"Alan Lohr grew up in south central Iowa. As far back as he can remember he wanted to be a band director. Each fall, he would follow the local high school band around town as they would practice their marching routines. He sometimes knew the formations better than the band members. Besides music, he loved to swim. He was hired as a lifeguard at the age of 15, some three months before he was old enough to “legally” be a lifeguard.
He graduated from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina with a bachelors degree in music education and a master's degree in church music. His first teaching position was at Pillsbury Baptist Bible College in Owatonna, Minnesota where he was not only the band director, but he was the entire instrumental music department! While at Pillsbury, Mr. Lohr heard and played his first handbell. After that, he was 'hooked'.
Alan is back at Bob Jones University as the instrumental music coordinator for SoundForth, the music division of the University's press. During the school year, Mr. Lohr directs two University handbell choirs, a community handbell choir (Carolina Bronze), and an adult church handbell choir. He is very active in the AGEHR (American Guild of English Handbell Ringers) and has held Area offices. He is currently the national secretary/treasurer of HIC (Handbell Industry Council), the business organization of AGEHR and works directly with most major publishers of handbell music (Lorenz, Shawnee, Agape/Hope, Beckenhorst, etc.). He is an active clinician at handbell conferences.
In his spare time, he does freelance music engraving and likes to read and garden. Now that his daughter is married and living in Guam, Alan thinks that he and his wife, Nancy, will soon become world travelers.
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