Darren Smith: Music and 5th Grade Band

About Darren

Darren Smith joined the Mill Valley music department in 2013. He previously taught K-5 music for 14 years in the Alameda Unified Schools. He first discovered the joys of working with kids in Taos, New Mexico, where he spent several years teaching in an outdoor science camp in the summer and in the children’s ski school during the winter.

Music has long been an important part of his life; he decided to take up the saxophone after seeing the bar scene in Star Wars at age 11. In 1998 he realized that the closest he could come to the intergalactic cantina on Planet Earth was San Francisco, so he moved to the Bay Area and started mixing it up in the local music scene. He has had the good fortune of performing and recording with some of the Bay Area’s top musicians in the Jazz, African, and Latin scenes, including Swoop Unit, Orquesta Dharma, Omaya, The Afrocuban Jazz Cartel, Rumbache, and he frequently plays with artists visiting from Puerto Rico and Cuba.

When he is not playing music, Darren enjoys being at the beach, in the snow, or on his mountain bike. He lives in Fairfax with his wife, his 4-year-old son, 2 dogs, 5 chickens and a yummy garden.

Here in Mill Valley Darren teaches general music at Strawberry Point and Edna Maguire, and runs the 5th grade band program at all the elementary sites.

Kiddo! Programs

• Intsrumental Music Lessons for Grades 4-8
• Concert Band for Grades 4-8
• Jazz Band and Jazz Combo for Grades 6-8
• Percussion and Guitar Ensembles for Grades 6-8