Owl Mountain Music, Inc.

Dedicated to helping your sing your soul

Bio

Bio

> Download Steve’s Bio Here

> Download Steve’s Performer One-Sheet Here.

> Download Steve’s Artistic Statement Here.

> Download Steve’s Liturgical Musician One-Sheet Here.

Education

A native of Pemberville, Ohio, Steve holds a Bachelor’s Degree in History from Capital University, Columbus, Ohio (1981) He received the Hilmar G. Grimm Award for excellence in History, Honorable Mention for poetry Dionysia (1981) and was chosen a member of the Kappa Alpha Pi honorary society. At Capital, he was a member of Alpha Phi Omega (service) fraternity and sang in the Men’s Glee Club and the Varsity Quartet. While at Capital he studied ear training and arranging from David Wheeler. He earned the Master of Divinity from Trinity Lutheran Seminary where he focused on  innercity ministry as a participant in the SCUPE (Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education) in Chicago. (1983).   He earned a Master of Music Education Degree from the College of Fine Arts at Boston University in 2008. His final curriculum project designed a 2-year,  standards-based, Understanding By Design curriculum to teach hammered dulcimer to 5-8th grade students in private lessons. He was active in football, concert, marching and stage bands and acted on stage in musicals in high school (Eastwood High School, Pemberville, Ohio) and was a founding member of the singing groups, Beloved and Handmade.

Awards

  • Alternate, Walnut Valley New Songs Contest Sunday Afternoon (Can’t Come My Way too soon) (2010)
  • Opus Award (with Mary Zimmerman and Peter Anthony) for Sound Design, The Arabian Nights (2007-2008) Open Stage Theatre Company
  • 2nd Place, National Mountain Dulcimer Contest, Walnut Valley (2006, 2004, 1998)
  • Finalist, National Hammered Dulcimer Contest, Walnut Valley (2004, 2003,1998)
  • Finalist, National Mountain Dulcimer Contest, Walnut Valley (2011) Playing Galax Style
  • 3rd Place, National Mountain Dulcimer Contest, Walnut Valley (2002, 2001)
  • 2nd Place, Hammered Dulcimer, 38th Annual Colorado Highlands Festival (2001)
  • “War Is Sweet” #1 on the Independent Country Chart reported by The Music Review (2007)
  • “Rock on Rock” #3 on the Independent Inspirational Chart reported by The Music Review (2007)
  • “I Miss America” Honorable Mention in Michael Pindar’s Songwars Contest.
  • “I Miss America” & “War Is Sweet” featured on Neil Young’s Living with War Today webpage.
  • New Song Contest, Walnut Valley National Flatpicking Festival Winfield, KS
    • “Uncle Jim’s Song” New Songs Showcase (Sept 1998)
    • “6-String Mail Order Bride” Honorable Mention New Songs Showcase (Sept 1997)
  • “Maquiladora” Kansas City Songwriter’s Showcase Concert (May 1997)
  • “Hard-Living Faith” Honorable Mention by *The Star*, a Kansas City-based magazine for songwriters (1993)
  • Hilmar G. Grimm Award in History (1981) Capital University
  • Honorable mention Poetry Dionysia (1981) Capital University
  • Kappa Alpha Pi honorary society (1976) Capital University

TEACHING:  

Steve has held various teaching long and short-term teaching positions, including:

    • Faculty: Music Together Boise North End 2022-present
    • Faculty: Peninsula Music Together 2014-2021
    • Faculty: Swallow Hill Music Association, Denver (CO)
    • Faculty/Staff: Lincoln IB World School Junior High Fort Collins (2005-2008)
    • Teacher, Beginning Hammered Dulcimer-Heritage Dulcimer Camp (Kansas City, 2002)
    • Faculty: LPM (Leadership for Musicians Serving in Small Parishes) (Boulder, CO) 2000-2002
    • Faculty: Westin Arts Academy in (Fort Collins) 2000-2005 Guitar, , Mountain Dulcimer & Percussion
    • CLUBS: Mountain Dulcimer Workshops, Pemberville (OH) Dulcimer Club, Off-the-Wall Dulcimer Society, Mechanicsburg (PA), Nikwasi, Franklin (NC), Kaw Valley (KS), Kansas City Area (MO), Columbia (MO), Medina (OH), Delaware, Omaha, NE, 
    • FESTIVALS: Mountain & Hammered Dulcimer Workshops Walnut Valley Festival, Winfield (KS), Manitou Mountain Music Fest (CO), DAA, Albany (NY), Mountain View Dulcimer Jamboree (AR), Western Carolina Dulcimer Week (NC), Evart Funfest (MI), Kentucky Music Week (KY), Great Plains Dulcimer Alliance (KS), Duluth Dulcimer Day (MN), Colorado Dulcimer Festival (CO), Nutmeg Dulcimer Festival (CT), NGFDA, Unicoi (GA), Memphis Dulcimer Gathering (TN), Berkeley Dulcimer Day (CA), Redwood Dulcimer Day (CA), Kindred Gathering (CA), Buckeye Dulcimer Festival (OH), Heartland Dulcimer Festival (KY), Heartland Dulcimer Camp, Heritage Dulcimer Camp, Kansas City (MO), Southern California Dulcimer Heritage (Dana Point, CA), CTMS Summer Solstice (CA), New Mexico Dulcimer Festival (Albuquerque, NM), Gebhard Woods (Morris, IL), Three Rivers (LaCrosse, WI), Palestine Old Time Music & Dulcimer Festival (Palestine, TX), Lone Star State Dulcimer Festival (Glenrose, TX), Lagniappe Féte (Baton Rouge, LA), Moons & Tunes (Guntersville, AL), Augusta Heritage Center Dulcimer Week (Elkins, WV), Swannanoa Gathering (Swannanoa, NC), Key West Dulcimer Festival (FL), Stephen Foster State Park Dulcimer Festival (FL), 
    • IN-STORE CLINICS:  Prussia Valley (Waverly, OH), Dusty Strings (Seattle, WA), Weed Patch Music (Nashville, IN), 
  • Guest Presenter: “Music of Diverse Cultures Class” Colorado State University

COMMISSIONS:

  • Commissioned by Positive Communication to compose and record the soundtrack for Serenade to the Canada Goose. (2005-2006)
  • Commissioned by Paul Taylor, Symphony Concerto featuring Hammered Dulcimer & Didjeridu (2001)
  • “Living One” 30 TV Video Spot Soundtrack, Good Shepherd Lutheran, Lawrence, KS (2001)
  • “Build Up/Send Forth” Sky Ranch Lutheran Camp Capital Campaign Video Soundtrack (2000-2001)
  • Commissioned by Rainbow Chorus to create and arrange original music for “Beginnings” Concert (April, 2000)
  • Commissioned to create St. Thomas Blessing & Praise Liturgy (1998)
  • Commissioned to create several Youth Camp Program Theme Songs (Mid-Missouri Bible Camp, Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri; Lutheran Outdoor Ministry Center, Oregon, Illinois; Sky Ranch Lutheran Camp, Ft. Collins, Colorado; Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp, Hillside, Colorado; Fountain of Hope Lutheran Fellowship Summer Youth Program, Kansas City, Missouri)
  • Arrangement of Lord’s Prayer (Come, Letcha Come) featured in ELCA National Youth Gathering (July 1997)
  • 2 Composition Commissions for settings of texts by Herbert Brokering for Metropolitan Lutheran Ministry, Kansas City, Missouri (1996)

MEMBERSHIPS:

Choral Accompaniment

  • Fossil Ridge Select Choir, Poudre High School Impalas (CMEA), Putnam Elementary Honor Choir Performance, Laudamus Chorale, Greeley Children’s Chorale, Centennial Children’s Chorus, McTeggart Irish Dancers, Poudre Honor Choir, Loveland Choral Society, Rocky Mountain High School Bel Canto Choir, Lincoln Junior High Lancer Singers, Loveland High School Chamber Choir.

Bands

  • Steve & Erin Mae
  • S-E-A (Steve, Erin, Amber)
  • FiddleWhamdiddle
  • Thread the Needle
  • JimJim & the FatBoys (based in Kansas City)
  • Blind Monks (with Russ Hopkins)
  • Random Acts (Lundgren Sisters)
  • Hatman Trio
  • Handmade
  • Beloved