Biography - Rachel Webley (nee Gronow)
Having started
playing cello and piano aged eight I discovered the double bass
when I was eleven and within a few months had become a member
of the West Glamorgan Youth Orchestra with which I was principal
bass for many years. At age thirteen I became one of the youngest
ever members of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales with whom
I spent nine very happy years, four of which as principal bass.
In 1989 I gained a place at Birmingham Conservatoire. During
this time I studied double bass with Thomas Martin, John Tattersdill
and Thomas Millar and worked with many prominent conductors
including Sir Simon Rattle, Pierre Boulez, Walter Weller, Esa
Pekka Salonen, Sian Edwards, Roger Norrington, Nicholas Kraemer
and Kent Nagano. Whilst at Birmingham Conservatoire I held principal
positions in the Symphony, Chamber and Sinfonia orchestras,
gained one of only a couple of places awarded each year to participate
in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra String Training
Scheme and won the Sylvia Cleaver chamber music award. It was
also during this time in Birmingham that I became a member of
the London Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and began my teaching
career at Stratford-upon-Avon Music Centre.
After graduating from Birmingham I returned to South Wales and
freelanced for several years working with orchestras and ensembles
throughout Britain including Opera Box, The National Chamber
Orchestra of Wales, BBC Concert Orchestra, Chameleon Arts, Welsh
Chamber Orchestra and numerous local orchestras and operatic
societies.
In 1997 I took on a part time position teaching cello and double
bass for the LEA (West Glamorgan where the whole story began).
At this point the music service had one double bassist in the
whole county, as I had been twelfth double bass when I had first
joined the youth orchestra things had to change! After deciding
a couple of years later to concentrate on teaching and becoming
"the bass teacher" full time I can now happily say
we now have over forty double bassists in the county, eight
bassists in the county youth orchestra and three of our bassists
are currently members of The National Youth Orchestra of Wales.
Apart from teaching the double bass, cello and bass guitar I
am also one of the musical directors of the West Glamorgan Youth
String Orchestra and I enjoy arranging music for double bass
ensembles.
