Christine McRitchie Pratt, a member of the British Dyslexia Association Music Committee from 2003 to the present, sadly died on 23rd May after an illness of a few months, though in good spirits and still working in music education until a few days before her death.
A posting on Facebook on that day commented very aptly that St Peter wouldn’t have known what had hit him! Suddenly there would have been an addition to the choir of angels who, apart from anything else would suddenly have been far better organised and have had a competent conductor! They would have now been augmented by the presence of a cellist who could also play the hurdy-gurdy as well as the trumpet, the violin, the piano, suitably the harp and many more instruments. Christine was an amazingly multi-talented instrumentalist and musician who was totally committed to the cause of music education and to the support of good approaches for dyslexic musicians in particular.
Christine had lived and worked in Cambridge for many years, teaching most recently at the Perse School and St Faith’s School and teaching music and instruments both in the classroom and privately, to all ages and also doing ‘Wider Opportunies’ work. She contributed chapters to the BDA Music Committee’s books, Music and Dyslexia: A Positive Approach in 2008 and Music, other Performing Arts and Dyslexia in 2012. She fought for education, fought for music, fought for suitable education for dyslexic people and was a great advocate of the proper use of coloured overlays.
In her own words, she “spent much of [her] life as a music educator in all senses of the word: playing, singing, conducting, writing shows, classroom teaching, adjudicating, MD-ing shows and working on various musical education set-ups”. In 2017, she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the BDA for services to music and dyslexia: a well-deserved recognition of her tireless work. She gave so much to music, to education and to the BDA Music Committee and she will be missed.
Sally Daunt, Chair of the British Dyslexia Association’s Music Committee
