Dayton/Cincinnati/Columbus Ohio Wedding Music

Experience and awards

• 28 years of overall playing experience
• Pianist and organist for 20+ years, Charity Baptist Church, Kettering (formerly in Beavercreek)
• 17 years of experience playing in bands and gospel groups
• Piano accompanist and coach for local school choirs (2001-present)
• Accompanist, Miami University Choirs' tour of Finland, Estonia and Russia (2003)
• Staff accompanist, Rocky Ridge Music Center, Estes Park, Colorado (2000)
• Winner of the Miami University Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition (1999)
• Honorable Mention, Bartok-Kabalevsky International Piano Competition, Radford, VA (1997)
• Assistant director, accompanist and coach, Miami University Opera, Oxford, OH (1997)
• Accompanist and rehearsal pianist for various universities in Dayton, Columbus, and Cincinnati
• Songwriter, composer, and purveyor of fine classical music
• Session musician, arranger, engineer and producer for gospel albums

How to use this site

Visit the services page for more details on how Stephen can help you.

On the listening page, you can hear samples of Stephen's playing and of traditional wedding music. If you're undecided about what music you want, this is the place to go.

Stephen's pricing is available to view, if you want to get a ballpark figure to work into your budget.

Stephen's schedule is also posted. Find out if he's available on the day you need.

Go to the contact page to find telephone and email information. You can also send an email straight from the website.

The links page has listings of services for weddings in Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio.

Wedding Words

18-Jun-11

Has it really been two years since I've updated this? Guh! I know not much happens with weddings between October and April, but there's still the other months where I'm not doing too much else.... Anyway, I was at a wedding rehearsal last night at Cornerstone Bible Church in Xenia for my friends John and Cat, and while I was sitting on the piano bench (they have a nice baby grand that sits at an odd slight tilt because of the floor), I noticed the stained glass reflecting onto the piano's music rack. I'd tried to take a picture of the windows earlier but the light washed everything out, so I was pretty happy to get this one.

17-Jun-09

I finally got some samples of my playing posted. It took a while for time, recording software, and a tuned piano to come into confluence, but it happened at last! Click to hear me playing wedding music on the piano.

15-Jun-09

Hoo, boy...it's been a while since I updated this. I played a wedding at Benham's Grove in Centerville on June 5th, and it was the nicest outdoor wedding I've ever been to. The weather was gorgeous - about 75, and little humidity. When the heck does THAT happen in the Miami Valley? The Lord's Prayer was read in Old Norse, and I got to play some late Renaissance music for the wedding recessional. If you're thinking about Benham's Grove, I highly recommend it. It's right off 48, but the traffic noise wasn't noticeable, even at 6:30 on a Friday evening. And they had chairs. For people to sit on. And no big, green caterpillars attached themselves to my leg with a death grip, like what happened at Polen Farm last year. When you're a wedding pianist, not that much exciting happens directly to you, so you take what you can get. I played a scorching outdoor wedding at Cox Arboretum at the beginning of August, also on a Friday evening. It was on a knoll, and EVERYBODY stood (except me--I have a piano bench). There were no chairs for the elderly, even. And it was about 95 degrees with a disgusting amount of humidity. The bride's brother at the Benham's Grove wedding told me he played an outdoor wedding in the Dayton area in November. November. They were in a gazebo, and it was like a wind tunnel. This is Ohio--you have about two weeks in late spring and two in early fall when the weather is nice enough for something outdoors. Unless you had one in a cave; that would be neat.

22-Sep-08

Here are a few more articles from MSN. One is called "Nutty Nuptials" (pretty tacky title, if you ask me), and has several pictures of strange things people have done at their weddings. Other than one that's just a normal double-cake-smashing shot. How did that one make the cut? I particularly like the Simpsons wedding cake figures, and the one where a bride tossed a SpongeBob to the kids after tossing the bouquet to the ladies. And the car covered in Post-It Notes...that will definitely be done at our church in the future.

The next is "6 Tips to Perfect Wedding Makeup" and contains...well...six tips for perfect wedding makeup. Presumably. I'm a dude, and the only time I've done makeup is when I dressed up to play a ghost for an opera.

1-Sep-08

I need to make a real blog out of this thing. Anyway, I found some helpful articles on MSN.com today, and here are a few excerpts and links to them.

Biggest Wedding Regrets

"I would not have combined a chocolate fountain at our wedding reception with six flower girls. Thank goodness for Shout Wipes -- they were the only thing that managed to save my dress." Tip: Even if you aren't having small children or messy foods at your reception, pack a bridal emergency kit. Read more.

Dealing With Problem Bridesmaids

Problem: Which one of these is not like the other? Solution: Sometimes there are pressures to ask people to be in your party who you would just rather not ask — a family member from his side, or a college roommate who had you in her wedding. No one can force you to include these people in your party, but be aware of the hurt feelings that may result if you decide against it.... Read more.

Inside the Groom's Mind

"You have to tell me what I'm responsible for." You might expect him to plan the honeymoon, and might hope for a present on the morning of the wedding, but does he know what a groom traditionally takes care of? Unless he's been sneaking a peek at your bridal magazines, he might be totally unaware that he has any responsibilities after he proposes. Read more.

And now I'm off to a Labor Day picnic.

21-Aug-08

I've made the decision, after much prayer and worry (not necessarily in that order) to go into business for myself providing wedding music and website design in the Dayton area (I designed this site myself). I'm a little nervous, but looking forward to it.

I've completely fallen in love with the amount of freedom I've had the last few months, but unemployment just ain't cutting it. I've spent the time getting health and fingers back in shape, and I've started composing music again.

I'm also thinking of writing a bunch of pretty, but well-written, prelude music and arranging it for various instruments, so wedding musicians can have something nice to play besides the usual Bach, Mozart, etc. Don't get me wrong - those are great pieces, but variety is the spice of life. And weddings.

At any rate, if you're looking for a wedding pianist in the Dayton area, give me a call. I'll have the time. :-)

1-Aug-08

I played a wedding at Cox Arboretum here in Dayton today. When I went to the rehearsal yesterday, I lugged my electric piano and equipment up the hill to Crabapple Allee in the lovely August heat - and this was two days after a case of food poisoning. And Crabapple Allee didn't look quite as nice as it does in the picture on the left.

Anyway, when I got all my stuff set up, I looked around for an electrical outlet near the arbor. Nothing. I searched the flowerbeds. Still nothing. I finally located an outlet about 200 feet down the hill - nothing that I and my 80-foot extension cord would find helpful. So I sat on the piano bench and hummed "Pachelbel's Canon" to myself as the bridal party dripped its way up the path to the arbor. Oddly, I was the only one with a modicum of shade.

For the wedding day, the bride's father brought several more extension cords, and we finally got power 12 minutes before the wedding was due to start. A wedding with no music would be disappointing, so I'm glad it worked out. I learned a few lessons though, and I wanted to pass this on: If you're scheduling an outdoor wedding somewhere, put it on your checklist to find out what electrical outlets are available and where they are. I suggest checking with a groundskeeper or a member of the maintenance crew. In the meantime, I'm going to buy a bunch more extension cords. I've got a wedding at Polen Farm in Kettering on the 22nd, and I will definitely be scoping out where I can get some juice. And I'm going to do that before I schlepp my impedimenta uphill in the August heat.

12-Jun-08

I met with a couple today to discuss what they wanted for their wedding music, and they had a good idea: After I play the recessional at the end of the ceremony, I'm going to segue into a song they picked that means a lot to them. I've suggested it to a few other couples, and they've liked the idea. One almost had me play Led Zeppelin's Black Dog. At any rate, I will be playing Dolly Parton and James Ingram's The Day I Fall in Love for one wedding, and Weezer's El Scorcho for another. That's what I call fun.

15-Mar-08

The site is up! The company I was working for went under last month, which got me to thinking that I needed to start doing more with wedding music. I've spent the last five years working on websites in one context or another, as well as doing graphic design and some marketing, so I decided to put that all to good use, and I'm very happy with the results. Special thanks to Anna for letting me use her picture in the banner. It makes my picture look kinda shabby. :-/