Barbie Matthews holds a Master of Music Degree from Yale University and a Bachelor of Music degree from New England Conservatory of Music in Classical Guitar Performance with Academic Honors, with a Minor in Music Theory. Actively engaged in Music Theory education, Matthews taught an undergraduate Keyboard Harmony course at the New England Conservatory of Music, teaching the fundamentals of voice leading, harmony, counterpoint, and figured bass realization. As a Teaching Assistant, she led graduate and undergraduate Music Theory classes in tonal and post-tonal practice at the New England Conservatory of Music and at Yale School of Music.
Passionate about new music, Matthews’ minor thesis explored how Witold Maliszewski’s unique teaching of formal analysis relating to Beethoven’s 35 piano sonatas informed the formal structure of Witold Roman Lutosławski’s Chain 1. Later developing an interest in American Experimentalism, Matthews dedicated her graduate recital at Yale to American Experimentalist works from the 20th and 21st centuries, featuring works by Elliott Carter and Ingram Marshall, and her original transcription for electric guitar and loop pedal of Julius Eastman’s chamber piece, Femenine. Matthews strives to engage with material that represents a broad range of musical traditions and styles and to communicate and synthesize the relationship between Music Theory and Performance Practice.