She was called Marcelle Taillefesse when she was born. When she was grown up she changed her last name to "Tailleferre" just to annoy her father because he had refused to let her study music. She studied piano with her mother at home, composing short works of her own and then began studying at the Paris Conservatoire. There she met Louis Durey, Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud, Georges Auric and Arthur Honegger. She won several prizes at the Conservatoire. She often met with her friends who became known as Les Six.