Allen, Paul
Paul W. Allen began study on the trombone in the 4th grade, at a small country school in the central California Valley. Since those early years he has learned to play the guitar, Baroque recorder, all manner of band instruments, and the English handbell. He is an accomplished conductor of both choral and instrumental groups. He began teaching music at James Rutter Middle School in the Elk Grove Unified School district in 1984, and after 20 years moved to teaching English and then to Computer Programming at the same location. In 1998, he founded RiverBells, a professional, community handbell ensemble centered in the south Sacramento area. He has been published dozens of times by various handbell companies, specializing in arrangements for handbells of swing tunes from the big band era. He received his Masters of Music in Composition from California State University, Sacramento in 1999. He has been playing trombone with the Sacramento Symphonic Winds since its inception six years ago, and is their concert Master of Ceremonies. He became a member of the Runaway Stage Productions resident orchestra in 2010.
