Teaching Staff
Diana Hoffman
Voice, Piano, Violin, Acting
Miss Diana has been a leader in non-profit and for profit companies for more than 40 years. Starting a law firm, CEO of a life science company and other companies and all the time performing as an Opera and Musical Theater singer and actor. She is founder of Music with Confidence determining that it is not about the performance but the child's development!
JC Clark, Arts Director
Arts and Crafts, Scenery and Prop Design
This talented woman makes trash come to life in the most amazing art forms! She has a heart as big as the sun and loves to help children development their artistic talents and their joyous spirit. She has made community service her life through Rotary and Music With Confidence.
Mic Thompson
Choreographer
Mic has blessed MWC with his outstanding choreography adapted to children who have little or no background in stage movement. He is a world renown choreographer choreographer and on camera performer for animation motion picture capture department at Walt Disney studios and special events worldwide. He created the choreography for Disneyland’s Halloween spectacular. Those of you who have been watching "The Prom" on streaming will recognize Mic as lead dancer and those who remember the great late Michael Jackson, Mic was who Michael Jackson relied on for 9 years! We are so fortunate to have him not just for this workshop but in the past, the wizard of oz and this summer for a musical camp featuring the songs from “Oliver”.
Ed Chevalley
Guitar and Piano Instructor
With a passion for playing guitar (and a degree in music), Ed’s influences include Guy Van Duser, Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, George Van Epps, Ted Greene, Joe Pass, Doyle Dykes and many more. “My musical interests are quite diverse, which means that any style of music that involves the guitar has interested me at some point in my life. For the last few years I have been interested in the guitar as a solo instrument and have worked out many arrangements of standard tunes. I see every tune as a puzzle to put together until I get it to a level that works in a live situation.” Ed has been teaching young people the guitar for the last 20 years and enjoys working with the individual student to not only play the guitar by understanding music theory and reading music. Ear training is also included to listen to a piece music and by listening, learning to play it.
Darryl (DJ) Jackson
Drums, Percussion, Guitar, Bass Guitar, and Audio Engineer (VectraSoundStudio)
With over 50 years in the music business as a musician, performer, producer, and recording artist, Darryl (DJ) Jackson is an amazing composer, musician, producer, and audio engineer. He works with us to record some of our MWC students including; Darby Edberg, recorded a vocal demo for the Reno Pops Orchestra. Also in Nov 2023, Lilyan Bronk, another great young MWC vocalist, recorded her first vocal studio recordings at VectraSound. DJ also records and produces other recording artists within many genres. DJ is also available for Sound Recording for vocalists, solo artists, small bands, and producing Podcast shows. For more information go to: DarrylJacksonMusic.com or contact Diana Hoffman.
Johanne Richard
Violin Instructor
Johanne has been a professional violinist with orchestras on the east coast and here in Reno (Reno Pops Orchestra). She is wonderful with our kids and is so supportive of their learning process. She is also a Mezzo-soprano having performed in church choirs as a soloist and in our production of "Oliver".
Sophie Duvall
Cello Instructor
Sophie Duvall is a lifelong musician, Reno resident, and a cellist of 8 years. Along with studying biochemistry, she is pursuing a music degree in Cello Performance under Dr. Dmitri Atapine at UNR. As someone pursuing both academia and music, she is well aware of the power of expressing yourself through music, and is eager to share that. While well-versed in classical repertoire and technique, she explores a wide variety of music in her listening habits and performances. That ranges from her love of jazz, to rock and folk, to K-Pop, and much of everything in between. In the realm of classical music, Sophie advocates for equal gender representation in music history, and hosts a show called Vignettes on Wolf Pack Radio. There, she researches and shares classical and jazz music by women composers of the past and present every week. Sophie hopes to help her students find their own language within music through sheer student creativity, while solidifying a strong foundation in music theory and ergonomic cello techniques. Cello is her primary instrument, but she is more than happy to aid students with composing and creating their own music as well.
Kalyn Charles
Dance and Performing Arts Instructor
Kalyn is a 23 year old Elementary School Teacher who was raised in Reno, Nevada. Growing up, she took hip-hop and jazz classes at Nevada Dance Academy and participated in their annual performances. She auditioned and participated in many Honor, All-State, and Regional Choirs in middle and high school and even became district section leader her Senior year of high school. She has participated in musical productions of Willy Wonka Jr., The Little Mermaid Jr., Finian’s Rainbow Jr., Legally Blonde, and was in the original cast of Audition: The Musical. Kalyn produced and directed original productions performed by her peers while in grade school and even participated in theatrical madrigals. Kalyn has collaborated with other local recording artists and has created music that can be found on Spotify, iTunes/Apple Music, and other streaming platforms. When Kalyn is not teaching or performing, she loves spending time with her husband and their two cats.
Voice, Piano, Violin, Acting
Miss Diana has been a leader in non-profit and for profit companies for more than 40 years. Starting a law firm, CEO of a life science company and other companies and all the time performing as an Opera and Musical Theater singer and actor. She is founder of Music with Confidence determining that it is not about the performance but the child's development!
JC Clark, Arts Director
Arts and Crafts, Scenery and Prop Design
This talented woman makes trash come to life in the most amazing art forms! She has a heart as big as the sun and loves to help children development their artistic talents and their joyous spirit. She has made community service her life through Rotary and Music With Confidence.
Mic Thompson
Choreographer
Mic has blessed MWC with his outstanding choreography adapted to children who have little or no background in stage movement. He is a world renown choreographer choreographer and on camera performer for animation motion picture capture department at Walt Disney studios and special events worldwide. He created the choreography for Disneyland’s Halloween spectacular. Those of you who have been watching "The Prom" on streaming will recognize Mic as lead dancer and those who remember the great late Michael Jackson, Mic was who Michael Jackson relied on for 9 years! We are so fortunate to have him not just for this workshop but in the past, the wizard of oz and this summer for a musical camp featuring the songs from “Oliver”.
Ed Chevalley
Guitar and Piano Instructor
With a passion for playing guitar (and a degree in music), Ed’s influences include Guy Van Duser, Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, George Van Epps, Ted Greene, Joe Pass, Doyle Dykes and many more. “My musical interests are quite diverse, which means that any style of music that involves the guitar has interested me at some point in my life. For the last few years I have been interested in the guitar as a solo instrument and have worked out many arrangements of standard tunes. I see every tune as a puzzle to put together until I get it to a level that works in a live situation.” Ed has been teaching young people the guitar for the last 20 years and enjoys working with the individual student to not only play the guitar by understanding music theory and reading music. Ear training is also included to listen to a piece music and by listening, learning to play it.
Darryl (DJ) Jackson
Drums, Percussion, Guitar, Bass Guitar, and Audio Engineer (VectraSoundStudio)
With over 50 years in the music business as a musician, performer, producer, and recording artist, Darryl (DJ) Jackson is an amazing composer, musician, producer, and audio engineer. He works with us to record some of our MWC students including; Darby Edberg, recorded a vocal demo for the Reno Pops Orchestra. Also in Nov 2023, Lilyan Bronk, another great young MWC vocalist, recorded her first vocal studio recordings at VectraSound. DJ also records and produces other recording artists within many genres. DJ is also available for Sound Recording for vocalists, solo artists, small bands, and producing Podcast shows. For more information go to: DarrylJacksonMusic.com or contact Diana Hoffman.
Johanne Richard
Violin Instructor
Johanne has been a professional violinist with orchestras on the east coast and here in Reno (Reno Pops Orchestra). She is wonderful with our kids and is so supportive of their learning process. She is also a Mezzo-soprano having performed in church choirs as a soloist and in our production of "Oliver".
Sophie Duvall
Cello Instructor
Sophie Duvall is a lifelong musician, Reno resident, and a cellist of 8 years. Along with studying biochemistry, she is pursuing a music degree in Cello Performance under Dr. Dmitri Atapine at UNR. As someone pursuing both academia and music, she is well aware of the power of expressing yourself through music, and is eager to share that. While well-versed in classical repertoire and technique, she explores a wide variety of music in her listening habits and performances. That ranges from her love of jazz, to rock and folk, to K-Pop, and much of everything in between. In the realm of classical music, Sophie advocates for equal gender representation in music history, and hosts a show called Vignettes on Wolf Pack Radio. There, she researches and shares classical and jazz music by women composers of the past and present every week. Sophie hopes to help her students find their own language within music through sheer student creativity, while solidifying a strong foundation in music theory and ergonomic cello techniques. Cello is her primary instrument, but she is more than happy to aid students with composing and creating their own music as well.
Kalyn Charles
Dance and Performing Arts Instructor
Kalyn is a 23 year old Elementary School Teacher who was raised in Reno, Nevada. Growing up, she took hip-hop and jazz classes at Nevada Dance Academy and participated in their annual performances. She auditioned and participated in many Honor, All-State, and Regional Choirs in middle and high school and even became district section leader her Senior year of high school. She has participated in musical productions of Willy Wonka Jr., The Little Mermaid Jr., Finian’s Rainbow Jr., Legally Blonde, and was in the original cast of Audition: The Musical. Kalyn produced and directed original productions performed by her peers while in grade school and even participated in theatrical madrigals. Kalyn has collaborated with other local recording artists and has created music that can be found on Spotify, iTunes/Apple Music, and other streaming platforms. When Kalyn is not teaching or performing, she loves spending time with her husband and their two cats.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Music With Confidence is excited to have to have a professional recording studio available to record our students.
One of our teachers, Darryl DJ Jackson is also an accomplished musician and recording artist.
He owns and manages VectraSound Recording Studio in Sparks. DJ is a recording engineer, musician, and music producer with artists from all genres.
We are fortunate that DJ offers his time and studio to our talented MWC students.
We currently have 2 wonderful vocalist that started their singing career at Music With Confidence.
Darby Edberg and Lily Bronk have recorded several songs.
To hear Darby and Lily recordings, please go to: Music With Confidence Students
Music With Confidence is excited to have to have a professional recording studio available to record our students.
One of our teachers, Darryl DJ Jackson is also an accomplished musician and recording artist.
He owns and manages VectraSound Recording Studio in Sparks. DJ is a recording engineer, musician, and music producer with artists from all genres.
We are fortunate that DJ offers his time and studio to our talented MWC students.
We currently have 2 wonderful vocalist that started their singing career at Music With Confidence.
Darby Edberg and Lily Bronk have recorded several songs.
To hear Darby and Lily recordings, please go to: Music With Confidence Students
Music With Confidence
Board of Directors
Diana Hoffman
Ms. Hoffman has led for profit and non-profit Boards and companies for more than 30 years. Miss Diana has performed in Operas, Musical Theatre, and concerts and has also produced and directed various shows.
Charles R. Lynch
Mr. Lynch has been CEO of Fortune 500 companies and was Chairman of the Board of United Way Bay Area. He was former President of WR Grace and Co., CEO of Fresh Choice Foods, CEO of DHL Airways to name a few. He has served on the Board of Foundations as well as other non-profit organizations.
Sharron "Shai" Edberg
Mrs. Edberg is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Dew Foundation, a major supporter of Music With Confidence and other non-profits both locally and nationally. Mrs. Edberg is also the head librarian of Greenbrae Elementary School in Sparks, NV.
Darryl Jackson
Darryl (DJ) Jackson (DarrylJacksonMusic.com) is a musician/composer/producer with over 50 years’ experience in performing live and in the studio. Darryl is a published solo recording artist and brings his years of live performance, studio recording, production, and audio engineering talents to MWC. He also is the Audio Engineer at Music With Confidence and teaches Drums and Percussion. DJ also teaches sound design and audio support for MWC events.
Melinda Hearn
Ms. Hearn has had her independent bookkeeping and accounting support firm for more than 20 years. Previously she had been a
paralegal with local law firms. She has many local businesses both for profit and non-profit as clients and is pleased to join Music With
Confidence's Board of Directors as both Treasurer and member.
