Stephen Helmer has been playing music his whole life. From starting out at the age of 8 on the accordion, to learning guitar and ukulele, piano, drums, to acquiring an Honours Bachelor of Music degree from Queen’s University and a diploma of Music and Digital Media from St. Lawrence College.
As a professional musician Stephen has seen all kinds of stages for live performances. From annual parades as an accordion player in the Merivale Blue Star accordion band, cocktail/dinner performances as a member of the Limestone Quartet, hitting the local bar scene as a member or stand-in for multiple different local bands, to performing as a member of the KW Guitar Orchestra. He even had the pleasure of opening a concert for Theory of a Deadman in 2013 when his band Paramount became a finalist in the LCBO’s Whiskey Rocks competition. Stephen also composes a variety of music and can be heard most recently on Wildbloom album Wanderoot available on Spotify. When he isn’t rehearsing and performing, Stephen is also actively teaching private music lessons to students of all ages.
With 10+ years of teaching experience, Stephen teaches all RCM levels for Classical Guitar as well as an array of popular genres such as rock, metal, pop, fingerstyle, and jazz. Stephen also teaches Classical Piano up to Grade 6 RCM and an array of popular genres on piano, as well as ukulele. He regularly runs group guitar and ukulele programs throughout the year for adults and youths, and directs Rock Schools in which he arranges parts of popular songs for each instrument and guides and directs groups of musicians to play together as a band.