Rachel Billings

Rachel Billings is author of the acclaimed All-In-One Music Theory series of books, which are used widely throughout the UK, yet is also a classically trained pianist and a passionate and dedicated teacher who believes most students are capable of far more than they could imagine. With this mindset, Rachel enjoys helping students cultivate hidden talents and the thrill of seeing them achieve their potential and excel. Rachel graduated with Honours in Music from the University of Manchester in June 2000 (BMus Hons) followed by an upper division diploma (2001) and postgraduate degree in performance (piano) at the Royal Northern college of Music in 2003 (GRNCM, PgDip). Some of her students have been awarded places at Chetham’s music school and, of those who’ve chosen to taken exams, most have received distinctions.  Many of her students have enjoyed performing in Music festivals.

 Rachel was awarded a Fellowship from Victoria College of Music (FVCM) in 2018 for her ‘Services to Music Education’ due to her work on All-In-One music theory and, in particular, for writing a new music theory syllabus for Victoria College which is based upon All-In-One music theory.

 Rachel was born and brought up in Lincolnshire, but moved to Manchester at aged 16 after gaining a place at Chetham’s music school where she owes much to the teaching of Nigel Pitceathly (the then Head of Keyboard). Since then, she has received tuition from internationally acclaimed pianists such as Ronan O’Hora, Murray McLachlan, Stephen Hough, and Paul Janes. Rachel has a wide experience in the fields of chamber music and solo performance and has performed at various venues throughout the UK. Personal tastes range greatly from Bach to Percy Grainger, Poulenc and Scriabin.

 Rachel married in 2013 and moved to the Midlands whereby she continues to teach piano and music theory and nowadays offers lessons online using the latest technology. All-In-One music theory is an accumulation of Rachel’s own teaching material and is now in its Third-Revised edition (published 2019) . For the past fifteen years,  the book/s have been continually refined as Rachel discovers what works best with her students. Rachel has a love for art which has naturally influenced All-In-One (All-In-One to Grade 5 itself includes no less than 130 illustrations) yet she is a firm believer that drawings/paintings should always aid tuition and never be trivial decorations. Illustrations throughout the book reinforce important concepts learnt (a few examples of Rachel’s drawings can be seen at Sample Pages – Aaron Publications). Personal favourite artists include Shirley Hughes (author and illustrator) and Salvador Dali.