Blog Archives - David Barton Music

My Top 10 Blog Posts in 2020

It's always good at the end of another calendar year (and what a whirlwind year it's been) to look back see which blog posts were the most popular. These so…

My Top 10 Christmas Books for Piano

It'll come as no surprise to you that I have two shelves of Christmas carol books and another whole shelf dedicated to Christmas books for piano. Then there's all the…

4 Things I’ve Learnt Teaching Online

It's been about eight months since the majority of us began teaching online lessons. Whilst some experienced a brief return to face-to-face teaching, the majority are now back online. It's…

Review: ABRSM Discovering Music Theory

I should preface this post by saying this is not a review of the online theory exam or the changes to the ABRSM Theory Syllabus that were necessary in order…

Review: Zoom88 – How to Be Calmer and Improve Your Music Making

It would be easy to say that Zoom88 is a book about using Thought Field Therapy (TFT) as a means to improve musicians' performance anxiety; however, it's about so much…

Review: Piano Wizardry by Jason Hawkins

From Music Wings Publishing comes a brand new book for young pianists, Piano Wizardry by Jason Hawkins. Jason Hawkins is an award-winning musician, writer and educator based in Yorkshire. Having…

Annabel Lee Replies: music, art and poetry with a touch of mauve

Do you remember train travel and hanging around in railway stations? Back in 2018, Ruth and Nic Carlyle were eating cheese scones at Birmingham New Street railway station when they…

Studio Communication: A Key to Building Community

It's tempting to start with a trip down memory lane, but suffice to say, after nearly 20 years of teaching privately, the way we communicate with our students and their…

Review: Trinity Piano Syllabus 2021-23

Trinity launched its new Piano Syllabus for 2021-23 on 4th August. The syllabus contains 'more repertoire than ever before' including a selection of pieces from their Young Composer's Competition. As…

Review: Night for Piano Solo (Ola Gjeilo)

Primarily known as a composer of choral music, Noway-born Ola Gjeilo released his third album of solo piano pieces, Night, in 2020. Now living in the US, the album contains…

Online Music Lessons: Who’d Have Thought It?

Over the past five months, both teachers and students have necessarily made the transition to online music lessons. I think we can all agree it’s been a huge learning curve.…

Review: Get Set! Piano – My First Piano Book

Karen Marshall must be one of the few people who has inspired as many teachers as she has students. It is always a pleasure to review her publications because they…