About Mrs. Music

Barbara Klaskin Silberg, a.k.a. “Mrs. Music,” is a talented songwriter, a devoted choir director and a dedicated teacher who enriches the lives of her students with her gift of music. She was honored to participate in The Discovery Channel documentary, The Power of Music. Her inspirational work making history come alive by using music to teach students about The Revolutionary War, slavery, The Civil War and other historic events was the subject of a Los Angeles Times article titled Schoolhouse Rock.

Mrs. Silberg was a traveling music teacher in Los Angeles for more than 16 years. She is currently the music teacher at UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Hospital, where she works with pediatric and adolescent inpatients. Mrs. Silberg has written music for three CDs, It's Holiday Time!, Celebrating Children, and Rocking the Night Away, and has recorded music for the Baby Genius label. She recently set music to the inscription by Emma Lazarus on the Statue of Liberty, and has enjoyed having the song performed all over the country.

Bob & Barbara Silberg: Mr. Potcher's Holiday

Congratulations to Bob and Barbara Silberg whose musical was selected for production from the 100 scripts submitted to the 2012 TNT POPS! New Play Project.

Mr. Potcher's Holiday, book and lyrics by Bob Silberg, music by Barbara Klaskin Silberg, is a family musical comedy set in a middle school.

To be produced by Bastrop Opera House, Bastrop, Texas.

Synopsis
Mr. Potcher, a school consultant, eliminates all classes in the arts and all extracurricular activities. When a young student named Darcy tries to persuade him to reinstate these activities, he not only remains unconvinced, he decides also to do away with all the holidays -- actually eliminate them from existence. The iconic holiday characters (Santa, Easter Bunny, Cupid, Leprechaun, a jack-o'-lantern and a Thanksgiving turkey) conspire with Darcy to change Mr. Potcher's mind.

A Message From Mrs. Music

I believe that intelligence can take many forms. One size does not fit all when it comes to teaching. Some students are able to absorb factual information “straight from the page” and master it easily, while others might need a more creative approach to be able to process the same material.

Many school subjects, especially history, can be taught using a musical approach. This is how I help students who have had difficulty learning in a more conventional manner. The same students who hated memorizing historical facts (me included!) seem to enjoy the task so much more when the events are tied in with music from a related era.

I was happily surrounded by music as a child, went on to sing with the musical group The New Generation as a young adult, then traveled throughout Los Angeles as a music enrichment teacher. I structured my career to present subjects in a way that would appeal to artistic students and put them on an equal footing with students who are gifted in mathematic or science.

Currently, I teach patients at UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Hospital how to play piano and, in my “spare time,” direct the West Los Angeles Children's Choir. I guess you could say that music occupies a lot of my life—and I couldn't be happier.