Excellence in teaching and performance.
McDonald Music Studios exists to teach young pianists and violists to reach their highest potential for exploring classical music in performance, auditions, competitions, as well as for personal satisfaction.
We believe our studios offer a true conservatory pre-college experience and are unique from any other studio.
Here are a few differences:
Our studio is recognized nationally for our student’s performances in competitions. Our students perform concertos as soloist with regional orchestras annually.
Both Marcy McDonald and Alex McDonald were awarded the Texas Music Teachers Association’s Outstanding Teaching Achievement Award - an award which may be given only once in a teacher’s lifetime in recognition of outstanding student achievement.
Alex McDonald was inducted in 2023 into Steinway’s Teacher Hall of Fame in New York City. Both Mrs. and Dr. McDonald hold Steinway’s “Top Teacher” designation.
Our faculty are innovative; we create performance opportunities for students that go beyond simply recitals and studio classes. These have included opportunities to collaborate with performing artists from the Dallas and Fort Worth Symphonies. In 2024, we formed our own chamber orchestra so that our students could perform movements of Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Schumann concertos with a professional orchestra. Students have appeared on local classical radio WRR for several years now, and have received strong reviews in the Dallas Morning News.
All our faculty engage in robust-continuing education, including research in technique and repertoire, performing solo and chamber music, and collaboration with conductors and performers from around the world. We hold multiple degrees from top conservatories including Juilliard, Eastman, and New England Conservatory.
Our students regularly rank in the very top of their groups, from orchestra all-region/all-state auditions to local, state, national and even international piano competitions.
Unlike many local music schools, where the students are “owned” by schools whose primary interest is in retaining enrollment quotas to maximize profits, our private faculty have years of proven experience, resulting in students that solo with orchestras, go to all-state, and upon graduation, attend top-tier universities, colleges and conservatories.
In addition to offering piano and viola lessons in the North Dallas/Plano area, we now also offer piano lessons in the Houston area! Pianist Robert McDonald has soloed and taught in both North American and Turkey. He brings with him years of teaching experience and artistry. You can use the same “studio inquiry” form to reach out to him.
Let’s see what we can do together!
Recent Studio Accomplishments
About
Decades of interaction with internationally renowned performers and teachers, careful thought and practice have gone into creating a music studio that fosters excellence.
Upcoming performances