ABOUT US
ANGELA C. BARKER
Bachelor of Music - Shorter College - Rome, GA
Master of Music in Music Education - Silver Lake College - Manitowoc, WI
Ph.D. Music Education - University of Oklahoma - Norman, OK
Angela’s teaching experience includes early childhood music classes in Virginia, Oklahoma, and Georgia, in addition to teaching elementary general and choral music at public schools in Texas and Virginia. She has taught graduate and undergraduate music education courses at the University of Oklahoma, Georgia State University, and Silver Lake College and served as a distance education facilitator for graduate courses in the College of Fine Arts at Boston University. Angela has led clinics and teaching seminars in early childhood music, music and movement, music education pedagogy and research, and children's literature and music. From January 2017 to August 2023, Angela was a private piano instructor for the Gwinnett School of Music in Georgia. Since 2013, she has been teaching pianists of all ages through her private home studio.
DAVID A. BARKER
Bachelor of Church Music - Shorter College - Rome, GA
Master of Music in Piano & Church Music - Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary - Ft. Worth, TX
David is a pianist, organist, and conductor with degrees in piano and church music from Shorter University in Rome, Georgia, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He served as an ordained minister of music for churches in Virginia and Georgia. David studied piano with Dr. Thomas Milligan, Mrs. Helen Ramsaur, and Dr. David Smith; piano pedagogy with Elizabeth Buday; music composition with Dr. C. L. Bass; conducting with Dr. Robert Burton; organ with Dr. Peter DeWitt; and handbell technique with Cynthia Dobrinski. He recently retired from the Kohler Company, where he worked as an IT Systems Architect for 15 years. David is currently an organist for Parkway Baptist Church in Duluth, Georgia.
OUR PHILOSOPHY OF PIANO
TEACHING AND LEARNING
We believe the tenets of piano teaching and learning include: 1) using developmentally appropriate, sequential instruction to introduce students to the fundamentals of music and piano technique; 2) teaching students piano technique, music theory, and the expressive elements of music through positive and meaningful interactions with the pieces they play; and 3) guiding students to develop their minds and ears, as well as their fingers, through activities in sight-reading, ear-training, composing, and listening. We have found that as students engage in the active processes of learning and performance, they become independent, well-informed musicians, leading to a lifelong enjoyment of and appreciation for music.