MMS Owner/Founder, Piano, Singer/Songwriting, Performance Coaching, Artist Development, Producer

Ciara McAllister is a San Francisco based recording artist, songwriter, pianist, producer, piano teacher, performance coach, and owner of McAllister Music Studio.

Ciara began her journey in music at age six when she fell in love with the piano through the nurturing of her amazing music teacher, Ms. Denise. Ms. Denise taught Ciara first and foremost to love music, and love she did! She learned at an early age to read notes and play by ear and by age ten she was playing keyboard in her church band. This is when she discovered her passion for sharing music with others through collaboration and her ears began to open up to how all the different players, instruments, and vocalists intertwined to create the full spectrum and frequencies of sounds.

At age sixteen, Ciara headed to music school to pursue a degree in classical Piano Performance. It was here that she also started to study jazz, private voice, choral arranging, and orchestration. After college she opened her first music school at the age of 21. She was teaching students of all ages and sharing her love and passion for music with everyone around her. She also began playing in rock bands, finally really digging into the songwriting that had been tugging at her since she was a young girl.

In 2005, Ciara headed to San Francisco to pursue her dream of being a musician in the city that to her represented freedom, love, and creative expression. She dove full force into the music scene, played in several bands and local jams, until she found her way to the friends and members of what would be the rock band, Hidden in the Sun. Hidden in the Sun raised $20,000 in a kickstarter to record and release their album, Seven Seasons. During this time, Ciara was casually forming what is now McAllister Music Studio. She was teaching out of her apartment and eventually brought on her first round of teachers to help with the tremendous load of inquiries she was getting from interested students. In 2015, she opened her first commercial space, at Haight and Fillmore in the Lower Haight which hosts 2 private teaching studios and a small common space which still hosts MMS’s infamous “Lower Haight Music Night” open mic nights. By 2017, the Lower Haight studio was bursting at the scenes and so she began operation to open her second commercial space, MMS mission which hosts 3 teaching studios, a state of the art recording studio, and another open space for small events, living room style concerts, and recording sessions.

Ciara currently works as a coach and teacher for singer/songwriters and artists in San Francisco and around the country via Skype. As a producer, one of her favorite things is to be in the studio with a new artist and guide them along the journey of getting their music to come to life in the way they envision. She works as a songwriter, both for herself, other artists, and her students. She plays keyboard in various San Francisco bands, including Saintish, who is set to release their debut album in 2020. She has recently released the first two singles, Fairytale and Off the Hook, off her upcoming debut solo artist album, To Shimmering Light. You can find Ciara on all Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music and all major platforms.

Ciara is proud to be able to inspire so many students and artists across San Francisco and the world to believe in their musical journey, to love the process, and to find the simple and yet profound joy in being a music maker and sharing music with the world.

Piano, Voice, Piano/Voice Combo, Songwriting

Children (ages 3 & up)

Adults- Piano (beginners-intermediate), Voice (beginners - advanced)

Lizzie Clapper, head of the MMS Children’s Department, has her degree in Music Education from San Jose State University. Her teaching philosophy is grounded in her deep belief that music is for everyone and that all beginning music students should have a well-rounded and nourishing experience with equal focus on learning to read music, listening to music, and understanding music from both the classical and jazz/rock/pop perspectives.

Lizzie began her journey with music at a very young age, starting piano lessons at age 5. She sang in many choirs throughout much of her childhood and well into adulthood, singing with the world renown San Jose State University Concert Choir, where as a part of that group she sang with Andrea Bocelli as well as multiple performances with rock group The Rolling Stones.

Lizzie met Ciara McAllister in 2006 when the two began working together as music teachers for a performing arts summer camp based out of San Francisco and the two have been working together ever since. Lizzie is also deeply passionate about singer/songwriters and has been writing her own music since 2005, performing in many venues around the Bay Area. Eventually, Lizzie joined up with Ciara (and other close friends) and helped to form the band Hidden in the Sun, an indie-rock band that features Lizzie as the lead singer and one of the contributing writers. As the lead vocalist in that group, her singing prowess has been described as both “striking” and “galvanizing” by Pop Music critic Steve Hochman of The California Report. She is currently creating music for her new solo project Mother First.

Lizzie is passionate about sharing her talents with the students at McAllister Music Studio!

Piano

Children (ages 9 & up)

Adults (beginners - advanced)

Andrew Kunz's love of music began at the young age of 6, when he first picked up the piano, and eventually expanded to guitar, bass and drums in the formative years following. As he grew, his early skills as a songwriter and instrumentalist led him to record a whole album's worth of original music before finishing high school. Andrew would go on to study music at UC Santa Cruz, focusing on classical and jazz piano. There he was awarded the prestigious University of California arts scholarship and the Costa award for excellence in jazz performance. Andrew's musical studies and performance experience at the higher education level broadened to a multitude of different global music cultures, including classical Hindustani music, the music of Central and Southeast Asia, and musical history of the African diaspora.

This variety of influences has informed Andrew's unique, open-minded compositional prowess and well-rounded approach to music, which has led to success as a performer in numerous jazz, funk, afrobeat, hip hop, and indie-rock groups. He has toured extensively both across the U.S. and internationally as a keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist for a few of the bay area based bands that he has helped lead. His broad and diverse expertise- from classical piano fundamentals, note reading and playing by ear, to harmony, rhythm, pop, jazz and improvisation- have allowed him to cater to the unique goals, interests and learning styles of a wide range of different music students at all levels and ages. Andrew is proud to share his love and knowledge of music with the MMS team and hopes to instill his passion for music in his future students.

Piano, Voice, Piano/Voice Combo

Children (ages 3 & up)

Adults- Piano (beginners-intermediate), Voice (beginners - advanced)

Natalie Ter-Agapova dreamed of becoming a musician from her early childhood, beginning music lessons at age 3. At age 15, she graduated with honors in the piano and vocal divisions of the Shostakovich School of Music in Moscow.

In 2007, Natalie began teaching private vocal, piano and music theory lessons for children. During this time she also began her work as a choral conductor with a group of 4-7 year olds. In two years time, she transformed this small ensemble into a nationally recognized chorus Velikan, from which two of her students become finalists of the popular TV show “VOICE-kids” in Russia.

In 2010, Natalie began her pedagogical studies at Moscow State Teacher’s University and congruently worked in the public school system as a music teacher.

In 2017, Natalie moved to Brooklyn, New York where she worked as a piano teacher, vocal coach and choral conductor. She has served as a judge on several panels and committees for competitions and festivals, and has also performed as a soloist and member of the folk music group Russian Beauty in international festivals and contests in the United States, Russia, Spain, Slovakia, Serbia, and China.

Natalie is a true teacher, with a heart of service and and deep desire to share the joy of music with her students. She combines her extensive knowledge of music with a deep understanding of her students' individual needs in order to help them achieve their musical dreams.

Natalie moved to San Francisco in August of 2019 to bring her experience & passion to the MMS team. Her primary goal is to inspire her students to enjoy music as much as she does!

Piano, Songwriting, & Recording

Children (ages 6 & up)

Adults (beginners - advanced)

David D'Angelo is a a multi-instrumentalist (​piano​/​guitar​/bass​), producer, songwriter, composer, performing artist, and DJ. He began playing piano at age 7 and ​has been teaching for over 15 years. At his small arts high school, he would practice piano any chance he got and started to explore beat making and songwriting. He has a bachelor's degree in Music Industry Studies from Loyola University New Orleans. While ​completing his degree he also taught beat making​, ​recording​, and piano at a local non-profit after school program (Upbeat Academy). His passion for music and love for piano has and continues to help him focus on bettering himself ​while supporting ​and​ connecting others.

David is dedicated to creating music that speaks on positive messages, and connecting that music to an audience worldwide. He has performed internationally and alongside noteworthy acts such as FKJ (French Kiwi Juice), Grammy Award nominated trumpeter and producer Christian Scott, LA bred producer AF THE NAYSAYER, and futuristic funk extraordinaire’s Naughty Professor. His debut EP "Born in Paradise" was played on over 50 college radio stations across the US and Canada, made it onto the NACC Top 5 Electronic Charts and NACC Top 200, charting at #4 and #192 respectively.

David is available to work with students of all skill levels & interests. He specializes in Jazz, Funk, Blues, Pop, Hip-Hop & Neo Soul but can also support students who want to focus on classical.
David believes that music gives us purpose and he is excited to share his knowledge ​and​ passion with the students of MMS!