Understanding that education on the joys, complexities and breadth of ragtime music would be one of the Foundation’s most important missions, the talents of Ms. Barbara Geary were enlisted to bring her program of early American music into Tulsa area schools.   Since 1996 Ragtime for Tulsa has engaged Ms. Geary to play to elementary, middle and high school students throughout the district, and beyond.   Combining narrative and performance she spans the musical era of Gottschalk to Gershwin, dispensing a veritable history of syncopated music with humor, intelligence and verve.

Ms. Geary is a highly qualified pianist whom many of you have enjoyed hearing at our early concerts and at our ‘Friends’ receptions.   She holds a Master’s degree in piano performance from Indiana University and has studied under world renowned teachers.   She is herself a teacher of music having held piano teaching positions at Indiana University, Ohio University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and two state universities in Oklahoma.   Barbara is listed on the distinguished roster of Steinway Artists.   Her "Gottschalk Gala" was a featured presentation in the West Coast Ragtime Festival in 1995 and she performed for the festival again in 1997.   She performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City the summer of 2001.