Barbara Morrison - Biography

Barbara took her professional training in piano performance in Canada, continuing on with post-graduate work in performance at the University of Michigan, and at the Banff International Centre for Performing Arts. She studied with the renowned Phyllis Szeliga, Marilyn Engle, Marek Jablonski, Leon Fleischer, Paul Badura-Skoda and Kendall Taylor.

She was the director of Stone Soup Studio in Toronto, where she trained musicians at all levels of performance, music theory and music history. Her work in Creative Pedagogy ("Fingergym") and Rhythmic Sensitivity led to summer faculty positions at universities in the U.S., the U.K., Canada and New Zealand. Her "Fingergym" Pedagogy programmes and Master Classes for piano teachers and students, foster the development of 'own voice' connection to music in young students, concentrating on the development of technical strength, imagination, coordination and mental and physical involvement of students through creative play at the instrument.

Barbara was a Senior Examiner for the Royal Conservatory of Music, involved in training and development of Examiners. She was an active performer, heard on radio broadcasts in Canada and the U.S. and has recorded with ensembles on four CD releases. She has been a keynote speaker and panel member at symposiums on New Music and Arts Education. She was the subject of a TV Ontario documentary on Artists, Ethics and Philosophy, and is featured in an independent film video: " Sound Practise" produced in San Francisco.