About Nancy Lamka-Smith

Early recital performance

For more than seventy years, pianist and composer Nancy Lamka-Smith has lived at the keyboard. Beginning her studies at two-and-a-half, she trained with early mentors Mary Froh, Nellie Thoelen, and Herbert Renaissance, earning superior ratings for solo, duo, and duet performances throughout her youth. She later completed a BS in Education at the University of Puget Sound, pursued graduate music studies at Portland State University, and went on to shape a multi-generational legacy of musicians, worship leaders, and composers.

Nancy's work is rooted in a lifelong calling to create music that restores peace and lifts the spirit. She has written hundreds of sacred works, from curriculum-based piano pieces and sonatinas to chamber music, handbell arrangements, concertos, ballets, and full musicals. Her compositions have appeared on radio programs, at state competitions, in schools and churches across the United States and Canada, and in performances around the world. Several of her pieces continue to circulate internationally, including The Lord Shall Reign Forever. Her contributions have been recognized in Who's Who of American Women (multiple editions) and the Who's Who Historical Society.

Steps to Joy Music – Piano Pedagogy & Training

In 1984, she founded Steps To Joy Music, a piano-pedagogy curriculum anchored in more than 450 original sacred compositions. Over ten years she developed a structured method that has helped launch countless students into worship leadership, improvisation, composition, and creative ministry. She later expanded into workshops, masterclasses, and international teaching, training musicians in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Nepal, Ghana, the Philippines, and Central America.

The "Airport Angel" at Portland International Airport

From 2004 to 2015, Nancy became known as the "Airport Angel" at Portland International Airport, where her gentle improvisation created a sense of calm for thousands of travelers. Her original albums sold widely during these years, and her performances earned her a devoted community of listeners who described her playing as a "shift in atmosphere."

Learn Piano Improvisation & Creative Expression

Teaching students online

Nancy has continued composing, recording, and teaching, including the launch of InspirationalComposer.com, where she trains worship leaders in improvisation, composition, and what she teaches as "prophetic intercession" through music. Her passion for unlocking creativity in others has marked her decades as a teacher of piano, voice, composition, and improvisation, and she continues to mentor students from her studio in Portland, Oregon.

Her life's work blends craft and calling – the discipline of a trained concert pianist with the heart of a storyteller who believes music can soften a room, steady a soul, and open a door back to joy.