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OBU
Emily Barr
Emily Barr

Emily Barr

Adjunct, Division of Music
Piano

Biography

Emily Barr serves on the faculty of Oklahoma Baptist University, where she teaches applied piano and functional keyboard skills. She is a dedicated teacher and pianist who has given solo and chamber music performances in the US and Japan, including master classes with Read Gainsford, Corey Cervosek, the Tokyo String Quartet, and Koji Tanaka. In 2021, she was selected as a graduate division finalist in the Rising Star Competition at the University of Oklahoma. As an educator, Emily has taught group piano, functional keyboard skills, applied piano, and aural skills at the collegiate level. She also maintains an active piano studio for pre-college students and has previously taught elementary general music in the public schools. She has presented workshops at the state and national levels, including the 2023 OMTA State Conference with her presentation Let’s Play! Concept-Based Learning Through Musical Games. Upcoming conference presentations include the 2024 MTNA National Conference and the 2024 Group Piano/Piano Pedagogy Forum (GP3).

Emily is currently a D.M.A. candidate in Piano Performance and Pedagogy at the University of Oklahoma. She also earned her M.M. in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the same institution in 2015. During her time at OU, Emily studied piano pedagogy with Barbara Fast, Jane Magrath, and John Patrick Murphy and piano performance with Jeongwon Ham and Stephen Beus. As a graduate teaching assistant, she taught group piano for music majors and non-music majors, secondary applied piano, and aural skills. Emily also holds a B.M. degree in Music Education from Susquehanna University, where she studied piano with Naomi Niskala and music education with Kimberly Councill. She has spent summers teaching and performing at Interlochen Arts Camp, the Sierra Academy of Music, and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.

Education

  • M.M. Piano Performance and Pedagogy, University of Oklahoma
  • B.M. Music Education, Susquehanna University

Subjects Taught

  • Applied Piano
  • Functional Skills

Professional Memberships

  • Music Teachers National Association (MTNA)
  • Oklahoma Music Teachers Association (OMTA)
  • College Music Society (CMS)

Selected Publications

  • "Tanaka: 'Crested Ibis' from Children of Light," Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy, Inspiring Artistry Series, Video Lecture and Performance, August 2022

Selected Presentations

  • "Let’s Play! Concept-Based Learning Through Musical Games," Oklahoma Music Teachers Association State Conference, June 2023
  • "Pandas, Gorillas, and Parrots, Oh My!: Illuminating Karen Tanaka’s 'Children of Light,'” MTNA Collegiate Symposium, January 2023
  • "Group Piano That Moves: Off-the-Bench Strategies for the Collegiate Group Piano Class," MTNA National Conference, March 2022, with Janelle Crane, Jenna Klein, David Mach, Katie Ostrosky, Meldy Tanako, Gregory Worthley, and Mimi Zhang

Selected Lectures

  • "The Piano Works of Liszt," University of Oklahoma Winter Piano Camp, January 2023