn comes to the group with 14 years experience playing with her church group, the John Wesley Handbells. Dawn’s musical background makes her valuable to the group as both a bass clef and treble clef ringer. Dawn currently works in the Finance Department for the City of Blue Ash and serves as the Finance Chairperson at John Wesley United Methodist Church. Outside of handbells, Dawn spends time with her family, knittting, reading and spoiling her grandson.
Brenda started playing handbells at Greenhills Community Church when she was 10 years old! Continued playing handbells until early 1980’s at Greenhills. After marrying and moving to Milford, Ohio, Brenda found that she missed playing so she joined Christ Presbyterian Church and their handbell choir in 2006. Brenda played Soprano, Alto & Tenor Saxophone in high school, earned the John Phillip Sousa Award and continues to play Tenor Saxophone in Christ’s Church band. Handbells are a tradition as in her mom played at Greenhills Church and currently her daughter is now playing at Christ Church. When she’s not playing handbells or saxophone, Brenda, a retired engineer, is in her 9th year as a Clermont County 4-H Advisor. Brenda has a husband of 27 years, Bob, a daughter, Brittany, 20 years old and a son, Benjamin 10 years old.
Ringing since 2002, Amy is one of the founding members of Queen City Bronze. In her life outside of handbells, she is the IT Director at a parochial school in Milford. She is married with 3 kids – 2 boys and a little girl. In her free time she enjoys swimming, softball, traveling, advocating for Foster/Adoptive Families, and supporting the family business of Common Cents Coins in Milford.
Robin has a Bachelors of Music from U.C.’s College Conservatory of Music and has been ringing handbells for nearly 35 years. She also directs the handbell choir at Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church, a position she has held for the past 10 years. In addition, she plays trombone and sings in the Norwood Community Choir. She is currently one of the teachers in the infant/toddler room at the U.C. Early Learning Center. In her free time, Robin enjoys spending time with her family, especially her three daughters, as well as traveling, watching comedies or thrillers, and reading.
Sarah does not have much experience with handbells, but has a lot of musical experience. She has been a cellist for 15 years. Sarah has been the orchestra director for Winton Woods City Schools for the last three years. Handbells have given her the opportunity to think about music in a totally different way.
Jennifer started ringing handbells in the sixth grade and has loved ringing ever since. She rang in her high school handbell choir in Detroit and now finds herself under the same wonderful director in her choir at St. Paul Lutheran Church. She has rung in a variety of choirs from Detroit, MI, Holland, MI and now Cincinnati, OH and has enjoyed playing the tiny treble bells to the large bass bells over that time. In her non-bell ringing time, she works for GE Capital as a Senior Risk Analyst and enjoys swimming, reading, being with her family, and drinking wine with her friends.
Sandy is one of the founding members of QCB. She began ringing handbells in the 6th grade. She currently rings in a church handbell choir and also plays handbell solos at various congregations throughout the year, in addition to QCB. Sandy has attended a variety of bell clinics and conferences throughout the US working with many conductors, including William Payn. She has a solid history of solo and small ensemble ringing, having the opportunity to ring on tour in England with a small sextet ensemble. Sandy auditioned for one of the All Star choirs at Pinnacle 2010 and got into the top group, the Dream Team, under the direction of William Payn. In addition to all of her bell experience Sandy also holds a BA in Music from Miami University and plays the piano. Sandy enjoys cooking and spending her free time with her husband, Alan, and their dog, Buster.
A native of Pennsylvania, Paul became involved in music at an early age, studying piano for 8 years and playing the flute and piccolo for nearly 25 years. He began ringing handbells 15 years ago with his church group, Fairborn UMC Memorial Bells. Since 2002, Paul has participated in numerous Area V festivals and in October 2011, he was honored to be selected to ring at the Handbell Musicians of America’s, Distinctly Bronze East Festival in New Bern, North Carolina. Paul has also been active in the choral arena over the years, performing many of the major choral works as a bass singer in various Symphony Orchestra Choruses and Chorales across the country. Paul retired from the United States Air Force after 24 years of active duty service and currently works as a Programs Administrative Assistant for the Department of Defense at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. He has a wife of 32 years, Son Cha, 2 daughters & 3 grandchildren. In addition to music, he enjoys reading, studying history, and watching football, baseball, old TV shows and classic movies.
Kathy is one of the founding members of Queen City Bronze , bringing a myriad of experience to QCB as an accomplished keyboardist and accompanist. She has enjoyed ringing with the Trinity Tower Bells of Milford, Ohio for more than 20 years. A retired high school language teacher, Kathy enjoys substitute teaching in several area high schools, and she is a private piano teacher. Married to Robert for 33 years, the two enjoy gardening, traveling, and spending time with their granddaughter.
Marie joined Queen City Bronze in the fall of 2011. She started ringing handbells in high school and really developed a love for it while ringing in college. Marie earned her Bachelors of Music Education from Baldwin-Wallace college in 2009, and currently teaches Vocal Music at Delhi Middle School in Oak Hills. She has been studying piano for 16 years and continues to be involved with local community groups as a vocalist and accompanist. Outside of the music world, Marie enjoys bowling on leagues and competing in latin ballroom dance.
Wendy has built an extensive resume over the last 30 years playing with a plethora of various handbell choirs throughout the U.S. She has played with choirs from California to Pennsylvania and throughout that time has devoted eight years time to directing different choirs along the way. Wendy has been a ringing participant in the Area V Festival since 2006 and hopes to continue that trend ringing with Queen City Bronze. In 2010 Wendy joined the board for Area 5 of Handbell Musicians of America and has quickly become immersed in handbell leadership. Wendy’s other musical ability is in choral performance. In addition to QCB she sings with the Voices of Praise chancel choir at Epiphany United Methodist Church in Loveland. Outside of music, Wendy enjoys everything Disney and spending time with her husband, Doug and her dog, Milo