Our Faculty

The Arlington Suzuki Academy offers weekly private lessons and monthly group classes for violin and viola students of all ages.

Our faculty are all Suzuki trained and highly dedicated to their craft. Both Mrs. Collins-Davis and Mrs. Montez Gream are highly involved in the North Texas Suzuki community: Mrs. Montez Gream was the 2023 recipient of the North Texas Suzuki Association teacher scholarship and Mrs. Collins-Davis has sat on the North Texas Suzuki Association Board in different capacities since 2019.

Bio

Christine Collins-Davis began her musical journey at age 5 on the piano, but switched over to the violin as quickly as her parents would allow her. She was an active participant in band, choir, and orchestra throughout her middle school and high school years before attending the University of North Texas to double major in violin music education with a focus in elementary education and oboe performance. Halfway through her time at UNT, Ms. Collins-Davis made the decision to focus full time on elementary music education. 

Ms. Collins-Davis taught private lessons in violin, viola, piano, and voice beginning in 2012 at the Frisco School of Music where her violin studio was named “The Most Improved Studio”.  Culminating her graduation at the University of North Texas, Ms. Collins-Davis moved to Lincoln, Nebraska where she continued to teach privately.  Although Ms. Collins-Davis grew up playing repertoire from the Suzuki books, she did not grow up using the Suzuki Method.  She took her first Every Child Can and Violin Book 1 course at DFWWoW in 2015 and it completely changed the trajectory of her teaching career.  Upon moving back to Texas in 2016, Ms. Collins-Davis accepted a position as a Suzuki Strings Specialist as part of Hurst-Euless-Bedford’s Suzuki in the Schools program. In this capacity, Ms. Collins-Davis has the pleasure of teaching students in grades Kindergarten through Sixth Grade the violin, viola, cello, and bass using the traditional Suzuki Method. 

Ms. Collins-Davis attended the University of Texas at Arlington from 2018-2021 to pursue a Master’s Degree in Music Education where she had the privilege of working with Dr. Diane Lange as a mentor and advisor. During her time at UTA, Ms. Collins-Davis had the opportunity to study the benefits of the Suzuki Method and similar teacher methods as they relate to young music learners.  Her thesis discussed the benefits of the Suzuki Method versus traditional string classroom teaching methods and how the Suzuki Method could be especially beneficial to students with Dyslexia. 

Ms. Collins-Davis is passionate about the Suzuki Method. Through her work with the Executive Board of the North Texas Suzuki Association, she hopes to continue their work reaching a broad and diverse community of Suzuki students and teachers, as well as encouraging new students and teachers to join our fantastic Suzuki community.

Bio

Ashley Montez began her musical journey in the 4th grade as a violinist. Hooked from the beginning, Ms. Montez was an active participant in orchestra throughout middle school and high school, attending Dallas’ well-known Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Ms. Montez was also a member of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s Young Strings program from 8th grade to her senior year in high school.

Ms. Montez later went on the attend the University of Texas at Arlington, where she graduated summa cum laude with her Bachelor in Music Education with a minor in Spanish. It was during her time at UTA that she started teaching violin and piano privately at Stage Notes School of Music and Arts in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford area.

Currently, Ms. Montez is in her second year of teaching full time as a 5th grade orchestra director for a fine arts academy in Mansfield ISD and continues to teach violin privately. When not teaching, Ms. Montez enjoys spending time with her husband and their two dogs.