Meet the Teacher
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
---|---|---|---|
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() |
Background & Mission

I was born into a family that inspired both a love for teaching and a passion for music. From a very early age, I was exposed to music, discovered my vocation, and started my uninterrupted musical career. As a composer, conductor, and multiple instrument player, music has always been a means of communication, a place where I feel comfortable and alive.
As a music teacher, I am passionate about scaffolding beginning steps in music education so that a seed of grit is planted within students’ academic, social and emotional development.
With a growth mindset, I endeavor to nurture students’ coping skills to deal with the anxiety that arises from the slow learning curve of learning to play an instrument. I strive to create a positive, relaxed, and comfortable environment in which students can grow, learn, feel safe, respected, unafraid of making mistakes, and valued for their differences.
I have built my career as a professional musician in a wide variety of performing arts: film scoring, theater plays, musicals, dance theater, music shows, and concerts, playing in a wide spectrum of bands, ensembles, and orchestras of different music genres. This has earned international awards, including a recent recognition from the City of Los Angeles for my contribution to the arts. As a musician, I also enjoy learning from and connecting with other colleagues from a variety of ethnic or national backgrounds, finding unity through our common language.
Today, with more than 25 years of experience as a professional musician, and fourteen years as a music educator, my wish is to share this passion for music and all its benefits to future generations. My ultimate goal is for students to feel they are a part of a bigger community and embrace their own identity through the arts. As an immigrant myself, I understand what it is to embrace many cultures, promote tolerance and cultural awareness, and build community through the arts. We celebrate the richness of our diverse cultures through the language of music. Through music education and performance, I want to send another message to the world, not just in the music itself, but in the unity that music helps us to embrace.
Meet the Musician
Bio
Mariano Dugatkin, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, enjoys international recognition as an award winning composer. His work has been performed at the most prestigious concert halls in Argentina and abroad. He has written music scores for films, commercials, theatre plays and dance shows.
As a professional bandoneon player, Mr. Dugatkin has played with several Tango Orchestras in Argentina such as Esquina Homero Manzi, Piazzolla Tango Show, Che Tango, Tango Porteño, and Señor Tango. Currently he is the bandleader and bandoneon player of TintoTango in Los Angeles, California.
He has been awarded by the International Competition of Electroacoustic Music and Sonic Art of Bourges, France; by the National Composer’s Tribune Prize and the National Electroacoustic Music Rostrum Prize, UNESCO, in Argentina. He was Artist in Residence at the ISA (Superior Institute of Arts) in La Havana, Cuba; at the IMEB in Bourges, France; and at the University of Sheffield, UK.
Mariano studied Music Composition at the National University of Art in Buenos Aires, Argentina (UNA), and got his teaching credential at California State University Northridge (CSUN). During the week, Mariano Dugatkin is known as ‘Mr. D’ while he rejoices in teaching orchestra for the Los Angeles Unified School District Arts Branch at multiple schools.
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
---|---|---|---|
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
To learn more about Mr. Dugatkin as a professional musician please visit: