Learn Guzheng ｜ Guzheng Lesson｜ Crystal Zheng Studio

ABOUT INSTRUCTOR - CRYSTAL

Guzheng Artist & Educator

25+ Years
teaching experience
35+ Years
playing experience

Crystal Zheng is a guzheng virtuoso, composer, educator and arts producer based in Dallas–Fort Worth. She has made the guzheng, a Chinese zither with about 2,500 years of history, a visible part of Texas cultural life, and she brings the instrument into contemporary and popular music.

Crystal began playing the guzheng at six. She trained at the Xi’an Conservatory of Music under Professor Jun Wei, pursued advanced study at the China Conservatory of Music, and was mentored by the masters Yanjia Zhou, Zhongshan Wang and Yun Qu. With more than 35 years of performing behind her, she serves on the committees of the China Guzheng Association and the Shaanxi Qinzheng Association. She composed the original work Chunqiu Fu and has published more than 80 guzheng scores. Her YouTube channel has nearly 250 videos, more than 3.5 million views and over 13,000 subscribers.

She has taught for more than 25 years, with students in over 10 countries, most of them in Texas, and she mentors guzheng teachers internationally. Her former student Neil Nayyar is now a professional recording artist and award-winning film composer. Her students have won first place at the Chinese Culture Competition (U.S. Region, Children’s Instrumental Division, 2023) and the Golden Classical Music Awards International Competition (2024).

Crystal founded Crystal Zheng Studio and the Chinese Zither Network, and she is president of the Dallas Guzheng Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Since 2022 she has produced or directed 10 cultural productions, including the Mid-Autumn Guzheng Gala and Culture Festival (2022–2025), the Dallas Lunar New Year Gala (2023–2026) and the McKinney Asian Art & Food Festival (2026). Her charity concert Music of Love (January 10, 2026, Robinson Fine Arts Center) brought together more than 200 artists, staff and volunteers, sold out to over 1,000 attendees and raised $20,118 for Children’s Health.

She performs at more than 15 public events a year, at venues including the Kimbell Art Museum and UT Dallas. In 2025 she judged the Texas Young Masters finalists for the Texas Commission on the Arts. She has appeared on WFAA’s Good Morning Texas (January 27 and December 22, 2025) and was featured in Voyage Dallas Magazine (May 2026).

Her work builds cultural awareness, advances music education, supports the local arts economy and inspires young Texans.

Our Philosophy of Guzheng Learning

A learning journey proven efficient, productive, and successful

Solid Foundation Building

There is no such thing of overemphasizing the importance of the foundation building. Basic skill training is extremely important in our teaching philosophy. In this stage, we focus on accuracy, strength, speed and fine control. We found many students with previous training come to us to re-learn the basic skill sets in the right way.

Advanced Technique Mastering

Advanced technique mastering requires the solid foudation building. In this stage, we focus on the advanced technique practice, as well as agility and high frequency of changes of different techniques. We introduce expressions of different musical arts by various techniques on the same note.

Performance Technique Training and Presentation

Staging performances are one of the best ways to demonstrate guzheng skills and artistic performance, and require specialized training and practice, such as how to perform gracefully and demonstrate playing skills. We host and co-organize many guzheng performances throughout the year. Our students of all levels are offered the opportunity to perform on stage.

Sheet Music for Guzheng

We offer sheet music specially adapted for guzheng performance. All sheet music have video demonstrations from Crystal and are written on numbered music note with the common D major. Accompanying music is attached, so you can learn to play by yourself.