Looking for specific info on partimento and tonal composition/historical improvisation studies? Click the button below!
Are you a competition organizer in need of a friendly, but musically uncompromising judge for piano or composition-related events?
(Also, in case you came to this page looking to purchase my pedagogical compositions: click here to navigate to that page!)
A couple exciting announcements from my own compositional life:
My SATB choral setting of Alex Posey's "Pledge of Peace" won second prize in Nashville in Harmony's Call for Scores and was premiered on June 13, 2025, after which it will be recorded as part of the prize package. Click here for more info on Nashville in Harmony's FB page.
Additionally, my Nocturne in G# minor is now available in the 22 Nocturnes for Chopin volume published by EVC Music! Check out the wonderful review Andrew Eales has written about the collection here (with links to purchase): pianodao.com/2023/08/23/22-nocturnes-for-chopin/
My SATB choral setting of Alex Posey's "Pledge of Peace" won second prize in Nashville in Harmony's Call for Scores and was premiered on June 13, 2025, after which it will be recorded as part of the prize package. Click here for more info on Nashville in Harmony's FB page.
Additionally, my Nocturne in G# minor is now available in the 22 Nocturnes for Chopin volume published by EVC Music! Check out the wonderful review Andrew Eales has written about the collection here (with links to purchase): pianodao.com/2023/08/23/22-nocturnes-for-chopin/
With a doctoral minor in composition from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and experience teaching both pre-college and adult composers, I can help you bring out your unique composer's voice while you study universal principles of craft, theory, instrumentation, orchestration, and engraving.
Here is a quick summary of what I offer (and require) as a composition instructor:
Composition biography:
Nicole Elyse DiPaolo is a composer, collaborative pianist, and teacher whose compositions have been described as "brilliant" (PianoDao) and "a welcome addition to the repertoire" (Interlude.hk), as well as "very effective" with a "fantastic amount of intrigue," "mindfulness...[and] colorful nuance" (Seven Sky Music). Ms. DiPaolo's music has been heard across the world, including in the US, Mexico, England, Ireland, Macedonia, Denmark, and Kenya. Her commissioned song settings of Muscogee poet laureate Alexander Posey's texts have been performed nationwide, and the Smithsonian Institution procured copies of two of these (Nature's Blessings and A Vision) to archive at the National Museum of the American Indian. Ms. DiPaolo's music received its Mexican premiere in 2013 with a performance of her Divertimento, written for the International String Quartet of Yucatán. In 2014 Ms. DiPaolo published a set of twenty short pedagogical pieces in uncommon keys, entitled Venturing Beyond, for early-intermediate pianists of all ages, available on SheetMusicPlus and MusicaNeo, and in 2021 she published Vignettes, a set of pedagogical pieces that introduces intermediate pianists to the Impressionist language of Maurice Ravel. While living in Bloomington, Ms. DiPaolo was commissioned to create a choral arrangement of "Ride," the city of Bloomington's official bicentennial song, for the Bloomington Community Song Project. Following a relocation to Cleveland, her Divertimento and Lucid Dreaming for solo harp were featured at the "She Scores" new music festival, held at Case Western Reserve University in June 2022 and rebroadcast on Mark Satola's "Cleveland Ovations" program on WCLV radio (90.3) in October.
In 2023, Ms. DiPaolo's Nocturne in G-sharp minor was selected for inclusion in 22 Nocturnes for Chopin, a collection of Chopin-inspired piano compositions and published by EVC Music (dist. Hal Leonard); the Nocturne has since been performed in England, Macedonia, Denmark, and the US, as well as recorded for pianist Roberto Boccasavia's album of the entire collection, available on all major streaming platforms. In 2025, her SATB choral setting of Alex Posey's "Pledge of Peace" (the first known setting of this text) placed second in Nashville in Harmony's inaugural Call for Scores, resulting in a June 2025 premiere and inclusion on the ensemble's commercial album Songs for a New South, also available on all streaming platforms.
Also a sought-after composition teacher and adjudicator, Ms. DiPaolo frequently judges state, regional, and divisional MTNA composition competitions at all levels, ranging from elementary to college-level Young Artists. Her private online studio has also expanded to include offerings in partimento and other historical methods of teaching tonal composition and improvisation. (Click here to find out more about these methods.)
Enjoy a playlist of Ms. DiPaolo's concert compositions on YouTube (at least those that have been video recorded) here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc5dolE-RZY&list=PLLtmV1D8gs_PgWGF75PfxXbiEkd6H-0pq
"I've been getting composition lessons for a few months with Nicole and found the lessonss extremely valuable. Been playing music for a long time but this is a whole new avenue for me and Nicole has been extremely informative and supportive. Thanks Nicole."
-C., Composition Student
"When my student [name] entered the [state composition] competition last year, your feedback was so helpful that I knew you were the person who could help me as well. I had to study with you."
-B., Composition Student
Does Studio DiPaolo seem like a good fit? If so, CLICK HERE to start your music-making journey!
Here is a quick summary of what I offer (and require) as a composition instructor:
- Lessons will help you to write in your own style by focusing on aspects of craft, large scale form, instrumentation (idiomatic writing for each instrument), orchestration (putting multiple instruments together), and notational conventions. Unlike most composition instructors, you won't come out sounding just like your teacher, as happens in far too many modern composition studios. Listeners shouldn't be able to identify with whom you studied based on what your music sounds like, and I'll make sure you sound like you - not me!
- Principles of music theory will be integrated into lessons as needed. If tonal composition study is your interest, we'll work through selected texts on Galant schemata and partimenti, the methods that composers in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries used to learn tonal grammar and syntax. Unlike in many academic spheres, your desire to write in a tonal language, if you have any, is warmly welcomed at Studio DiPaolo. But you can write in any language you like.
- Are you wondering just what "partimento" and "schema" might mean for your musical journey? Click the button at the top of this page to find out!
- We will also learn principles of music engraving - either by hand (if the student does not have computer/tablet access outside of lessons) or via industry-standard notation programs like Sibelius. For students who aren't in a financial position to purchase a notation software program, I recommend either Noteflight, Musescore or Sibelius First, which are free.
- The programs I have installed include Sibelius 6, Sibelius Ultimate 2022, Dorico Pro 4, and Musescore, along with the NotePerformer aftermarket audio engine (which is very reasonably priced compared to most sound libraries and highly recommended). I'm also somewhat familiar with Noteflight. Sibelius 6 is what I use for my own work, so that's the program in which I am fully fluent, but I welcome files created in any of the aforementioned programs. Files created in other programs can be exchanged via PDF or MusicXML (.xml or .mxl).
- Students must be at least intermediate-level on an instrument or voice before enrolling in composition-specific lessons. Students with no instrumental or voice background will be asked to enroll in piano lessons through Studio DiPaolo for a time (to be mutually determined) before proceeding with composition lessons. Exceptions may apply if you already study performance with another instructor, but are not yet intermediate level.
- Students who do not yet read music notation will be asked to enroll in theory and/or piano lessons to learn notation before composition lessons start. Students could also subscribe to my Liberty Park Music notation course as a substitute if they already play an instrument intermediately, especially if their Internet is not reliable or always accessible.
- Please note that, due to increased demands on my performing schedule, new students who wish to have a bi-weekly composition lesson will flip to the "a la carte" tuition model and will not be guaranteed the same day/time slot every 2 weeks. Lessons can be scheduled individually on Calendly as mutually available times pop up; it simply won't be a standing appointment like "every other Sunday at 5pm" as it was in the past.
Composition biography:
Nicole Elyse DiPaolo is a composer, collaborative pianist, and teacher whose compositions have been described as "brilliant" (PianoDao) and "a welcome addition to the repertoire" (Interlude.hk), as well as "very effective" with a "fantastic amount of intrigue," "mindfulness...[and] colorful nuance" (Seven Sky Music). Ms. DiPaolo's music has been heard across the world, including in the US, Mexico, England, Ireland, Macedonia, Denmark, and Kenya. Her commissioned song settings of Muscogee poet laureate Alexander Posey's texts have been performed nationwide, and the Smithsonian Institution procured copies of two of these (Nature's Blessings and A Vision) to archive at the National Museum of the American Indian. Ms. DiPaolo's music received its Mexican premiere in 2013 with a performance of her Divertimento, written for the International String Quartet of Yucatán. In 2014 Ms. DiPaolo published a set of twenty short pedagogical pieces in uncommon keys, entitled Venturing Beyond, for early-intermediate pianists of all ages, available on SheetMusicPlus and MusicaNeo, and in 2021 she published Vignettes, a set of pedagogical pieces that introduces intermediate pianists to the Impressionist language of Maurice Ravel. While living in Bloomington, Ms. DiPaolo was commissioned to create a choral arrangement of "Ride," the city of Bloomington's official bicentennial song, for the Bloomington Community Song Project. Following a relocation to Cleveland, her Divertimento and Lucid Dreaming for solo harp were featured at the "She Scores" new music festival, held at Case Western Reserve University in June 2022 and rebroadcast on Mark Satola's "Cleveland Ovations" program on WCLV radio (90.3) in October.
In 2023, Ms. DiPaolo's Nocturne in G-sharp minor was selected for inclusion in 22 Nocturnes for Chopin, a collection of Chopin-inspired piano compositions and published by EVC Music (dist. Hal Leonard); the Nocturne has since been performed in England, Macedonia, Denmark, and the US, as well as recorded for pianist Roberto Boccasavia's album of the entire collection, available on all major streaming platforms. In 2025, her SATB choral setting of Alex Posey's "Pledge of Peace" (the first known setting of this text) placed second in Nashville in Harmony's inaugural Call for Scores, resulting in a June 2025 premiere and inclusion on the ensemble's commercial album Songs for a New South, also available on all streaming platforms.
Also a sought-after composition teacher and adjudicator, Ms. DiPaolo frequently judges state, regional, and divisional MTNA composition competitions at all levels, ranging from elementary to college-level Young Artists. Her private online studio has also expanded to include offerings in partimento and other historical methods of teaching tonal composition and improvisation. (Click here to find out more about these methods.)
Enjoy a playlist of Ms. DiPaolo's concert compositions on YouTube (at least those that have been video recorded) here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc5dolE-RZY&list=PLLtmV1D8gs_PgWGF75PfxXbiEkd6H-0pq
"I've been getting composition lessons for a few months with Nicole and found the lessonss extremely valuable. Been playing music for a long time but this is a whole new avenue for me and Nicole has been extremely informative and supportive. Thanks Nicole."
-C., Composition Student
"When my student [name] entered the [state composition] competition last year, your feedback was so helpful that I knew you were the person who could help me as well. I had to study with you."
-B., Composition Student
Does Studio DiPaolo seem like a good fit? If so, CLICK HERE to start your music-making journey!
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Home | About | Tuition/Info | FAQ | Piano | Theory | Partimento | Composition | Accompanying | Consulting for Teachers | Media | Shop | Contact/Enroll
