Pearson Band
PRIVATE LESSONS
It is the goal of the Pearson Middle School Band to provide the very best learning experiences for each student. One of these learning experiences is the opportunity for a student to study privately with a professional instrumentalist. These lessons are tailored to the specific needs and goals of each child.
One of the biggest contributors to a great musician and a successful band program is the active involvement in the private lesson program. While it is not required, it is strongly encouraged that each student takes advantage of this great opportunity!
Lessons may be scheduled before school, after school, and during band depending on the schedules of the students and the teachers. Private lessons are 30 minutes before or after school, and 22 minutes during the school day. The FISD Middle School lesson rate is $23.
Pearson Private Instructors
Jessica Schury is a versatile flutist and educator originally from Pennsylvania. She has been awarded first prize in several regional and university competitions including the Pennsylvania MTNA Young Artist Competition, the Philadelphia Flute Society Collegiate Young Artist Competition, and the West Chester University Wind Ensemble Concerto Competition. Most recently, she was awarded second prize with the Puerto Rico Flute Symposium’s Young Artist Competition where she will give a full recital at their 2022 Flute Symposium.
As a performer, Jessica has played with the Newark Symphony as well as internationally and throughout the United States as a chamber musician. She has performed in festivals such as the Virtual Flute Music Festival, the Cortona New Music Sessions, and the Aruba Symphony Festival. She can be heard as principal flute on the West Chester University Wind Ensemble’s Grammy-nominated album, Blessings Flow. Jessica also regularly performs with her flute and oboe duo, Sonation.
Jessica completed her Bachelor of Music and Music Education degree from West Chester University of Pennsylvania where she studied with Dr. Kimberly Reighley. She then earned her Master of Music degree from Study Brook University studying under Carol Wincenc. Currently, Jessica is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree as a teaching fellow at the University of North Texas, where she studies with Terri Sundberg.
Bio coming soon!
Angela Kiang previously taught private lessons in the Austin ISD, Round Rock ISD, Hays CISD, and Elgin ISD area. In 2015, she graduated with a Bachelor’s in Oboe Performance from the University of Texas at Austin. Originally born in Redwood City, California, and raised in Frisco, Texas, she began her musical training at five where she studied piano. Her passion for music grew when she began playing oboe at ten years old.
For her dedication, she worked alongside musicians from the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra under the baton of James Frank and Richard Giangiulio for three years. During her high school education, she has also made name for herself as a prestigious Texas Music Educators Association All-State Musician as principal oboist her freshman year and second oboe in the Philharmonic Orchestra her senior year.
While at UT, Angela has studied under Andrew Parker. Since her first year, she has performed with the Symphony Band under the direction of Ryan Kelly, the Wind Symphony lead by Scott Hanna, the Wind Ensemble under the baton of Jerry Junkin, and the Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gerhardt Zimmermann. Along with studying under these renown conductors, she has also participated in masterclasses with Erin Hannigan, Katie Young Steele, and the Splinter Reeds quintet. She hopes to further her musicianship by being a music educator and pursuing her aspirations as a performer.
Originally from Taiwan, Miss Shih-Yen Chen received her DMA in clarinet performance at the University of Texas at Austin. Miss Chen currently serves as second clarinet in Richardson Symphony Orchestra.
Considered an active performer, Miss Chen has participated in various solo and ensemble performances. She has been heard in four continents with UT Wind Ensemble world tour. An advocate of new music, Miss Chen is the clarinetist of Hear No Evil, a Perriot ensemble that regularly performs the music of our time in Austin area.
She has performed on a number of music series and festivals including Tetractys, Beerthoven, Golden Hornet, Excessive Noise, the New Music and Art Summit, Texas Music Festival, Chautauqua Music Institute, Pierre Monteux Festival. Chen was also invited to perform “Kheir: Fantasy for clarinet and Sinfonietta” by Max Grafe with UT New Music Ensemble and "Der Klein Harlekin" by Karlheinz Stockhausen in UT Wind Ensemble concert as a soloist. In addition, Miss Chen has performed Clarinet Concerto by Aaron Copland with National Taiwan Normal University in NTNU Grand Auditorium and Song-Yi Concert Hall in Taiwan.
Miss Chen was named national third prize of Music Teacher National Association Young Artist Competition, 1st prize in NTNU concerto competition, winner of Ann P. Winkelstein scholarship, Nancie Monteux Barendse Scholarship, and Kung Hsue She scholarship.
Bio coming soon!
Pedro Garcia
Clarinet Instructor
p.garciaiii@yahoo.com
Cean Robinson, a North Texas native, is an active freelance trumpet player and music educator in the DFW area. Mr. Robinson recently finished his M.M. at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana where he studied with Mr. John Rommel, and his B.M at the University of Oklahoma, where he studied under Dr. Karl Sievers.
While at Indiana University, Cean performed with several groups including the Indiana University Chamber Orchestra and the Latin Jazz Ensemble directed by Grammy nominated artists Wayne Wallace and Michaels Spiro and can be heard on their album titled Canto America, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album of 2017.
While at the University of Oklahoma, Mr. Robinson served as Principal of the Symphony Orchestra and Wind Symphony, as well as a frequent soloist for the OU Jazz Ensemble. Professionally, Mr. Robinson has appeared with many groups around the DFW area and maintains a steady performance schedule of classical and commercial music.
He is currently a member of the Tarnished Brass, Brass Quintet which is a group comprised of five performers and educators around the Metroplex, as well as the Pecos River Brass Big Band, which is a twenty-member group that performs for a variety of concert jazz venues and private functions around the DFW area. He also has been a soloist for the Texas Instruments Big Band. Currently Mr. Robinson lives in Lewisville TX, and teaches in both the Frisco and Lewisville Independent School Districts.
Celesta Berga is a music educator who hails from West Virginia. She is a graduate of West Liberty University and holds degrees in Music Education with an emphasis on horn, as well as Vocal Performance. Prior to moving to Texas, she held the position of Director of Choral Activities at Brooke High School and Brooke Middle School in Brooke County, West Virginia, for seven years. She has maintained a private studio offering horn and voice lessons since 2015.
Celesta has worked with numerous bands at the high school and collegiate levels throughout West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania as a high brass instructor and visual technician. As a freelance musician, she has performed for Stonebriar Community Church in addition to numerous churches in the Pittsburgh and Wheeling areas such as Saint Kilian Parish Center, Saint John Fisher Church, and Vance Memorial Presbyterian Church. Celesta is a 2013 alumnus of the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps from Canton, Ohio. More recently, she played with the Washington Symphony Orchestra from 2017-2022 where she held the position of Assistant Principal Horn. She is also a founding member of the Ohio Valley Brass Quintet and performed with the group until her relocation to North Texas.
Bio Coming Soon!
Robert McDaniel
Euphonium Instructor
robert.alan.mcdaniel@gmail.com
Dr. Austin Crumrine is a recent graduate of The Ohio State University where he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in tuba performance while serving as Graduate Teaching Associate for the tuba/euphonium studio. He received a BM in tuba performance from the University of North Texas (UNT) and a MM in tuba performance from Baylor University.
While at Baylor, Dr. Crumrine served as the teaching assistant for the Wayne Fisher Jazz Program at Baylor University. He has performed with many top-notch collegiate ensembles including the North Texas Wind Symphony, Baylor Symphony Orchestra, and additionally has performed concerts with the UNT One O’Clock Lab Band.
In the summer of 2013, Dr. Crumrine studied under world-renowned tuba soloist Øystein Baadsvik at Le Domaine Forget in Quebec, Canada. He was also a member of the 2015 Disneyland All-American College Band where he performed on sousaphone, electric bass and upright bass. Dr. Crumrine served as principal tubist for the Hot Springs Music Festival Orchestra for their 2018 season. In the summer of 2019, he placed third for the International Tuba Euphonium Association’s Rich Matteson Jazz Tuba Competition.
Dr. Crumrine enjoys playing many different styles of music including classical, jazz, soul, rock, pop and contemporary worship. His primary teachers are James Akins, Dr. Kent Eshelman and Don Little.
Cameron Brown is a percussionist, educator, composer, and arranger based out of Dallas, TX. He holds an M.M. in Percussion Performance from The Florida State University and a B.M. in Music Education from The University of North Texas. In 2019 he was the winner of the Great Plains International Marimba Composition Contest with his piece “Fleet”, scored for solo marimba and percussion quartet. In 2020 he was one of the ‘Series 2’ composers commissioned by The Green Vibes Project to write a vibraphone work promoting awareness of environmental sustainability.
As an educator, Brown has worked throughout the Dallas/Ft. Worth area as a private lesson teacher and front ensemble arranger/instructor. From 2016 to 2019 Brown was a front ensemble instructor for The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps and from 2012 to 2015 was a front ensemble member of The Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps.
Brown has been under the instruction of many renowned percussion educators including John W. Parks IV, Robert Schietroma, Mark Ford, Christopher Deane, Paul Rennick, Ed Smith, Jose Aponte, Poovalur Sriji, Gideon Alorwoyie, Kevin Shah, Mike Jackson, and Ralph Hardimon. He is a member of the Percussive Arts Society and the Texas Music Educators Association.
Bio coming soon!
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Mason Fuller
Saxophone Instructor
masonfullermusic@gmail.com
Mason Fuller is a saxophonist, teacher, and composer based in Dallas, Texas. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Performance with a Concentration in Saxophone from Texas State University under the tutelage of Dr. Russell Haight.
Mason grew up surrounded by the music of his Dad’s rock cover band. He would often travel with them to gigs and sit on rehearsals. He started his musical journey at 11 years old in his middle school band program, initially wanting to be a percussionist like his father. Mason made the switch to saxophone due to an over abundance of percussionist, and started studying jazz a few years later at the age of 17.
Since then he has taught and performed in the Dallas and Austin areas and when he isn’t teaching, he’s touring the country as a professional saxophonist and entertainer. He’s a recipient of the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award and has an extremely diverse musical background that has allowed him to play many varying musical styles such as classical, jazz, rock, pop, funk, latin, and more! He’s also collaborated with word class musicians like Brian Bromberg, Greg Bissonette, and Butch Miles from the Count Basie Orchestra.
He also is proficient in doubling and is capable on a number of additional instruments including the flute, clarinet, and piano.
Debby Whaley earned her Master’s degree in Trombone Performance from the University of Colorado, Boulder and her Bachelor of Music degree in Music Performance from Bethel University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. While attending CU, she performed with the University Orchestra, Opera Orchestra, Wind Symphony, Graduate Brass Quintet, and Trombone Quartet. She was also the Trombone Studio Graduate Assistant which included responsibilities such as adjudicating, coaching undergraduate brass quintets, audition coaching, and acting as a Teaching Assistant for Music Appreciation courses.
Ms. Whaley has studied with William Stanley, Thomas Ashworth, R. Douglas Wright, Kari Sundstrom, Paul Naslund, Lindsay Shilling, and Trygve Skaar. She has collaborated with conductors and composers including Jerry Luckhardt, Charles B. Olson, Allen Hightower, Allan McMurray, Craig Kirchhoff, Marin Alsop, and Dave Grusin. She spent twelve years in the Minneapolis area performing professionally with Encore Wind Ensemble, the Saint Paul Civic Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis, and numerous area churches. She was also the Assistant Director of Development at The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Ms. Whaley moved to Texas in August 2014 and lives in Prosper with her husband Dave, daughter Lucy (14), son Seth (11), Pip the Chihuahua, and Rocky the Weimaraner. She is a freelance trombonist and clinician, a core member of the Stonebriar Community Church Orchestra and ensembles, and maintains a private studio.