From the age of 12, Bell had weekly piano lessons in classical music by Jesse Stewart Young, a contemporary of his mother. His parents paid for the piano lessons for the first four years. He attended Scotch College in 1929 and 1930, where he enjoyed playing cricket and creating contemporary art including sketches for the "Scotch Collegian". He left school at age 16 during the Great Depression and worked for T & G Insurance as a clerk for over nine years, and had a stint as a farm hand. He paid for his own piano lessons for two further years, and in later years he supplemented his income by teaching.