
He began his musical studies at the Municipal School of Castelló d'Empúries (in the Alt Empordà region), and completed them at the Barcelona Music School. From those early days, he fondly remembers how the director of that centre would get all the students together one day a week to practice collective singing and instrumental ensemble music, performing music in a very broad range of styles that he would arrange himself, or compose, depending on what array of instrumentalists he would be dealing wiht that week.
Rafael Blanch was initiated in chamber music very early on, by his father, who was a violin teacher. It thus comes as no surprise that he was particularly enthusiastic about that important discipline, and always strove to awaken the interest of his students in making music with other people. Following the example of his first teacher, he also produced a number of arrangements, and wrote short works suitable for 'apprentice' musicians.