Devin Farney

Devin is a wonderful piano teacher. I’m an adult with no musical background so it was with some trepidation that I embarked on formal music lessons. I thought that musical theory would be one of the harder elements to master, but Devin has a gift of making it seem really rather simple and the information sticks. He is the consummate professional and has been very accommodating with my work schedule. If you are looking for someone who is going to berate you for not practicing, Devin is not your guy, but perhaps that’s why you gave up when you were younger! Highly recommend.

Devin Farney has been a wonderful Piano Teacher for me over the last 2-​years. He has helped me grow significantly in my piano abilities and continues to keep me interested.
I am an adult in my early 30s (late 20s when I started) and under his instruction, I have grown from a beginner who could fumble his way through Alfreds 1 to a strong intermediate player playing pieces like Debussy’s Arabesque 1 and Mozart’s Ronda Alla Turca.
Devin is extremely flexible with scheduling and I am sure he will help you out.
Aaron

I’ve been taking piano lessons from Devin for about 6 months now and am thoroughly enjoying it. I don’t usually write Unilocal reviews but felt compelled to here because I’m so happy with my lessons.
Devin is very professional and has adapted well to my learning style and musical background (I played tuba for 12 years but don’t know anything about the piano). He’s also clearly an expert musician.

I’m having Jazz piano lesson with Devin right now. I’m very happy with him. I can play songs that I’ve been wanted to play for a long time in just a few months (actually just a few weeks). Highly recommend.

Devin is awesome. Great guy, brilliant musician, talented teacher.
I’ve only been going to him for guitar lessons for a few months now, every other week, and I’ve already improved more than I thought possible, both in my technical skill and in my understanding of music.
All around great.

I’ve been taking piano lessons from Devin for almost a year and he has really helped me raise my level from a novice beginner to someone who can pretty confidently take a decent shot at all the Alfred’s basic adult piano course compositions, some of which are pretty complex, I must say. I did one-​hour lessons once a week but the hour was compact and intense and really gratifying. What I like about Devin is he teaches across the whole gamut — from theory, notes, piano fingering to actually playing compositions. Besides being able to read notes from the staff and learning about the various scales and chords, the practice and pace of teaching was just right. I feel like I could have improved a lot more if only I spent some time practicing at home during the week. Even though I didn’t due to my hectic work schedule — just the one hour class was a great session. I would highly recommend Devin to anyone who wishes to learn piano — he is friendly, relaxed, flexible, adapts to your pace of learning and tailors the lesson according to your need and level.

I’m still working with Devin, and he’s still helping me get more out of my playing. Also nice that he’s been flexible with my increasingly hectic work schedule.

I’ve been taking lessons from Devon for a couple of months now and found him on Unilocal.He is great… I’m actually bummed that I had to cancel a lesson today due to our whole family coming down with a nasty sinus infection… he is a fantastic teacher… he is always encouraging, yet is constantly challenging you. He never makes me feel like a moron when I mess up and is always incredibly professional. I’d highy recommend him to anyone looking for any sort of music instruction.

How many composers do you know? He writes the real stuff, not commercials. I thought those guys were all dead.
Devin’s laid back and flexible. I’m learning classical piano lessons and some more contemporary stuff. He explains things in english, not music lingo. You can he digs what he does and that makes learning from him interesting.

**UPDATE**
It’s over 2 years now and it’s still great. I feel like I can really play the piano and enjoy myself. This is the teacher you want… if you can get him.
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I’ve been studying with Devin now for about 2 months, and it’s been a superb experience. He’s a very flexible teacher, and primarily interested in enabling you to enjoy what you play, not just trudge along through a one-​size-​fits-​all approach of learning. Devin’s own musicality is delightful to enjoy, and I am learning at a pace I hadn’t expected.
He’s a great teacher for anyone who’s interested in learning the piano for the first time, or wants to understand music theory.
Absolutely top-​notch. You go, Devin!

I’ve been taking music lessons from Devin for a few months now and finally asked him — hey Devin, you on Unilocal?He’s not… so I told him I’d add him.
I’m taking music lessons really for the first time in my life (save for an embarrassing stint with the flute in 5^th grade — thanks mom, great idea!). I’ve got a piano in my place that’s been giving me the guilt trip look for years, so i broke down and decided to take some lessons. I’m not tone deaf, but I’m close. And I’m an adult — so, old dog, new tricks.
I don’t have much to compare Devin to, but I’ll tell you his style and why I like it.
1. He has you pick the book you want to learn from. This was a little daunting at first, but ended up working out well, as I chose one on amazon that was getting good reviews.
2. He divides lessons into ‘work’ and ‘fun’ (my usage). Work is for working through the book. Fun is for working on songs you like — for me, Ben Folds.
3. He comes to you — I don’t know much about piano lessons, but I guess that’s pretty unique.
4. Great rates — $ 45 an hour, seems very competitive based on what little research I did.
5. Talent — yeah, of course he’s talented — that’s what you’d expect from a music teacher. He’s also a talented teacher and seems to be able to identify my problems, or the reasons I’m getting stuck, much easier than I am. Sort of hard to explain this — but basically, he’s tutored enough to know where people find difficulty and why — so it’s easy for him to translate my fumbling to explain what’s not working into a solution. Great stuff.
*His website needs some work. No matter, you’re taking lessons in person, not on the web. Do you want a musician or a web geek? I’ll be the latter, Devin is the former. Good for me.
**Thanks to Kara for pointing me in his direction.