Monica’s commitment to imparting an embodied understanding and love of music underpins all her work. She was awarded at Dalcroze Licence in 2012 and continues to use and adapt this training across all her teaching and playing. A music graduate of Manchester University where she specialised in performance, chamber music and composition, she went on to gain the PGCE in Music with Specialist String Teaching at MMU/RNCM with distinction.
In demand all over Scotland and beyond, Monica provides training for organisations such as Sistema Scotland, Dalcroze Australia, and NYCoS. She teaches regularly for Dalcroze UK on Easter, Summer and training courses. Her knowledge of string playing has led her to teach on courses run by National Youth String Orchestra, Pro Corda, and the Inspire Violin Camp in Ukraine.
At RCS she teaches on the BEd Music students Active Music Learning course and runs an introductory Dalcroze module which is open to students from all schools within RCS. She also teaches a GTCS award-winning Masters Module for primary teachers entitled Exploring Responsibility of All through Dalcroze Eurhythmics, the results of which she presented in Geneva at Institut Jaques-Dalcroze’s 2019 Congress.
Monica’s role at St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh includes violin, musicianship and pedagogy teaching. She also teaches children’s classes on Saturday mornings. In 2016 she was artistic director of the Ring Time Centenary Project for Dalcroze UK, working with composer Sally Beamish, three dancers and Red Note. In 2015 Monica was made an award by Katherine McGilliavray’s Get A Life Fund to enable her to study more in Geneva, and to promote Dalcrozian ideas in Scotland. In 2019 she achieved the Graduate Diploma in Jazz from St Andrews University, winning the Linda Trahan Award for outstanding performance and contribution to the course.
