Susan Berry

Susan Berry

Susan Berry is an authority on proper ringing. In 2000 she completed and published the eight‑year project, Healthy Ringing, a comprehensive book that single handedly changed the way ringers approach their instrument. She coauthored the Learning To Ring curriculum, with its two instructional manuals, nine collections of music arrangements, and many visual aids. She coauthored the popular instructional video Bell Basics, still widely used two decades after its production.

Susan has been the featured director or clinician at many national and international music conferences and reading clinics. These include Pinnacle, AGEHR Directors' Seminars, the Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration, and many area and local events. She writes for professional journals, including Overtones, and regularly organizes workshops for choirs of all sizes and levels. She was Michigan State Chair of the AGEHR from 1980–1983, and is a past president of the Choristers Guild chapter in Detroit.

Susan is the founder and director of the Detroit Handbell Ensemble, a community‑based ensemble with a strong educational focus. In addition to performing concerts year round, the DHE presents an annual technique workshop and has done recordings for the Lorenz Corporation. Susan was also the founding director of Detroit's Classical Bells, from 1982–1989.

As a Malmark representative for over twenty‑five years, Susan has worked with hundreds of directors to launch handbell and handchime programs. She is currently adjunct faculty at Marygrove College in Detroit and has previously served as an organist, choir director, music teacher and certified Orff instructor.

Today, Susan owns and runs her own company, Handbell Services, Inc., based in Dearborn, Michigan. Working with quality artists and manufacturers, she creates products and services available to the global handbell community through a store, an extensive catalog, website, and festival exhibits nationwide.