I was born near Perth, Australia. When my siblings and I would go over to my grandparent’s house they would put on a record which my brother and I both loved - I now believe that it was of a ragtime piano piece, with lots of fast notes and very energetic. My brother and I would dance to it like crazy kids and have lots of fun. Unfortunately, when she moved from her house that record was lost or broken. She bought another one of the same piece, but it must have been by a different performer as it was just never the same. We were both quite disappointed!

Recess was one of my favorite things in Primary School! There were some big rocks at the bottom of the playground that we would smash to reveal gold in them - it was actually fool’s gold which is iron pyrite that looks like gold, but we would pretend it was the real thing.

My grandma had a piano and I loved to make tunes on it and try to copy pieces of music that I had heard (with an emphasis on “try”). When my grandmother moved, she gave her piano to us and I started piano lessons. I started playing the trumpet in group lessons at school when I was 10 - my first choice of instruments that they offered was the trombone because it had a cool slide that made funny noises, but when that was not available, I was given a trumpet. The rest is history.

Apart from my grandmother who had played a little piano my family was not musical, so I grew up listening to the classic rock that my mum listened to on the radio. She also bought a ‘Hooked on Classics’ album which I really enjoyed listening to - it basically took the most popular parts of orchestral music and linked them together into one piece. In high school I saw the local symphony orchestra perform and was able to sit in the choir loft behind them, so I could see the conductor and audience as if I were in the orchestra. They played the first performance world-wide of a piece by Australian composer Ross Edwards which was very sad and beautiful, and I was completely mesmerized.

I decided to become a professional musician because I was looking into being a medical doctor, and I decided if I did that, I would not have enough time to play the trumpet as much as I wanted to.

I love the first rehearsal with a group, because I will have been practicing my part by myself for quite a while in preparation for it, and once I get to combine it with the parts that everyone else has been practicing it is wonderful to hear what is created. Playing brass instruments is especially fun because we often play at the most exciting point of a piece of music, and really add to the level of energy.

My other interests include hiking, gardening, baking, and looking after my 6 chickens.

I hope that their introduction to playing a brass instrument triggers a love for music, and that they learn they can be creative on a musical instrument without needing to be able to read musical notation or know which fingers to use.