DIRECTORS
Brian Childers
(Artistic Director)…
is an accomplished composer, conductor, and clinician. His choral, instrumental, and handbell works are performed throughout the world. He is in demand as a featured clinician at music conferences and festivals across the nation. Brian’s compositions and arrangements are available through a variety of publishers.
Brian has earned degrees from Appalachian State University and the M. Christopher White School of Divinity at Gardner-Webb University. He has conducted church and community groups and served churches in the Southeast, building vibrant programs for choirs, handbells and instrumentalists at each. He currently serves as Director of Handbells and Children and Youth Music at Myers Park United Methodist Church in Charlotte, NC where he oversees a comprehensive handbell ministry to children, youth, and adults. In the spring of 2024, he was named Artistic Director of the Charlotte Bronze Handbell Ensemble, the largest Auditioned Community Bell Ensemble in the Piedmont Region.
Brian is married to Keely Childers, a professional counselor and has two adult children, Hannah and Spencer, both of whom served as drum majors in their respective High School and College marching bands. Brian is an avid runner and a rabid fan of the San Antonio Spurs. You can learn more about Brian, his compositions, “Ringing Deeply (now available as an e-book in full color) and his children’s book, “Boo and His Amazing Bells” at BrianChilders.org.
Karen Shuford
(Assistant Director)…
is a music educator, conductor, and handbell musician with more than 35 years of experience in music education and church music. She retired in 2025 from her role as Director of Worship and Music Ministry at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Hickory, North Carolina, where her responsibilities included conducting three vocal choirs and ringing handbells with both Trinity Ringers and the Chapel Ringers small ensemble. Karen is a 13-year member of Charlotte Bronze Handbell Ensemble and has served as Assistant Director since 2024.
A native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Karen holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Indiana University with concentrations in piano and flute, a Kodály Certificate from the Kodály Center of America, and a Master’s degree in music education with Kodály emphasis from the University of Cincinnati College–Conservatory of Music. A passionate advocate for music education, she has taught on the summer faculties of numerous Kodály teacher training programs and currently serves as a faculty member at both the Kodály Institute at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the Carolina Kodály Institute, where she is Program Director.
In 2014, Karen was honored as Outstanding Educator by the Organization of American Kodály Educators.
Karen is an active clinician, honor choir conductor, and teacher educator throughout the Southeast. She brings a deep pedagogical foundation and a lifelong commitment to musical artistry to her work with handbell ensembles, choirs, and music educators.
Tim Waugh
(Founding Director)...
69, of Princeton, West Virginia, passed from this life into life eternal on Thursday, February 8, 2024. The only child of Harper E. Waugh and Mary Louise Crotty Waugh, Tim was preceded in death by his parents.
An internationally acclaimed conductor, composer, and performance arts educator, Tim was a beloved figure in many performance mediums, including handbell, choral, church music, and musical theatre. Throughout his career, his passion for music and education inspired countless musicians, and he was a tireless champion for performance arts in the church, classroom, and community.
His continued work as a guest conductor and clinician for choral and handbell festivals followed a 33-year career in public school music education. He proudly called his choir and handbell students “my kids,” and they remained his kids for the rest of his life. Tim served many churches throughout Southern West Virginia and North Carolina from the time he was a youth, playing organ for church services at the early age of 12. At the time of his death, he was employed as the Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church, Salisbury NC, where he was embraced by staff and congregation, adults and children alike.
In 2011, Tim founded Charlotte Bronze Handbell Ensemble, a professional community ensemble based in Charlotte, NC, and served as the group’s beloved conductor and artistic director until his passing.
A kidney transplant recipient as a result of Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), Tim was a determined advocate for organ donation. The kidney Tim received from a selfless live donor allowed his multitude of friends to continue enjoying his talent, teaching, wit, and delightfully quirky humor for 18 years longer than they otherwise would have had.
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