Stephen Humphries
Stephen Humphries is a national hammered dulcimer champion, freelance percussionist, and music educator. While regularly performing and teaching at dulcimer and folk festivals around the country, Stephen also presents educational programs for hammered dulcimer and percussion in elementary, middle, and high schools. Additionally, Stephen composes music for the hammered dulcimer and other percussion instruments and shares this music through his performances and workshops. In 2011 he was awarded a Make Work Grant from CreateHere (a Chattanooga-based arts organization) for projects fusing hammered dulcimer and percussion through the use of technology. Additionally, Stephen proudly endorses Innovative Percussion, Inc. sticks and mallets.
At present, Stephen has released five recordings on hammered dulcimer: By the Pond, Landrum & Humphries (with guest artist Dan Landrum), Let Earth Receive Her King, Hosegrass (a collaboration with fellow students from the Presbyterian College Music Department), and most recently Tales from the Kingdom: A Bedtime Story for Children of All Ages. His recordings, articles, and transcriptions have been featured in multiple issues of Dulcimer Players News, on Mel Bay’s DulcimerSessions.com, and on the lesson website DulcimerSchool.com. Additionally, Stephen has written two method books entitled Two Hands, One Mind: A Method for Hand Interdependence on Hammered Dulcimer and A Rudimental Approach to the Hammered Dulcimer, Vol. 1, which have been sold throughout the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Stephen and his wife reside in Chattanooga, TN where he serves as the percussion instructor and instrumental music teacher for Silverdale Baptist Academy. Stephen also teaches as an adjunct professor of music at Covenant College (Lookout Mountain, GA). In addition to these positions Stephen keeps a private studio of percussion and hammered dulcimer students in and around the Chattanooga area. He has performed for a variety of music festivals and other events throughout the United States, as well as in Central and South America. He earned a Master’s Degree in Percussion Performance and his music education certification from Lee University in Cleveland, TN. Previously, Stephen earned his Bachelor of Arts in Music with an emphasis in percussion studies at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC. With this education and experience, Stephen brings a solid percussive, classical, and contemporary approach to both the hammered dulcimer and percussion worlds.