Biography

Kaye Barker began her musical training at the Royal College of Music where she was a Junior Exhibitioner studying violin with Kenneth Piper. She read Music at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford University followed by two years of postgraduate study at the Royal Northern College of Music where she studied violin with Dennis Simons.

She became a member of the BBC Philharmonic and after six years she left to join the Bridge Quartet with whom she worked for ten years. During this time the Quartet enjoyed its Wigmore Hall debut and recorded acclaimed CDs of the four quartets by Frank Bridge. They also performed on BBC Radio 3 and on Classic FM. Kaye freelanced with several other ensembles in London including the Philharmonia, Feinstein Ensemble and Garden Opera, which she led for several years.

Since 2000 Kaye has focused on teaching. She became Head of Strings for Ealing Music Service then gained her PGCE and became a classroom Music teacher. She was Head of Music for Gumley House Convent School for Girls, in Isleworth, West London from 2011 – 2018 and gained a Masters degree in Education in 2014. Her dissertation investigated the benefits of Dalcroze teaching for Year 7 students.

Her interest in Dalcroze Eurhythmics began in 2008 and she gained her Certificate in Dalcroze Eurhythmics in 2012 and her Licence in Dalcroze Eurhythmics in February 2018. In April 2019 she was accepted to study for the highest qualification in Dalcroze Eurhythmics, the Diplôme Supérieur, and moved to Geneva in September 2019 as a full-time student for the academic year.

In December 2021 Kaye completed the exams for the Diplôme Supérieur and graduated in June 2022. This is the top level in the method and Kaye is one of only five people in the UK to currently hold the qualification.

She has taught on the Suzuki Summer School and for Trinity Laban at their Saturday morning centre in Hampstead. She also enjoyed teaching at the Central School of Ballet for two terms and taught on an Open Day in March 2019 then at their Summer School in August 2019. In January 2016 Kaye became teacher of Dalcroze Eurhythmics for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama on their String and Brass Training Programme, which takes place on Saturdays. She has taught on all the International Dalcroze Spring Courses & Summer Schools since 2016 & was the Artistic Director for the 2019 International Easter Course in Dalcroze Eurhythmics, which took place in Manchester, England.

Kaye has taught regularly on the intensive Professional Certificate Course, which qualifies students to become Dalcroze teachers. She performed with the London Dalcroze Plastique Ensemble at the First International Conference of Dalcroze Studies and as a soloist at the Second International Conference held in Vienna. She gave a paper at the Third International Conference of Dalcroze Studies in Quebec City, Canada and another paper at the Fifth International Conference of Dalcroze Studies (ICDS5) held online in October 2021. She will be giving a paper at  ICDS6 this August at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA.

Kaye has delivered one-off workshops around the country, for example, she gave a workshop for seniors in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire  and for Dalcroze UK members at their AGM in March 2018. In July 2019 she gave workshops for the West Sussex Music Annual Primary Schools’ Conference and for the Feversham Music Curriculum Development Day at Feversham Primary School in Bradford, in northern England. In April 2022 Kaye gave a workshop for students on the LRAM teacher training course. She also led a session for instrumental teachers at Highgate School,  and later in 2022 for the Music Masters organisation and for the American company LessonFace.

She set up a series of rhythmics classes for adults from May – July 2022 and delivered another series in autumn 2022 which are part of the Teacher Training course for the Foundation Award (DEIEB) in Dalcroze Eurhythmics. The course continues until May 2023. These classes can be attended as a stand-alone course if participants do not wish to train in the method and are suitable for beginners or for those with some experience who wish to refresh their skills.

Foundation & Intermediate training will be offered Sep 2023 – May 2024 as weekly classes. Contact Kaye at dalcrozemoves@gmail.com if you wish to train in the method. Click here for further information: https://dalcrozemoves.com/teacher-training/

In October 2022 Kaye organised her first Dalcroze Moves Course. Another course has been scheduled for Oct 2023.

Kaye was the international guest teacher at the  Australian Dalcroze Summer School, which was be held in Melbourne in January 2023. This was a joyful occasion and the first in-person Summer School organised by Dalcroze Australia since 2019.

She believes passionately that Dalcroze Eurhythmics is necessary for a complete musical education.