Gill Piano StudioBarbara Bryner Gill--Whether playing the piano or singing, Barbara has always enjoyed making music. She holds two music degrees from the University of Utah: a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance, and a Master of Arts in Musicology. While attending the University of Utah her teachers included Barlow Bradford, Gladys Gladstone Rosenberg, and Vedrana Subotic.
Barbara regularly performs in the community, and has played for weddings, ceremonies, and special events for over a decade. She has been a choir member of the Utah Chamber Artists since 1999 and is also the Librarian and Administrative Assistant. In addition to teaching private piano lessons and musicianship classes, Barbara has been involved in arts administration holding positions such as the Administrative Coordinator for the Maurice Abravanel Visiting Distinguished Composers Series, and the Marketing Assistant for the Virtuoso Series at the University of Utah. Barbara is also involved in the Salt Lake Piano Competition.
An active member of the Utah Music Teachers Association, Barbara is a past president of the Jordan River chapter. She is Nationally Certified through the Music Teachers National Association and received her Permanent Professional Certified Teacher of Music status in 2015. Her students participate in a variety of performing experiences including the National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) festivals. Barbara and her husband have three boys and a girl (named after a concert hall).
I thought I already posted this recital! Here we go again… thanks to John Williams’ music for great movie music that my students enjoyed learning and performing. What a fun new space to perform in the Marmalade Library. Even though we only needed two rows of the stadium seating. 
Congratulations on getting to the top of the metronome with alphabet ladders going forward and backward!
Congratulations on finishing another book!
Congrats to these students who finished another Accelerando book! Only three more to go in the series.
The new incentive is up on my wall. Students will Play (15 pieces), Listen (15 Classical music), and Create (3 improvisations or composition). We’ll keep track on individual tracker sheets and then as bubbles (stickers) on my ocean wall with our SCUBA divers. Doing these three things (PLC), students start at the yellow level and progress deeper to orange, and then blue. Prizes are given at the completion of each level (Texas donut, $2 bill, or something fabulous).
These activities will take us to 99! To reach 100, students will need to attend a live concert (Utah Symphony, Utah Chamber Artists, Temple Square/Assembly Hall, etc.). Reaching 100 should be a prize of its own, but students will receive an iTunes gift card or equivalent.
Let the diving begin!
The results for the summer Activities for Ice Cream incentive are in. Each student earned 8 scoops so each will receive their favorite half gallon (or equivalent) of ice cream the week of Labor Day! Sarah is the grand champion, earning 14 scoops, and will receive a gift card for earning the most scoops.
Students were able to watch online performers, practice with more purpose, compose, race the clock with BEA’s keys matching staff notes on the piano keys, know major key signatures, major and minor five-finger patterns, etc. I’m so happy for their progression of skills!
Before the auction, recital, and awards ceremony.
Everyone completed all of the events: performance, sight reading, theory, ear training, and technique.
Congratulations to the Gold, Silver (2), and Bronze all-around medalists: Damon R., Sarah B., Quinn W., and Drew W.
Students earning 15-point Federation Cups: Ben, Drew, Lainey, Trevin.
Preparing for this recital took a lot of time! Each student had five ribbons, a certificate, and more certificates from Federation festival. Glad they enjoy the process and the reminders of their achievements.
Taking a Keyboard Gymnastics event sounds much better than end-of-the-year testing.
Here’s Sarah practicing for the theory event by putting Bea’s Keys on the notes from Low C to High C. Many times my students are able to “Beat the Teacher.” For now, I hold the record at 47 seconds. The fastest student is Quinn so far with 1 minute 10 seconds.
Can’t wait to see the results and the all-around medal winners for our final recital of the semester.
Federation festivals are fun! In preparation for solo festival, I held a recital at Wolfgang’s Konzert Haus. He has great pianos and students were allowed to use music, if needed. I would rather have a student share music than not share. Students drew numbers for their lucky chance at the performance order and picking their treat first.
A variety of pieces and moods presented. I love contemporary music!
A jar of Nutella, a Texas donut, and a chocolate orange. These are the items that were auctioned off for hundreds of dollars (music dollars). Our gathering activity of playing harmonies with tone chimes, performing, and the auction took all of our time during the group lesson in December. We’ll have to do the music map of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” another time.
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