Rebecca Thumpston-Gallagher
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Arts
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Biography
Rebecca Thumpston-Gallagher is Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Nottingham, where she has worked since 2019. Prior to starting at Nottingham, Rebecca was Research Associate at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester (2016-19), and visiting lecturer at Keele University. Rebecca completed her PhD at Keele University, funded by Keele's Research Institute for the Humanities, and she holds a BA (Hons) (Class 1) and MA (with distinction) in music from the University of York. Rebecca is a Fellow of the HEA, and holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (with distinction) from the University of Nottingham. Rebecca is an active member of the North American British Music Studies Association, active on NABMSA's online events committee, and on the programme committee for NABMSA's 2026 biannual conference. At Nottingham, Rebecca takes a leading role in pedagogical development; she is co-organiser of the University's annual TeachFest@UP conference, an event bringing together scholars from across the University with interests in pedagogy, teaching and learning.
Teaching Summary
Rebecca teaches across a wide range of courses at the University of Nottingham, teaching on modules including Elements of Music 1, Repertoire Studies, Performance, Contemporary Approaches to Music… read more
Research Summary
Rebecca's research explores theories of agency, embodiment, and narrative in post 1900 music, with a specific focus on cello repertoire and a wider interest in musical performance. Rebecca is editor,… read more
Recent Publications
REBECCA THUMPSTON-GALLAGHER, 2026. The “Inner Flow of Life”: Narratives of Agency and Embodiment in the Symphonies of Michael Tippett. In: NICHOLAS JONES, ed., The Symphony in Britain and Ireland since 1900 Cambridge University Press. (In Press.)
REBECCA THUMPSTON-GALLAGHER, 2025. Performing Musical and Metaphysical Agency in Pēteris Vasks’ Grāmata čellam. In: MINE DOĞANTAN-DACK, ed., Music Performers' Lived Experiences: Theory, Method, Interpretation: Volume One Routledge.
REBECCA THUMPSTON and NICHOLAS REYLAND, eds., 2018. Music Analysis and the Body: Experiments, Explorations, and Embodiments Peeters.
REBECCA THUMPSTON, 2018. The ‘Feel’ of Musical Ascent. In: REBECCA THUMPSTON and NICHOLAS REYLAND, eds., Music, Analysis, and the Body: Experiments, Explorations, and Embodiments Peeters. 75-92
Rebecca teaches across a wide range of courses at the University of Nottingham, teaching on modules including Elements of Music 1, Repertoire Studies, Performance, Contemporary Approaches to Music Education, and Dissertation. Rebecca also contributes to teaching in History (Learning History) and Foundation Arts (Important Thinkers Through History). In her teaching, Rebecca encourages students to think about music in new and creative ways, for example, encouraging students to examine how attention to embodiment and musical bodies can enhance their creative practices as performers, composers, theorists, historians, and analysts. Rebecca achieved Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy in 2020 and she is passionate about developing innovation teaching and learning: Rebecca co-organises the University's annual TeachFest Conference. In Spring 2026 Rebecca will begin a period of intense pedagogical research, focused on year 1 music student notation/theory skills & transition from FE to HE.
Current Research
Rebecca's research explores theories of agency, embodiment, and narrative in post 1900 music, with a specific focus on cello repertoire and a wider interest in musical performance. Rebecca is editor, with Nicholas Reyland, of Music, Analysis, and the Body: Experiments, Explorations, and Embodiments (Peeters, 2018) and she is currently working on a critical biography of cellist Beatrice Harrison (1892-1965), with particular focus on the pioneering role that Harrison played in re-conceiving the gendered identity of the cello in the early twentieth century in the UK and USA. Recent publications include a chapter "Performing Musical and Metaphysical Agency in Pēteris Vasks' Grāmata čellam" in Music Performers' Lived Experiences: Theory, Method, Interpretation: Volume One, edited by Mine Doğantan-Dack (Routledge, 2025) and a forthcoming chapter "The 'Inner Flow of Life': Narratives of Agency and Embodiment in the Symphonies of Michael Tippett", in The Symphony in Britain and Ireland Since 1900, edited by Nicholas Jones (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2026). Rebecca presents widely on her research, most recently presenting a paper titled "Beatrice Harrison - 'The World's Greatest Woman Cellist': Exploring Attitudes to Women Cello Virtuosi in the Nineteenth and Early-Twentieth Centuries" at The Romantic Cello Conference (November 2024 - Organized by Associazione Alfredo Piatti, Bergamo; Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini, Lucca; Palazzetto Bru Zane - Centre de musique romantique française, Venice in collaboration with Fondazione MIA, Bergamo).
REBECCA THUMPSTON-GALLAGHER, 2026. The “Inner Flow of Life”: Narratives of Agency and Embodiment in the Symphonies of Michael Tippett. In: NICHOLAS JONES, ed., The Symphony in Britain and Ireland since 1900 Cambridge University Press. (In Press.)
REBECCA THUMPSTON-GALLAGHER, 2025. Performing Musical and Metaphysical Agency in Pēteris Vasks’ Grāmata čellam. In: MINE DOĞANTAN-DACK, ed., Music Performers' Lived Experiences: Theory, Method, Interpretation: Volume One Routledge.
REBECCA THUMPSTON and NICHOLAS REYLAND, eds., 2018. Music Analysis and the Body: Experiments, Explorations, and Embodiments Peeters.
REBECCA THUMPSTON, 2018. The ‘Feel’ of Musical Ascent. In: REBECCA THUMPSTON and NICHOLAS REYLAND, eds., Music, Analysis, and the Body: Experiments, Explorations, and Embodiments Peeters. 75-92
REBECCA THUMPSTON and NICHOLAS REYLAND, 2018. Introduction. In: REBECCA THUMPSTON and NICHOLAS REYLAND, eds., Music, Analysis, and the Body: Experiments, Explorations, and Embodiments Peeters. 1-12
REBECCA THUMPSTON and BARBARA KELLY, 2017. Maintaining the Entente Cordiale: Musicological Collaboration Between the United Kingdom and France Revue de musicologie. 103(2), 615-40
REBECCA THUMPSTON, 2017. Redefining the Cello’s Voice: Musical Agency in feet of clay. In: DAVID CHARLTON, ed., The Music of Simon Holt Boydell & Brewer. 145-60
REBECCA THUMPSTON, 2015. The Embodiment of Yearning: Towards a Tripartite Theory of Musical Agency. In: COSTANTINO MAEDER and MARK REYBROUCK, eds., Music, Analysis, Experience: New Perspectives on Musical Semiotics 331-48