Write your awesome label here.

Dechant Family

The musical legacy began when my mother, started playing accordion and giving group lessons allowed her to meet my father, her student. Their shared love of music grew into love for each other. They got married and the Dechant Family was born.

Their union bore two daughters who continued the family passion for music education. My mom opened a music school in Germany that she still runs today.

Following her example, my oldest sister pursued music studies and opened her own academy. Me the youngest, I brought my family legacy to Hong Kong by establishing a music academy carrying on three generations of musical excellence.

Out with the old, in with the new

DMA HISTORY
PART 1

Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, my family made the long trek from Siberia to Germany by car, returning to my father's homeland roots, in 1990.
How everything has started you will see in this video DMA HISTORY PART 1.

Write your awesome label here.

DMA's founding story

Back in 2012, I moved to the exciting but expensive city of Hong Kong. Teaching some piano students allowed me to afford this new chapter.

What began as a survival strategy soon became a passion. By 2015, I committed fully to music education, establishing the IrinaSchool.

My students longed to learn additional instruments. So I brought aboard fellow talented teachers to expand our offerings. In just 3 years, we grew from me teaching piano solo to a 14-teacher ensemble educating across instruments. In 2018, we renamed ourselves to the Dechant Music Academy.

DMA was born!

THE most hardest IMPACT

NAVIGATING THE STORM

Write your awesome label here.

Protests in Hong Kong, 2019

The massive pro-democracy protests that erupted in Hong Kong in 2019 disrupted daily life for eight months. Originating over a controversial extradition bill, sustained civil unrest involving clashes between protesters and police led many businesses to close, caused economic downturn, and induced fear amongst residents.

Write your awesome label here.

Hong Kong, the world's most locked down cities

The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a devastating blow to Hong Kong's music education sector as lockdowns and social distancing measures remained in place for nearly two years. Music schools faced immense challenges from the inability to hold in-person classes, cancelled concerts, and reduced enrollment as families cut nonessential expenses.

The protets and lockdown has greatly affected the music teaching industry, and our academy was no exception. When Covid hit us, as a piano teacher and owner, we faced numerous challenges. I quickly realized that teaching online beginners was not possible unless the student already had some knowledge of reading notes. Additionally, I noticed that there were no printed materials available on the market that clearly explained the first steps of learning especially in piano.

However, whenever one door closes, another opens. With this attitude, I approached the situation positively and a new idea emerged.

HARD TIMES REUNIES
THE DMA FAMILY

In 2019, our music school DMA was thriving with 3 studios and 14 teachers. But then tough times hit Hong Kong with long protests causing many of our students, as well as tutors to leave.

COVID lockdowns made things even harder over the next 2 years. We went from 3 studios down to 1, and 14 teachers down to just 2.

But we didn't quit. We started teaching online instead. I had the idea for an online piano course. But copyright law forced us to create our own original music for it, with my mother lending her talents.
We made so much material it filled a book! My sister and brother-in-law assisted with the German version. After 3 years of hard work, we published our book in 2023 - the first step in an exciting new direction for DMA.

Challenges happen, but you can choose how to respond. Part of our journey is now complete with the book. And this is only the beginning of a nice series.

Write your awesome label here.