Carl learnt to play a brass instrument in The Salvation Army but also received expert tuition in school and privately. Carl gained his Grade 8 (distinction) while in the 6th form and obtained his LTCL Performer's Diploma before leaving school. Carl studied Music Education at Kingston University and, while being a member of the Symphony Orchestra, obtained additional orchestral experience with the London Repertoire and Morley College Symphony orchestra and most (if not all!) of the amateur orchestras in the West London area. Carl graduated with an Upper Second Class Honours degree having also obtained his ARCM Performer's Diploma. Carl's playing experience also encompasses brass bands, wind bands, brass quintets, sextets, dectets and so on. As a member of The Salvation Army's International Staff Band, Carl's sight-reading skills are finely honed which makes him ideally placed for whatever task is put before him. Perhaps his most scary experience was when called upon to play tuba in a performance of Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony (which he had never played before) when the booked tuba player had not realised that there was a Sunday afternoon performance as well as the Saturday evening! As a conductor, Carl was Bandmaster of Chatham Citadel Band of The Salvation Army for seven years (2005 - 2012) during which time the band accompanied soloists such as the euphonium virtuoso David Childs, Kevin Ashman (cornet) and Richard Phillips (piano). Carl's highlight as a conductor came when he conducted the Clarence Adoo Brass Band (players hand-picked by himself) in a performance of Ray Steadman-Allen's Fantasia for Piano and Band in which the soloist was the world renowned conductor and composer, Bramwell Tovey.
