Scheffter, Barbara
Barbara Scheffter earned a Bachelors Degree in English (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and a Masters Degree in Education from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. While at Allegheny, she pursued a childhood love of music as a member of the Allegheny College Choir. Highlights of those choral years include singing under the direction of Randall Thompson and performing at the National Cathedral, The Riverside Church in Manhattan, and the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Chapel in Berlin.
Upon graduation from Allegheny, Barbara served as a middle school English teacher in Ohio and a Public Information Specialist at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, each for four years, before entering the field of music as a vocation.
She has served as a church musician for over 30 years, building and leading children’s and adult vocal choirs and handbell ensembles in South Carolina and Maryland. When her youngest child went to college, she returned to school herself, completing a bachelor’s degree in music education at UMBC (University of Maryland Baltimore Campus) in 2009 (summa cum laude). Since then, she has studied composition with Dr. Wayne Wold at Hood College, completed Masters Classes in Composition with Arnold Sherman and Sondra Tucker, and studied conducting with Dr. William Payne.. She is published by Composer’s Music, a division of Jeffers Handbell Supply, Inc., and by From the Top Publications. Her arrangement, Christmas Joy Medley, was named an Editor’s Choice by J.W. Pepper & Sons, Inc. in 2019.
