Meet Mr Atkins

Mr. Atkins has been involved with Denton ISD since 2002. He taught double bass private lessons through DISD until 2006 when he began teaching 5th grade orchestra at Hodge Elementary. Mr. Atkins started as the head director at Ryan High School in 2021. Before this Mr. Atkins served as associate orchestra director at Guyer High School and beginning orchestra teacher at Providence Elementary school, as well as assisting at Guyer's feeder middle schools regularly. He continues teaching private lessons on double bass.

Mr. Atkins grew up in Sydney, Australia where he attended Sutherland Shire Christian School. He started his musical journey with the violin at the age of 4. After many battles on the violin, he switched to cello which he played for 5 years before finally beginning his studies on the double bass under the direction of Neal Brawley. He moved to Denton in 1998 to attend the University of North Texas where he studied bass with Jeff Bradetich. In 2000 he studied with Leonid Finkelshteyn at Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina. Mr. Atkins graduated from UNT Magna Cum Laude with his bachelor’s degree in music performance in 2002 and with his master’s degree in music performance in 2004. During his studies at UNT, Mr. Atkins performed with the Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra. He served as principal bass in the UNT Chamber Orchestra in 2003. He also performed extensively with the UNT Baroque Orchestra on the violone, the 6 string predecessor of the double bass.

Mr. Atkins currently performs as a member of the East Texas Symphony Orchestra. He also has performed regularly with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Opera Orchestra and other orchestras in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. Mr Atkins has been Principal Bass for several concerts with East Texas, Plano and Richardson Symphony orchestras. He spent the summer of 2004 performing at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney Symphony.

Mr. Atkins currently lives in Denton with his wife Carrie, daughter Emery, son John, and a puppy called Keats. Although their first daughter Joelle was only with them for 21 months, she brought happiness and smiles wherever she went and they are thankful for the time they spent together. When he has time to himself, he enjoys roasting coffee (using an electric popcorn maker and flour sifter), drinking espresso, watching sports and playing computer games. He also enjoys the outdoors, especially Australian beaches and bushwalks.