What is DaCapo?
“”DaCapo provides every one of our pupils the highest quality music tuition.””
DaCapo has spent thirty years educating young people using unique methods, comprising the influences of Kodaly and Eurythmics. The teaching puts an emphasis on exploration and enjoyment, creating an environment that encourages children to want to learn and play independently. It is a musical approach to music making.
Our journey started in 1991 when we started a Saturday Centre with a small team of teachers. Founders Jane Cutler and Michelle Groves’ vision was a place for people to explore their musical creativity in a safe and supportive environment, surrounded by like-minded individuals. Over the last thirty years Jane has been meticulously designing a programme that adapts Kodaly to make it relevant to the 21st Century and the UK national curriculum.
Fast forward to 2021 and DaCapo has over 100 trained teachers and the methods are taught in schools nationwide.
Now we are going further.
There is a huge disparity in the quality of music education in UK schools and DaCapo Primary Music can solve this problem and provide an affordable quality music education.
Our resource enables class teachers with little musical expertise to teach music to their class with a simple, fun and effective tool, to an ambitiously high level and with relative ease. Experienced music teachers are enjoying too!
““A great scheme for the non-specialist. Fun and engaging with delightful illustrations. The children were thoroughly engaged and developed their musical skills and understanding.””
Jane Cutler, Founder & Principal
Jane is the musical founder of DaCapo. Together with Michelle Groves, she has been researching and testing the DaCapo approach to musical education with children for over twenty five years, fine-tuning the best methods, approaches and resources needed for an effective music education.
Jane trained as a cellist at Trinity College of Music. In 1986 she began to work within the famous Tower Hamlets Strings Project, where she came into contact with both the Kodaly method and the Dalcroze method. Here, she also had the opportunity to work alongside some of the most inspirational teachers of the time. She went on to study the Kodaly method for three years at the Kodaly Centre of London (David Vinden).
"Due to the Kodaly and Dalcoze techniques, my pupils were suddenly able to play in tune, play what they heard by ear and also sing from the music on the page before playing! The beauty of all of this approach is just how extraordinarily effective and simple it is."
Michelle Groves, Founder & CEO
Michelle met Jane Cutler in the late 1980s when Jane taught Michelle's daughters. Michelle was inspired by her ideas and together they decided to establish DaCapo, with a growing determination to make a difference in musical education.
Over the last 25 years, Michelle has guided DaCapo's growth from a local organisation into one which both delivers and influences music teaching in many different settings, across the UK and overseas.
“The app will make this wonderful programme accessible to many more schools. That’s great news.”