Making music is so much more than
merely playing notes written on a page.
Lauran Delancy is a handbell artist, clinician, and published composer. She began ringing in high school at the Fort Leavenworth Main Post Chapel under the direction of Charm Peterman. She immediately fell in love with handbells and has been directing and solo ringing since 1998. She is a member of Handbell Musicians of America and has served three terms as the Area 8 Education Chair. She is accredited to teach Music Theory I through the Handbell Musicians of America Certification Program.
Lauran holds a BA in Parish Music and a BA in Humanities as well as a Master of Church Music degree with an emphasis in Handbells from Concordia University Wisconsin. While at Concordia, she had the privilege of studying and ringing under Dr. John Behnke as a member of the Alleluia Ringers for six years and also taught and directed The Chapel Ringers for two years. While working on her advanced degree, Lauran was fortunate to study composition with Dr. John Behnke, Dr. Kenneth Kosche, and Arnold Sherman as well as conducting with Dr. Kenneth Kosche, and James Meredith.
Lauran was a founding member of Milwaukee Handbell Ensemble and rang with Rezound!, a community handbell choir of the greater Kansas City area, from 2005 to 2012 when she was named Artistic Director of the ensemble. As Artistic Director of Rezound! from 2012 through 2021, Lauran enjoyed the opportunity to orchestrate the music by intermixing the various unique timbres available to the ensemble. She was privileged to direct on the stage of Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts multiple times when Rezound! performed with the Kansas City Symphony. Under her baton, Rezound! toured annually and was also featured at Area 8 Festival Conferences and at the Nation Seminar of the Handbell Musicians of America.
In the Spring of 2014, Lauran was named Music Director at Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church in Olathe, Kansas. The music ministry has blossomed to include five vocal choirs and five handbell choirs beginning as young as age 3. Lauran serves as the organist and has organized many different small ensembles to enhance worship and finds this work to be extremely rewarding.
In addition to directing, Lauran continues to advance her own ringing skills behind the table with her partner Eric Schlef as the handbell duet A Lovely Shade of Blue. The duet has performed all over the greater Kansas City area as well as at the 2018 Handbell Musicians of America Area 8 Festival Conference.
Lauran finds great joy in writing and arranging music and created the publishing company Headless Mallets Publishing in 2019. She excited about the opportunity to write as she is inspired and to have a way to give that music life by making it available to others.
Lauran and her husband Patrick live in the Kansas City area and have four beautiful children: Cora (born 2008), George (born 2009), Nathan (born 2011), and Isla (born 2013). Cora and George used to steal Lauran’s bells off the table and she knew they were handbell ringers in the making. She is happy to see them all involved in the various vocal and handbell choirs at church.