Episode 106: 3D learning and creative teaching with violinist Rachel Cooper

Rachel Cooper is a violin teacher who was recently awarded the Emerging Artist Award given by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at the 2023 Women in Classical Music Symposium. She’s a Suzuki teacher, a violin and chamber music coach at Junior Guildhall and works for Nicola Benedetti’s education initiative, the Benedetti Foundation. As part of her award and her continuing professional development, Rachel is planning to put her teaching approaches into a book, to help inspire music teachers to inject a little bit of magic into their lessons.

What’s so distinctive about Rachel’s teaching? Rachel speaks to online editor Davina about the concept of ‘3D learning’ and creative teaching – emphasising an all-round approach to music, including how something feels and sounds – not just how something looks – to embed information in a way that students understand and ultimately unlock students’ progress. She speaks about how tailoring her teaching methods to students gives you skills to become a better and more effective teacher. 

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Photo credit: The Shannons Photography