Our Ringers
Director - Mary Moffett
Mary was born and raised in Puyallup, Washington. In 1985, she opened her first piano studio in Gwinn, Michigan, where she and her husband Ed lived during his first assignment in the Air Force. Over the next 20 years, Mary had the pleasure of teaching piano to children and adults in several states around the country as she and her family moved according to her husband’s military assignments. When her husband retired from active duty in 2005, they settled in Kaysville, Utah where she set up her piano studio and continued to teach piano.
In addition to teaching piano, she has taught elementary school music to grades K-6, directed several school and church vocal choirs, and has been in high demand as a choir and solo/ensemble accompanist. She joined the Bells of Joyful Sound as a ringer in 2010 and became the director in January 2011. In January 2023, after 35 years of teaching piano, Mary retired and closed her piano studio. She has been involved with Handbell Musicians of America, Area 11 since January of 2012, serving in multiple positions on the board. She continues to be a mentor and focuses on educating and helping new ringers and directors in the Area. She and her husband Ed have 5 married children and 9 grandchildren.
Our Ringers
Erin
Erin was born and raised in Great Falls, Montana, and moved to West Jordan with her family in 2001. She was home schooled all through grade school, enrolled in Christian Liberty Academy’s distance education program, and graduated with her high school diploma in 2004. She went on to study music at SLCC, graduating with honors in 2008, just after joining the Bells of Joyful Sound in 2007. Besides playing handbells, she sings, plays guitar, and dabbles with various other instruments. She enjoys reading, watching movies, playing video games, and doing anything crafty, which all blend perfectly with her job as the assistant circulation supervisor at the West Valley Library. She’s led several praise and worship bands, sung in various choirs, and is still heavily involved in her home church’s music ministry, but ringing bells has been her priority and passion for several years.
Krissy
Krissy grew up in Herriman, Utah, where she was introduced to handbells by her older sister. She started playing bells at Herriman High in 2011 during her junior year. After graduating in 2013, she began playing with the Bells of Joyful Sound. She hopes to become an author someday. She enjoys writing, reading, playing video games, and playing the bells. She works at Walmart in Riverton, even though she lives in Holladay with a roommate. Her mother’s side of the family is very musically gifted; her mother was a singer and a pianist. However, Krissy went beyond singing and attempting to play the piano to ringing handbells. In her free time, she enjoys crocheting while watching Netflix to unwind.
Andrew
Andrew was born in Goa, India but after 5 months, he decided he didn’t like the food and promptly moved to Sandy, Utah. Okay, he was adopted and moved to Utah where he grew up. His Mom made him take piano lessons when he was in 3rd grade. He then took up percussion in 7th grade and started playing handbells after high school at Hilltop United Methodist Church and after several years, became the director and held that position for 7 years. He also played percussion at the University of Utah. In 2013, he joined the Bells of Joyful Sound and got to ring again. He works full time as a Paramedic and is involved with Boy Scouts of America. He likes to play softball. When not working, he likes to spend time in mountains, hiking and camping. He currently resides in Herriman, where he lives with his dog, Austin, a German shepherd that’s NOT spoiled at all.
Ann
Ann, who grew up in Sandy, Utah, started playing bells at Jordan High. She fell in love with bells there, and played with the Westminster Bell Choir in Logan for 3 years, and has played with the Bells of Joyful Sound since 2009. She also loves to play the piano, sing, and play the organ. Ann teaches special needs students at an elementary school. Ann likes to makes cards with stamps, read, crochet, and travel with her family.
April
Music has always been a significant part of April’s life since she began playing the piano at age five. She also plays the flute and piccolo and was a member of choir and bell choir in high school. April graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Financial Services and after working at Goldman Sachs for several years, she returned to school and pursued a degree in Nursing from the University of Utah. She currently works in a leadership position at Primary Children’s Hospital. April loves to travel and her favorite trip was exploring Europe following a study abroad to Madrid, Spain. April enjoys the outdoors, especially in the summertime, and spending time with her family. She is excited for the opportunity to be a ringer with the Bells of Joyful Sound.
Brianna
Brianna grew up in Lacey, Washington. She began playing the piano at the age of 5, and has also played the viola and organ. Brianna has her own piano studio and has taught for over 10 years. She loves teaching students of all ages. In 2020, Brianna decided to go back to school and learn computer programming. She and her husband love to play pickleball and board games (games like Kingdom Builder, Exit: The Game, and Clank!). She began ringing bells with the Bells of Joyful Sound in 2014 and has been hooked ever since.
Laura
Laura grew up in Millcreek, Utah. Music has always been a part of her life since she began piano lessons at age 6. She also plays flute and piccolo and was a member of the University of Utah marching and pep bands. She also loves singing, dancing, and dabbling with various instruments. Being in a handbell choir can be checked off her bucket list and she has been playing handbells since 2011. She joined the Bells of Joyful Sound in 2019. Laura has a degree from Western Governors University in Special Education and uses it to teach kindergarten. Laura delights in anything crafty, listening to many genres of music, and hanging out with family watching movies. She also enjoys reading and trying new things.
Garan
Garan was born in Lacey, Washington and moved to West Jordan Utah at the age of 5. He is the 5th of 7 kids, is currently unmarried, and just recently graduated from Riverton High School in 2019. During his life Garan has always been in love with music, he has performed in 8+ musicals and has been in numerous choirs throughout the community and school. He started playing bells in his senior year of high school and instantly fell in love. Garan’s other interests include, Civil Engineering, Architectural Design and, like all 18-year old’s, playing Nintendo video games and watching amazing TV shows on Netflix. He hopes to attend Utah State and study Music Theory or Architectural Design and hopes to find work as a High School Choir teacher or Civil Engineer. For the time being, he is more than excited and very proud to be a part of the Bells of Joyful Sound!
Annie
Annie was raised in Peoa, Utah where she learned to work hard on a fish farm. She began playing the piano at the age of seven and then began playing the flute and piccalo in 6th grade. She enjoyed being in marching band all the way through college where she enjoyed being part of the drumline. She graduated from the U of U with a Bachelor’s in Music Education. Although she loves music, she found her place as a Montessori preschool Teacher and Education Coach for her school. Annie loves to travel and can’t wait to do more of it in the future. She also loves being creative and creating different patterns with intricate string art.
She has a wonderful husband and three children that she loves very much. Thanks to her good friend Andrew, she began playing handbells with the Bells of Joyful Sound in 2021 and has loved every minute of it!
Joell
Joell grew up in Sandy, Utah. She started music in fourth grade where she learned to play the violin. She discovered handbells when her church started a bell choir. She played there for 20 years before joining Bells of Joyful Sound in 2020. Joell has been an Elementary School Educator since 1994 and is currently a technology specialist at two schools. Besides music and teaching, Joell enjoys traveling and often combines her love of travel with handbells. She has attended several handbell conferences, festivals, and seminars in places such as St. Louis, Missouri, Phoenix, Arizona, and Anaheim, California with Disneyland being her favorite place to play handbells! She also enjoys reading and snuggling with her cat.
Denae
Denae grew up in Riverton, Utah, with a very musical family. As she was growing up, her siblings all took piano. She was never one to be left out, so after begging her parents for months on end, they agreed to let her start when she turned 8 – though she got her way a couple months early. Denae joined just about any choir she could, from her home ward’s to her school’s when it had one. She discovered bell choir when she was a sophomore in high school, but only was able to join her junior and senior year. She fell in love with it quickly, and after graduating in 2019, she felt sad that she didn’t know any bell choirs to join. She found the Bells of Joyful Sound on the last day of 2021, and has been thrilled to ring again!
Carl
Carl was born in San Luis Obispo California but raised mostly in Gainesvilles Florida. His passion for music began in his high school general music class where we discovered an affinity to music composition. After high school, he left Florida to study at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah with hopes of becoming a film composer. With 15 credits left until graduating as a music composition major, Carl began working as the BYU Welsh Choir Conductor where he discovered his greater passion for teaching music. So with only a year left until graduation, he switched majors to Music Education. He later received his Masters from BYU in Music Education with a special emphasis in sight singing. He still uses his composition background in his teaching.
Carl currently resides in Lehi, Utah with his wife and three rambunctious children (two twin boys and a girl). He currently teaches 6 choirs, a bell choir, and music appreciation at Willowcreek Middle School in Lehi. In his spare time, he loves composing music, playing boardgames and video games, camping, hiking, sewing, crocheting, sketching, and other artsy crafts.
Elise
Elise grew up in the D.C. area and began ringing bells in 4th grade. In high school and college, she played with the Virginia Bronze and National Honors Handbell Ensembles. Elise is pursuing her M.A. in Theology from the University of Notre Dame and recently arrived in Utah to begin two years of field work at St. John the Baptist Catholic Parish in Draper. Her other interests include crafting and baking.
