Our Musical Directoris Elizabeth A. Carter BA(Hons).
Elizabeth learned to play the cornet in the Women’s Royal Naval Service, with the Royal Naval Volunteer Band at R.N.A.S. Culdrose, Helston, in 1972. Having moved to Dorset in 1978, she joined the Durnovaria Silver Band (DSB) as Repiano cornet, under the baton of Edwin Otter, founder of the DSB. In about 1985 she transferred to playing Flugelhorn, and this continues to be her principal instrument. In 2000, while remaining a member of Durnovaria, Elizabeth also began playing Flugelhorn with the Lyme Regis Town Band, and then cornet with Sherborne Town Band in 2005, thereby gaining a broader insight into playing and conducting techniques
Her conducting experience began in 2001 with the DSB, when John Pritchard, then Musical Director, invited her to be his deputy. To assist in this Elizabeth took music lessons with the late Patrick Perry (then MD of Lyme Band) and gained a distinction at Grade 5 in the ABRSM Theory of Music. In continuing her musical education she began a distance learning Degree course in Brass Band Studies, under the auspices of Sheffield University, graduating in 2006.
Elizabeth has been the Musical Director of the Durnovaria Silver Band since 2004. In 2009 she initiated, and now runs, the DSB Training Band. Through her association with Sherborne Town Band, she assists David Bertie, the Director of its Youth Education Scheme and Youth Band. She often guests for other bands, both playing and conducting, and also plays trumpet with a local quintet, “Perry Brass”, and occasionally with the Axe Vale Orchestra and the Three Counties Swing Band.
In her spare time she enjoys arranging and composing music, principally for Brass Band, but, despite all her associated activities, Elizabeth’s priority remains her commitment as MD of the Durnovaria Silver Band.
