Rebecca studied music at Birmingham University. She went on to train at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), joining the acclaimed specialist strings PGCE course whilst simultaneously continuing her post-graduate viola studies with Louise Lansdown. It was during this time that Rebecca discovered Dalcroze, and found its movement based approach to musical learning to be hugely complimentary to her instrumental development. Along with her PGCE, she gained a distinction for both her viola postgraduate Diploma recital and her Dalcroze certificate. Rebecca has taught Dalcroze for the last 16years, working with students from 4-25yrs. She worked at Junior RNCM and Young Strings at RNCM for 12years, and also at Yorkshire Young Musicians. She set up Manchester Young Musicians, running musicianship classes to integrate Dalcroze with instrumental playing. This school flourished over the 10years that she taught there.
Rebecca moved south in 2019 when she married and is now living in Cardiff with her wife and two young children. She teaches Dalcroze at the Junior Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and is very excited to be the first Dalcroze teacher in Bristol, teaching in schools, Bristol Pre-Conservatoire, and string programmes.
Rebecca has developed many strategies to integrate Dalcroze into her string pedagogy and teaching. She has taught Dalcroze on many nationally renowned string residential courses, including Pro Corda, Con Corda, Suzuki International Summer School UK, National Youth String Orchestra. Since 2014 Rebecca has also taught Dalcroze at New Virtuosi, an international course for talented violinists, aged 8-25yrs directed by Ani Schnarch from the Royal College of Music. Rebecca has delivered many workshops at music education conferences, and led professional development for teachers across the UK.
Rebecca was the viola player in the Unthanks, a contemporary folk band 2009-19. They were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2009, won Best Album at the BBC Folk Awards in 2016, and are the only British folk representation in The Guardian’s and Uncut’s best albums of the last decade.