Barbara Becker

At age four, Barbara Becker began playing piano by ear, improvising, and arranging nursery rhyme tunes. Most of her life, she has focused on teaching children but fulfilled her lifetime goal of becoming a composer by taking a teaching break between 1980 and 1985 to devote solely to composition. Her works have since been performed nationwide. Barbara is a mother of one and resides in the Bay Area in California.

In what way did Barbara Becker acquire her music education?
Barbara studied for many years with a private teacher prior to attending college. In her collegiate pursuits, she found herself ill-equipped, not having acquired skills such as sight reading, yet flourished in improvisation easily and found she had perfect pitch. She studied for three years at Oberlin College before graduating from Roosevelt University in Chicago with a Bachelor of Music degree in music education.

What profession path did Barbara take between her music education and her place in the world today?
After completing her education and graduating from Roosevelt University, Chicago, she channeled her creative energies into various schools. In 1961, she relocated to California to accept a position at Civic Arts, where she focused on teaching pre-school children and creating school choruses. Barbara left Civic Arts after twelve years yet has continued to teach in other California institutions, including San Francisco State University. She took a five year hiatus between 1980 and 1985 to focus on composition. Today, Barbara is currently very active in the academic arena, while maintaining a successful series of music publications, mostly for children, and composing intriguing works for adults. She has served as a commissioned composer for Clavier Magazine. Barbara predominantly works from her home studio in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she composes, teaches privately, and organizes workshops given throughout the Bay Area.

What mentors have had an impact on Barbara?
She has since studied with noted composers and musicians including Joseph Joe Wood, Rosemarie Graentzer and Mary Helen Richards. Currently she studies and works with Julian White.

What organizations is Barbara a member of?
She is an active member of the Performing Arts Society of Contra Costa County, the Music Teachers Association of California, and Music Teachers National Association.

Barbara is due to release Scenes From the Theatre in 1998. Scenes From the Theatre won the 1997 State Award for Composition for the Music Teachers Association of California. A series of moving pieces that reflect passion, love, cabaret, dance and more, Scenes From the Theatre, as her other material are available through her publisher at:

NEIL KJOS MUSIC COMPANY, 4380 Jutland Drive, San Diego, California, 92117 United States of America or by calling the Piano Department at (619) 270-9800.

Last Updated: 2/3/06