Drummer, Percussionist & Educator

A.C. Lewis is DrClock

An elderly man with gray curly hair and glasses sitting behind a wooden drum set, wearing a black hat with a red band and a colorful patterned shirt, playing drums outdoors.

Musician, composer, freelancer, teacher, and student of music. Trained at the Juilliard School, as well as the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Mannes College of Music, Lewis-Clark State University, the Universidad Juan Corpas, and San Francisco State University. He has performed worldwide with ensembles including the Mexico City Philharmonic, the Orquesta Nacional de Colombia, the New Zealand Symphony, and for 20 years with the San Francisco Symphony as well as luminaries like Ritchie Havens, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Leonard Bernstein, Frank Zappa, Michael Tilson Thomas, Steve Reich, YoYo Ma, Bobby McFerrin, Joan Jett, Isaac Stern, Aaron Copland, Pierre Boulez, Jeffery Kahane, Moby Grape and Kent Nagano, among others.

As bandleader, he toured Colombia with the A C Lewis Trio, in 2005 created and is still occasionally performing with the polymetric octet Deep Hip Pocket, and is now steering Children of Lucy. 

Children of Lucy is a San Francisco-based global dance band that blends rhythmic and harmonic traditions into original, high-energy grooves that move the body and stir the soul.

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DrClock Music

Concert Percussionist

An elderly man with glasses and gray curly hair smiling and holding a mallet over a large drum with a pink wall in the background.

A.C. Lewis is the Principal Timpanist for the Santa Rosa Orchestra. He was trained at the Juilliard School, as well as the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Mannes College of Music, Lewis-Clark State University, the Universidad Juan Corpas, and San Francisco State University. Lewis has performed with the Mexico City Philharmonic, the Orquesta Nacional de Colombia, the New Zealand Symphony, and for 20 years with the San Francisco Symphony as well as luminaries like Ritchie Havens, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Leonard Bernstein, Frank Zappa, Michael Tilson Thomas, Steve Reich, YoYo Ma, Bobby McFerrin, Isaac Stern, Aaron Copland, and Pierre Boulez.

Educator

An elderly man with glasses and curly gray hair playing the drums in a music room with a purple wall, sheet music on a stand, and a microphone nearby.

A.C. Lewis is an educator both in the classroom and the practice room. He has taught music at Universities and schools as well as private students in his home studio. He has written two books —Rhythm: What it is and How to Improve Your Sense of It and Stick Control in 3 6 9, 12 —and several innovative, unique metronomes.

Drummer & Bandleader

A man with curly gray hair, wearing glasses, a colorful striped shirt, and a black hat with a red glittery band, playing drums against a background of gold and black shiny streamers.

As composer and bandleader, A.C. can be found behind the kit with his A.C. Lewis Trio, Deep Hip Pocket, and Children of Lucy, among other San Francisco-based groups.

For more information about books, instruments, and practice tools visit Rhythm Source

Rhythm Source