Colin Bell

Colin Bell is from Old Bridge, NJ, where he currently serves as an instrumental music teacher in the Old Bridge Public School District. He has served as a music arranger, composer and show designer for numerous high school marching bands, indoor percussion ensembles, and drum corps over the course of 20 years. He performs regularly as a percussionist, most often as a pit orchestra percussionist in theater productions across New Jersey.

Born to a large Scottish family of pipers and drummers, Colin spent his early years performing in pipe bands with his family. He continued his marching percussion experience as a member of the Boston Crusaders, and earned his BA in Music Education from Kean University.

Several unique musical projects stand out among Colin’s career. He served as music arranger and director for actress Janina Gavankar’s music video cover of “Don’t Look Down”, a Martin Garrix and Usher song, featuring the Jersey Surf Drum and Bugle Corps. The music video led to another opportunity along side Janina and Roots drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson at Carnegie Hall, where Colin arranged a trio as a dedication to Prince, and performed along side the two. While touring as a drummer for the reggae band Echo Movement, he recorded an album that featured a collaboration with the Georgia Teach Institute of Technology. Featured on MSNBC, CNN, Engadget and Wired, the album took data from NASA’s Kepler Telescope and converted it into frequencies that became melodic material used in the album. Keeping in touch with his Celtic music upbringing, Colin currently serves as the Celtic Instrumental Music Director at the Balmoral School of Piping and Drumming, where he composes and arranges Celtic music for wind ensemble and orchestral instruments.