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Meet our new director, Mr. Hood.
RMS Orchestra Director Ezra Hood is in his second decade teaching orchestra. Mr.Hood has instructed students from 3rd graders to seniors throughout D/FW. This year Mr. Hood returns to the Braswell Zone after a year at Strickland MS.
Beyond teaching, Mr. Hood literally wrote the book about TCU football, loves hiking in mountains (in the photo above he's standing at the summit of Mt. Bierstadt in Colorado) plays piano for fun, organ for church, composes for fun and performance. Most recently he penned Pachyderm Passapied, a piece which the sixth grade honor orchestra for Denton ISD's all-district festival performed in January 2025.
Mr. and Mrs. Hood, both TCU grads, raise their family in Fort Worth.
He would love to get to know you better! Please reach out:
972-347-7041
8650 Martop Rd. Oak Point, TX 76227
Nicole Laborte directs the Braswell HS orchestras. Nicole brought her wealth of very successful orchestra teaching experience in Washington state to UNT, where she is finishing her Ph.D in music education. She has presented practitioner, poster, and research sessions for WMEA, TMEA, NAfME All-Northwest, and NAfME National conferences.
She may be reached at nlaborte@dentonisd.org.
Private Training
Research shows that privately trained students outperform 98% of students who lack private lessons. Denton ISD offers private lessons during regular orchestra class, as well as before and after school.
For only $22 a week (which is far lower than the price you'd pay outside of school) you will boost your child's musical capacity and enjoyment of playing. Few investments in your student will pay off as quickly and enjoyable as private lessons. Give your child this opportunity.
To enroll your student in private lessons, please fill out this form.
Violin& Viola Instructors
Daniel Gonzalez teaches private violin/viola lessons. Originally from El Paso, Daniel studies with Dr. Anna Bard-Schwartz at Texas Woman's University. During his time at TWU Daniel earned many awards and scholarships including the Presser Scholar award and was even a teaching assistant for the music theory department.
Currently, Daniel maintains his own private studio and also teaches private lessons in Prosper ISD and Denton ISD. He really values his work as a pedagogue and looks forward to working with all the wonderful students in his private studio.
After moving to Denton, TX from South Korea in 2017, Hank (Hyunseok) Chang is one of the most active and energetic string teachers and youth orchestra conductors in the North Texas area.
For over 25 years, Hank Chang has taught violin and viola, and conducted at various levels of orchestras including youth and university orchestras in the USA and South Korea.
Mr. Chang finished his Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting at UNT with Anshel Brusilow. Currently, Mr. Chang teaches violin and viola at Denton ISD and Frisco ISD. Many of his students are making their Region orchestras. He is also serving as the music director and conductor at the Youth Symphony of Denton, which has started its inaugurate season in the fall of 2019, and the Ascolti Korean Chamber Orchestra in South Korea.
Cello Instructor
Ben Katzen has been working as a professional cellist and teacher in DFW for 11 years. He holds a bachelors degree in cello performance from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland, and is currently a candidate for a masters degree in jazz studies from the University of North Texas. He has been a principal cellist and soloist with the McKinney Philharmonic Orchestra, and can be currently heard playing with the Irving, Plano and San Angelo symphonies, as well as country, folk, blues, jazz and classic rock with his band The Blind Rabbits.
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