Lessons offered via Zoom, using two cameras with YouTube recordings or in-person lessons in Marin County.
• Learn to notate rhythm and pitches
• Compose convincing melodies
• Write chords and progressions
• Develop musical structure to create a musical journey for listeners
• Have your music performed and recorded by top notch Bay Area performers
We’ll analyze music, so you’ll understand the thematic development, harmony, and structure of each piece. This applied theory will help you to integrate your playing with your theoretical knowledge of music. Theory and technique, such as scales, arpeggios, and chord progressions will be combined with the composition assignments.
We can explore harmony, combining theory and technique simultaneously. We’ll review intervals, triads, 7th chords, chord extensions and inversions, and begin with improvisation in the first lesson.
All students are encouraged to start improvising in their first lesson, and keyboard harmony exercises provide increasing levels of sophistication over time. My unique approach to teaching helps to develop students’ self-confidence and sense of mastery as they explore their own creative essence through their unique musical expression. I also include Buddhist meditation techniques, somatic awareness, and creative inquiry in a very subtle and integrated way. This enriches and deepens students' experience of music and their creative process.
BIO
D'Arcy is an award-winning pianist and composer with B.A. in piano performance, and M.A. in musical composition from Mills College. She has taught music for over 25 years in Northern California. As the founder of the SF Chapter of the American Composers Forum she developed the renowned Composer in the Schools program for high school students to composer their own chamber music.
Ms. Reynolds toured South Africa with the Sontonga Quartet on a Meet the Composer global Connections grant, and was featured in the DVD 'Inner Landscape' filmed in South Africa. She has received commissions from the American Composers Forum, and Noe Valley Chamber Music, and has received grants and awards from the ASCAP, USIA, the American Music Center, and Meet the Composer.
LESSONS available via Zoom and in-person in Novato, CA
This is a recent jazz influenced composition I wrote and performed in 2021:
https://youtu.be/gHYVP46QNC8
LESSONS available via Zoom and in-person in Novato, CA
TESTIMONIALS
“You have found the best piano/music /composition teacher!
I have studied piano and music for the past 15 years, in both private and public settings that have included the Berklee College of Music and UC Berkeley, and I can honestly say that D'Arcy has been one of the very best teachers that I have studied with during this time. I started studying with her just over 6 months ago, and in that time I have grown as a pianist, composer, and overall musician in ways I didn't think possible before.
I have found that one of the most difficult parts of finding a good teacher is to find someone who can adapt to your style and goals, while at the same time still acting as a teacher and pushing you in new and challenging ways. Most importantly I found it was hard to find a teacher who actually listened to what YOU wanted to achieve in music, but D'Arcy has done just that from the beginning.
Before studying with her I had a background mainly in rock, pop, and jazz piano and composition, and with her I hoped to focus and improve upon my classical piano chops, theory, and compositions, while at the same time integrating this with my previous musical interests and skills.
D'arcy has done all of this, tailoring each lesson to my specific and overall goals, and with her MA in Music Composition and experience as a professional composer and pianist, she brings a working knowledge of music that is unparalleled.
Regardless of your age or previous experience, or if you want to study piano, theory, composition, or general musicianship, classical or otherwise, D'Arcy is the teacher for you”.