Born in Berlin, Becker began his studies at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin-Charlottenburg in 1945, majoring in conducting, music composition, piano and clarinet, graduating in 1949.
He then worked as a lecturer at the Volkshochschule in West Berlin and from 1952 to 1955 he directed the private music teacher seminar at the John Petersen Conservatory in Berlin-Zehlendorf.
In 1956 he took over a position as a research assistant at the Institute for Musicology at the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover.
There he habilitated in 1961 with his thesis Studien zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der antiken und mittelalterlichen Rohrblattinstrumente ("Studies on the developmental history of ancient and medieval reed instruments").
[1] Becker specialized in the study of timbre (wind instruments) and opera, especially the French Grand opéra.