Author and Educator
Steve is a music educator with over 30 years of experience teaching intermediate to advanced students, educators and professional musicians. Special areas of instruction for private students, clinics and Master Classes are Music Interpretation, Improvisation, Arranging and Composition.
He also teaches private students from his studio in Colorado Springs, Colorado and also offers online studies via Skype. Steve authored The Source, a book widely used by teachers and university programs worldwide. Published by Hal Leonard, with a foreword by Dr. Billy Taylor, and enthusiastic endorsements by Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck, Clark Terry and Lionel Hampton, The Source has become the standard scale/chord reference book in music education. Recently, the Source was revised and re-released in a 2nd edition to include the classical music market. Endorsements from the classical world include Rebecca Penneys (Eastman School of Music), classical pianists Jeffrey Biegel and John Bayless, and Composer/Conductor David Amram.
Steve has released four books of his original compositions and arrangements, and arranged several books for Hal Leonard, most notably The Beatles songbook.
About Steve
Pianist Steve Barta is a Recording Artist and Composer, whose contribution to the world of music includes 15 Recordings that reflect his many influences, particularly Brazilian, Jazz and Classical.
Steve teamed up with Jazz legend Herbie Mann, and a great cast of players to record the Brazilian jazz Blue River. Steve recorded Another Life Brazil with legendary jazz & latin greats Hubert Laws, Herbie Mann, Dori Caymmi, and Paulinho da Costa. Both recordings are Steve's original compositions.
Reflecting his love of American jazz standards, Steve arranged some of the most well loved songs by Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, George Shearing, Michel Legrand and Irving Berlin. Steve’s fresh, inventive arrangements in UnStandards and Encore UnStandards bring these wonderful songs back to their rightful place in your playlist.
These "studio live" recordings capture the wonderfully warm, live and “in the moment conversations” between the players.
While on tour in Eastern Europe, Steve recorded A Midwest Dream with symphony orchestra for the classically influenced recording Moment in Movement.
Steve's well loved recordings of holiday arrangements range from the elegant solo piano Noel to The Twelve Days of Christmas with jazz trio and string orchestra. These works capture the magic and majesty of the holiday season. Steve teamed up with jazz harpist Deborah Henson Conant to record Christmas Around the World, a collection of well loved songs from around the world.
