BT Studios

Community Building Through Music

BT Studios

Community Building Through Music

Welcome to BT Studios

Founded in 2017, BT Studios is owned and operated by husband and wife duo Liza Barley and Gil Teixeira. A true mom-and-pop business, this music learning community is run out of our family home in Highland Park, a northeastern neighborhood in the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA). It is here that we offer private lessons for kids and adults of all ages in violin, viola, guitar, music composition, and audio production. On any weekday afternoon, passersby will hear music and laughter in the air, coming from within the studio and from families hanging out and playing in the backyard between classes.

 

We believe in the timeless power of music to bring people together, so as you explore our offerings, you will see that we use music to create an environment of learning, creativity, and shared transgenerational experiences that go far beyond just playing an instrument.

Liza Barley

Liza Barley holds a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from Vanderbilt University and a Master of Music in Music Leadership/Collaborative Composition from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London.

In addition to growing up as a Suzuki student and being trained and certified in the method, Liza has been teaching Suzuki violin/viola for nearly 20 years all over the world, including the ten years she spent building and directing a Suzuki program and arts education and performance center in Arusha, Tanzania, East Africa.

She is well-known in the Suzuki world and has taught and participated in workshops and institutes all over the U.S., Canada, Central America, Europe, Africa, and Japan. While trained in Suzuki, Liza is passionate about adapting methodologies and teaching practices to various contexts and is always curious to try new things and see how pedagogy can adapt and evolve with a particular context, group, family, or individual.

In her artistic life, she spends a lot of time leading workshops in all kinds of contexts where participants use music to get in touch with their own creative voice and make new work together. She brings these skills to her teaching and raises students who become well-rounded musicians, comfortable in a variety of styles and modalities of playing, creating, and performing on their instruments.

Gil Teixeira

Gil Teixeira holds a Bachelor of Music in Guitar Performance and a Bachelor of Philosophy from Universidade do Porto and a Master of Music in Music Leadership/Collaborative Composition from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London.

A native of Portugal, Gil grew up studying the classical guitar while at the same time investing in a more creative relationship with music-making through his active involvement in the thriving garage band scene of his hometown Barcelos, aka “Portugal’s Seattle”, from which his iconic post-rock band “La La La Ressonance” later emerged.

As a young teaching artist in Portugal, Gil split his time and passion between guitar/ensemble teaching, recording and touring with his band, and leading music workshops for the Education Service of Porto’s Symphony Orchestra in a wide range of community settings.

During his graduate studies in London, Gil became excited with the potential of digital touch devices in community music-making contexts and started developing the soft/hardware for CEEMI, a virtual band that anyone can join regardless of their training or ability. That experience deeply influenced the direction that Gil’s artistic research has taken since then, primarily focusing on the impact of the digital revolution on human life.

Gil has performed, taught guitar, and led workshops and artistic projects all over Europe and the US. In 2015 he moved to Pittsburgh, PA (USA), where he still lives with his wife and three children.