Private Instruction
According to research, the average privately tutored student outperforms 98% of students taught only under standard classroom group instructions. Denton ISD offers a private lesson program before and after school, as well as during your student’s regular orchestra class. Teachers are available on each instrument. All teachers listed have been selected by interview, approved by the district, and screened through a background check. Lessons offered during school hours or in a district school building go for the reasonable price of $20 per lesson. The expectation is for students to take one lesson per week.
The benefit of private instruction for your orchestra student can not be stressed enough. There is no substitute for one-on-one private instruction from an accomplished and pedagogically sound teacher. To enroll your student in private lessons: please contact Mr. Burris!
Violin & Viola Instructors
After moving to Denton, TX from S. Korea in 2017, Hank (Hyunseok) Chang is currently known as one of the most active and energetic string teachers and youth orchestra conductors in the North Texas area.
His strong string pedagogy has been built by studying and performing violin, viola, and conducting orchestras in different countries such as Europe, Asia, and the United States. He worked for Deagu City symphony Orchestra for 10 years as a violist in Deagu, S. Korea.
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 S. Korea. The orchestras he has built up and taught have successfully developed, and a couple of the orchestras have already made their oversea concert tours from Korea to Japan and German. He has also organized international string music festivals in Czech Republic and S. Korea for many years, introducing young talented musicians to the classic music field.
He finished his Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting at UNT under the guidance of Maestro Anshel Brusilow (8.1928-1.2018) who has known one of the greatest concert masters in America during the 20th century.
Currently, Hank is teaching 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 S. Korea.
Daniel Alejandro Gonzalez is a private violin/viola instructor and performer based in the DFW area. Originally from El Paso, TX, Daniel relocated in order to complete his Bachelor’s in Music Education at Texas Woman’s University and study with Dr. Anna Bard-Schwartz. 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.
Even though his first priority is violin and viola pedagogy, he takes every opportunity to perform as a freelance musician in the area, playing for events at schools, churches, assisted living centers, his own string quartet or even community orchestras. The vast wealth of performance knowledge informs his teaching so he can prepare students to be prepared for whatever confronts them on their musical journey.
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.
Cello Instructors
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.