Alia Schoen was a ringer in high school in Libertyville, IL, in college in Evanston, IL, and with Holy Trinity Episcopal Church (Menlo Park, CA) with a glorious stint into jazz music as an extra ringer for Bell Appeal in San Francisco. She also has rung with Bay Bells (Palo Alto, CA).

Besides handbells, she is an accomplished clarinet player, an improving guitar player, and a sometime piano player though mainly she uses it for arranging music so as not to incite complaints from the neighbors. She also sang in her fraternity choir in college and was a founding member of and arranger for the chapter a cappella group. She is a member of Sigma Alpha Iota (international music fraternity for women) pledged in Beta Chapter at Northwestern University.