Director of Percussion Studies
Dr. Steve Hemphill
Director, Percussion
Studies
Northern Arizona University
Steve Hemphill,
Professor of Music, Director of Percussion
Studies at
Northern Arizona University since 1991, and former
Coordinator of
Winds and Percussion, earned the Bachelor of Music
and the Master of
Music degrees from the Eastman School of Music
and the Doctor of
Music degree from Florida State University. Dr.
Hemphill has taught at the State University College at Geneseo (New York), the
University of Rochester (New York), the University of Wyoming (serving as
Assistant Director of Bands and percussion instructor), and at Florida State
University (as Visiting Professor).
His performance
credentials include collaborations with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the
Atlanta Chamber Orchestra, the Atlanta Ballet
Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Opera
Metropolitiana C.C., Ballet de Caracas, Fundacion Teresa Carreno Opera Company,
and the Orquesta Sinfonica Municipal (principal timpanist) of Caracas,
Venezuela, the Colorado Philharmonic, the Savannah Symphony, the Tallahassee
Symphony (principal percussionist), the Wagner Ring Cycle Orchestra-Arizona
Opera (principal percussionist), and the Music in the Mountains Festival
Orchestra (Colorado, principal percussionist). Currently, he performs as
principal timpanist of the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra and the Flagstaff
Symphony Summer Ensemble.
Dr. Hemphill has performed
in Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and a number
of European and South American cities. Through various venues, he has performed with Freddie
Hubbard, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Shirley McLaine, Roger Williams, New York
Voices, Buddy DeFranco, Al Martino, among numerous musical and operatic stage
productions. Other collaborations include the Animas Music Festival, the
Western Arts Music Festival, the Theurer/Hemphill Trumpet & Percussion Duo, the
Arizona Repertory Singers, performances at the International Trumpet Guild
Conference, the International Clarinet Society Conference, and as a founding
member of the Atlanta Percussion Trio (Young Audiences, Inc.). He has served as
a clinician, adjudicator, or conductor in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia,
Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, South
Dakota, Texas, Wyoming, and Venezuela.
He has recorded on the
Telarc, Grenadilla, Orion, Mercury Golden Imports, Toshiba EMI, Albuzerxque, and
Carl Fischer Publishing recording labels. Dr. Hemphill is a past president and
vice-president of the Arizona chapter of the Percussive Arts Society, a past
president of the Wyoming chapter of the Percussive Arts Society, and is
Associate Producer/Director (with Mark Yancich) of The Art of Timpani
instructional video series, including “Changing and Tuning Plastic Timpani
Heads,” “Tucking Calfskin Timpani Heads” (with Cloyd Duff), and “Sewing Ball and
Cartwheel Timpani Sticks.”
Professional interests in
world music and cultures have lead Dr. Hemphill to visitations and research in
Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, a number of
Caribbean islands, several countries of the Far East (listed above), Italy,
Sicily, France, England, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and Austria. He has
published articles in Percussive Notes, The Instrumentalist,
The International Association of Jazz Educators Journal, Arizona Music
News, (AMEA), and a number of state-wide educational newsletters. He has
presented at National MENC, MENC Northwest, Percussive Arts Society
International Convention (PASIC), Arizona PAS, the Mark Yancich Timpani Seminar,
and frequently at AMEA Conferences in Arizona. Dr. Hemphill has served on the faculty for
both the Atlanta Percussion Seminar at Emory University and the NAU Summer Music
Camp since 1991.
Dr. Hemphill is a member of
Pi Kappa Lambda, Phi Kappa Phi, Kappa Kappa Psi (Honorary), and has served as
Province Governor for Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. Nationally, he has served or currently
serves on the Percussive Arts Society Pedagogy Committee, the PAS Composition
Competition Committee, and began serving as the Professional Adviser to the
newly-formed PAS Collegiate Committee in 2003. At Northern Arizona University,
Dr. Hemphill focuses his teaching in applied percussion studies, percussion
ensemble, percussion techniques courses in the music education curriculum,
pedagogy and literature in percussion, and drum set techniques and pedagogy. In
addition, his curriculum interests include business of music, contemporary music
literature, contemporary music ensemble, jazz pedagogy, and graduate seminars in
percussion and 20th century music.
