Cello & Piano Lessons with Rachel

Rachel began her music education with piano lessons at age 8, and she started playing the cello through her school music program at age 9. She grew up in St. Louis, where she studied at the St. Louis Symphony Community Music School. She has a Bachelor degree in Music Performance from the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University, where she was a student of Felix Wang, and her other teachers include Kurt Baldwin and Ilya Finkelshteyn. Her musical background is mostly classical, though one of her interests now is playing traditional Celtic music on the cello.

Rachel has also studied various body-awareness methods, such as the Alexander Technique, which help musicians become more comfortable in their own skin and play with greater freedom and ease. Her goal is to help her students learn to be physically comfortable with their instrument from the start, so that they will always be able to take pleasure in music-making.

Besides music she also enjoys gardening, reading, and baking.