Music Instructor
Rachel Powers is a professional violinist and music educator in Flint, Michigan and the surrounding areas. She graduated in 2019 with her Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from the University of Michigan-Flint. She has been working in music classrooms since she was 15 and has developed a deep passion for music education. Throughout the years she has worked with students through the Flint Institute of Music, Sphinx Overture, A Joyful Noise Music Studio, and her own home studio, along with volunteering with other music for social change organizations like BLUME Haiti and Acción Social por la Música in Madrid, Spain.
Powers has been with EBFE since 2016 when she was first introduced to Mariachi music and Mexican folkloric dance. During this time, she has attended Mariachi education conferences in Las Vegas with Jose Hernandez and has participated in exchanges with the Escuela de Mariachi Ollin Yoliztli Garibaldi in Mexico City. Currently, she teaches private violin lessons and the group violin classes for EBFE and has helped design and lead beginning group violin classes at a local elementary school through the organization.
These experiences have developed her passion for connecting students to music, the arts, and their communities utilizing both classical and non-classical violin styles. She enjoys teaching students of all backgrounds, and they have demonstrated success by playing in local youth orchestras as well as continuing on to perform in orchestras at the university level. She is passionate about investing in her local communities by bringing equity and excellence in music education, understanding that cultural connections through music and the arts are the key to this success.
Most recently, Powers was part of the 2021 Global Leaders Cohort, earning a twelve-month Executive Graduate Certificate in Social Entrepreneurship, Cultural Agency, Community Development, Organization Management, Design Thinking & Education Leadership. This experience culminated in a group capstone project where her team designed and developed The Melody Movement, a program whose mission is to improve the mental health of migrants by sharing and exchanging music between diverse communities. She looks forward to working towards its realization in the coming year.