Presenting District: Central Oregon
Presenter: Dr. Stephen Lewis, NCTM

Program Description: This talk is an in-depth look at the wrist motions involved in piano playing (lateral, up-down, elliptical, rotational, drawer, and stationary) and how they help various techniques and textures we often teach or play. Dr. Lewis will explore how and why these motions are so crucial to piano playing, and provide knowledge and flexibility to the teachers present in how to make your own determinations regarding teaching using the wrists.

Presenter Bio: Dr. Stephen Lewis, NCTM, is a pianist, composer, conductor, and music teacher living in Portland, Oregon. Stephen performs traditional piano music with a composer’s urgent, expressive power, while bringing to avant-garde and experimental music a classical concert pianist’s devotion to beautiful sound.

Stephen has performed with the Oregon Symphony, 45th Parallel Universe, Third Angle, Fear No Music’s Young Composers Project, the Portland Chamber Orchestra, and Cascadia Composers. He has performed in venues such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Miller Theater, Severance Hall, and the San Diego Museum of Art. As a composer, Stephen has been commissioned by Red Fish Blue Fish, Diagenesis Duo, the Wellesley Composers Conference, and soundSCAPE.

Stephen teaches private piano and composition lessons from his home studio in southeast Portland. He also coaches professional musicians, music teachers, and composers in learning advanced repertoire and skills and in completing major creative projects.

Stephen earned a D.M.A. in Contemporary Piano Performance in 2017, and a Ph.D. in Composition in 2015 from the University of California San Diego. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (Composition and Piano Performance) in 2006.

Read more at his websites: chopinois.com (teaching) and stephenlewiscomposer.com (artistic).