SALISBURY — Those seeking melodious sounds of handbells need look no further than the Bell Tower Green this weekend as the Bell Tower Ringers of First Presbyterian Church of Salisbury present the Handbell Festival.

The guest clinician this year is Greig Ashurst.

Ashurst is a music educator, conductor, percussionist, clinician and consultant with over 30 years of experience in various fields of music technology and educational philosophy. He has taught and conducted in schools, universities, churches and orchestras throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. 

Greig is currently the director of instrumental music and director of technology at Cathedral-Carmel School in Lafayette, Louisiana, where he was named teacher of the year for 2016-2017.

In addition, he is the youth music and instrumental director and staff arranger at Asbury United Methodist Church of Lafayette. 

Greig has a bachelor’s of music education from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and a master’s degree in music from Southern Methodist University. He has been involved in the design and development of new musical instruments and technologies, such as MelodyWave, the Greig Ashurst Artists Series and Legato Series mallets. 

He has published articles and music with various publishers and begins serving as president of the Handball Musicians of America in the fall of 2023.

He will represent the United States as the conductor for the International Handbell Symposium in Hamamatsu, Japan in August. 

Greig is married to Lauren Montgomery Ashurst and has three children.

The event will kick off on Friday with a set-up at 6 p.m. and a rehearsal of the challenge piece from 7-9 p.m.

Saturday is showtime with breakfast and set-up kicking off at 8 a.m. A mass rehearsal will follow from 9-10:30 a.m. When that concludes a schedule break from 10:30-10:45 a.m. will take place.

The break does not last long and another mass rehearsal will follow from 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

An hour lunch break puts the ringers back out at 1:15 p.m. for a 15-minute rehearsal of the challenge piece. An hour-long mass rehearsal immediately follows, before another 15-minute break at 2:30 p.m.

There is one remaining mass rehearsal from 2:45-3:30 p.m. and then a public concert from 4-4:30 p.m.