Barbara Dagg
Waltons New School of Music Faculty
Piano • Theory & Musicianship • Concert Accompaniment
A graduate of Trinity College Dublin (BMus, HDipEd), Barbara studied piano with Rhona Marshall at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and Eleonore Wunderlich in Düsseldorf. She studied organ with Peter Sweeney and Gerard Gillen, with Ludwig Doerr at the State Conservatory in Freiburg, and with Almut Rössler in Düsseldorf, completing a Performer’s Diploma in organ and the Rhineland State Examination in Church Music with Distinction in piano. She also studied harpsichord with John Beckett at the RIAM and harpsichord continuo with David Roblou in London. In 2012 Barbara received an MA degree (with Distinction) in instrumental teaching (piano) from the University of Reading, having conducted research into the learning and teaching of piano sight-reading skills. In 2013 she gave a presentation on her MA research project to the Oxford Piano Group (an interest group of piano educators) at St. Hilda’s College Oxford and another to members of EPTA Ireland in Dublin. Barbara has given solo organ recitals at many venues in Ireland, England, Germany and Australia. During three years as Assistant Organist at Christ Church Cathedral Dublin, she performed liturgically and in concerts at cathedrals and churches across Ireland and the UK, and in broadcasts for RTÉ radio and television and BBC Radio 3. She was also Assistant Sub Organist for five years at St. Patrick’s Cathedral Dublin. As an organ and harpsichord continuo player, she has appeared across Ireland with orchestras and early-music ensembles. In particular, she performed half of all organ continuo parts in the Orchestra of St. Cecilia’s project, completed in 2010, to present all 200 church cantatas of J.S. Bach over ten annual concert series in Dublin. In 2015 she played harpsichord with Julie Maisel (baroque flute) and Andrew Robinson (viola da gamba) in a concert of baroque chamber music. Active as an educator, performer, arranger and accompanist, Barbara is equally happy playing and teaching music in classical, jazz and pop styles. In addition to teaching at the New School since 2011 (she also accompanies many of our student concerts), she also lectures at the TU Dublin Conservatoire (formerly DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama). ‘To me, playing any musical instrument well means developing a varied ‘tool-bag’ of skills, so I like to take a holistic approach to teaching piano. In addition to a good technical foundation, students at any level will need to develop good aural skills, an understanding of relevant music theory, a sense of style through knowledge of historical background and a solid grounding in techniques for either reading written music or playing by ear – or for both. They will also need to learn how to think and make musical decisions for themselves, and how to use their practice-time efficiently and effectively. I am happy to help students at every level to develop all of these skills along the way, because an understanding of musical context and practical thinking makes their learning more interesting, their progress faster, their confidence greater and their playing better.’
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