Robyn Bell

Musician

Dr. Robyn L. Bell is the Music Program Manager, Director of Instrumental Studies, and Professor of Music at State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota (SCF) in Bradenton where she conducts the Symphonic Band, Bradenton Symphony Orchestra, teaches classes in music appreciation, and administrates the music program. She is also the conductor and music director of the Pops Orchestra of Bradenton and Sarasota. In addition to her responsibilities with the Pops and SCF, Dr. Bell has also served as the conductor of the Sarasota Orchestra Youth Symphony and guest conductor of the Venice Symphony. Dr. Bell received her B.S. degree in music education, magna cum laude, from the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga in 1997 and attended the University of Tennessee, Knoxville as a graduate assistant for the “Pride of the Southland” Marching Band, earning a master’s degree in instrumental conducting in 1999. She completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Boston University in 2015, with a research emphasis on popular music in secondary education.
Dr. Bell is a member of the National Association for Music Educators, Florida Music Educators Association, Florida Bandmasters Association, Florida Orchestra Association, Women Band Directors International, College Band Directors National Association, and College Orchestra Directors Association. She served as treasurer for the Seventh District of the Georgia Music Educators Association for five years and is currently the treasurer for the Women Band Directors International. In addition to serving as treasurer for WBDI, she is a past-president and recipient of the Silver Baton Award from that organization. She was recognized by the Georgia Music Educators Association for her outstanding contributions to music education in 2004 and 2006. In 2007, Dr. Bell was awarded the Citation of Excellence from the National Band Association. In March 2012, Dr. Bell was made an honorary life member of Tau Beta Sigma, a national band sorority dedicated to serving college band programs. She has won the NISOD Award for teaching excellence at SCF, served as Faculty Senate president in the 2015-2016 school year, and was named to SCF’s Leadership Academy in 2019.
In the summer of 2020, Dr. Bell founded the Suncoast Culture Club podcast, a weekly podcast that highlights the cultural arts people, organizations, and events in the culturally rich area of Sarasota and Bradenton, Florida, and has recently been called upon to moderate the Masterworks Classical Conversations for the Sarasota Orchestra, where she will interview conductors and discuss the music that will be performed for selected Masterworks concerts in front of a live audience.