• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Features
  • Campus News
  • CSUDH.edu
  • Contact
  • People
    • Staff Spotlight
    • Faculty Highlights
    • Alumni
  • Magazine
  • For Journalists
    • CSUDH In The News
    • Press Releases
    • Facts and Figures
    • Find Media Experts
    • Gallery
    • News Reporting on Campus

CSUDH News

The primary source of news and information about California State University, Dominguez Hills, its students, faculty, and staff.

You are here: Home / Archive / Features / Daniel Terrazas: Music Student Performs with Award-Winning Latina Songstress

Daniel Terrazas: Music Student Performs with Award-Winning Latina Songstress

October 7, 2010

Daniel Terrazas
Daniel Terrazas

California State University, Dominguez Hills music major Daniel Terrazas, who plans to become a music educator, worked with Mexican singer and gold- and platinum-record winner Graciela Beltrán during a recent three-day tour in Oklahoma.

Terrazas works part time around the Los Angeles area playing the tuba for Mexican Folk groups in music styles including banda sinaloence, sirreno, and norteños. One of the promoters for these groups offered Terrazas the opportunity to play for the widely popular Latina singer Beltrán, who has performed corridos, romanticas, and baladas for at least a decade. Terrazas took the job to get a higher level of professional experience under his belt.

“The experience of working with such a well-known singer was good because it helped my reputation for being a competent musician,” said the Los Angeles resident. “I used the experience to promote myself and get exposure.”

Although Terrazas plans to continue performing music, he primarily wants to teach music.

“I want to become a music educator because music impacted my life in a positive way. The passion I have for music influenced me to stay away from trouble when I was surrounded by it. It influenced me to graduate high school, to attend college, and more importantly, it made me a stronger individual in all aspects,” said the 20-year-old college junior.

Terrazas began studying music in middle school playing the baritone horn. He wanted to play the tuba, but another student was already using the one tuba his school could afford. When he got to high school he switched to the tuba.

Terrazas credits music educators for inspiring him not only to study music, but also to do well in school.

“I wasn’t doing so well in school, but Mr. Fernández, my band director, and my music teacher, Mr. Mendez, got on me to attend school and to graduate,” said Terrazas.

Once at CSU Dominguez Hills, Dr. Richard Kravchak, chair and professor of the music department, persuaded Terrazas, who was previously a sociology major, to become a music major. And Terrazas hasn’t regretted it. He plans to get his master’s degree in music.

“I’ll need to know music theory and have a good grasp of various instruments, so I can teach students,” said Terrazas. “But before I go on to get my master’s, I’d like to work in the real work for three years in order to get experience that I can apply to teaching.”

Terrazas is already honing his teaching skills. In addition to working toward his bachelor’s degree and performing music, he tutors a few people in playing the tuba.

For more information about Graciela Beltrán, click here.

For information about the music department at CSU Dominguez Hills, click here.

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: Art and Design, Awards, Faculty, Students, Teacher Education

Recent Features

Ricardo Martinez with fellow youth commissioners at an outreach event in 2022.

Toro Makes an Impact as Youth Commissioner

January 12, 2023

At 23, CSUDH junior Ricardo Ortega Martinez Jr. is already a veteran in California politics. “My advocacy and community organizing started at the age of 17,” says Martinez, a political science major whose early experience with foster care growing up in Huntington Park helped shape the focus of his current advocacy ... Read More

Ken Seligson with The Maya and Climate Change book in foreground

New Book Explores the Resilience of the Ancient Maya

December 2, 2022

Throughout human history, civilizations have had to adapt to ever-shifting environments in order to survive—whether sudden, catastrophic climate events, or gradual changes that span centuries. These human-environmental relationships are at the center of The Maya and Climate Change (Oxford University Press, Nov. 2022), ... Read More

Helping Student Vets Chart a Path to Success

November 10, 2022

Tucked away on the third floor of Leo F. Cain Library, the Veterans Resource Center (VRC) may be small, but it exerts an outsized influence on the lives of students making the challenging transition from military service to academic life. “The Veterans Resource Center is the reason I’m here today and about to ... Read More

... see all Featured Stories

Footer

California State University, Dominguez Hills Logo

1000 E. Victoria Street, Carson, CA 90747
1-310-243-2001 • Send Email

Related Sites

  • csudh.edu
  • magazine.csudh.edu
  • gotoros.com

EMAIL NEWSLETTER

Get CSUDH News directly in your inbox

Copyright © 2023 · California State University, Dominguez Hills