The word legend is often overused, but not in this case. I've gone on a bit of a ramble here, but it's nice to recall some very happy memories and stories. 

I began having lessons with Steve when I was in primary school, and he retired when I finished sixth form, when I left the island to go to the Royal Northern College of Music. He was an absolute legend from start to finish, and he was there throughout all of my school days! I had the greatest respect for him as a musician and he was just a brilliant teacher and person who never took himself too seriously but always had really high standards of musicianship. 

I remember starting my work experience working in a bank for some reason but Mum got in touch with school and Steve and arranged for me to shadow him for the rest of the week: we did a load of trumpet and piano concerts at primary schools and for SEND students around the island. It was great. I remember sitting in the front of his car, and it was a hot day so the windows were all down: I'll never forget him clipping the bushes on the left-hand side of the road at the bottom of Richmond Hill one morning on the way to Port St Mary School. That woke me up and we were laughing about it all day! When we got to Port St Mary there were leaves and small branches on the back seat!

I certainly would not have become a professional trumpet player without his lessons and encouragement, and his great contributions to the Manx Youth Orchestra. He showed me that it was possible to do music for a living. He was passionate about music making and it really rubbed off on so many of us. For instance, I turned up for a lesson one day with a (ridiculously high) trumpet method I'd found online, written by William Alonzo "Cat" Anderson (lead trumpet in the Duke Ellington band). I was absolutely star-struck when Steve told me all about meeting him! 

Last time I saw Steve was in 2010. I was in my final year at the RNCM and I invited him to come to my final recital. I was chuffed that he and his wife came along, and he sent me a lovely and typically tongue-in-cheek message afterwards, which just sums up what a gent he was.

‘I've been wanting to e-mail you to thank you for your invitation, really enjoyed the recital and it made for a really nice day out for both of us ... [etc. etc.] Thanks once again Russell, and it's nice to hear you can triple-tongue at last! (ouch).’

This was typical of his sense of humour—always accompanied by a wink, or a raised eyebrow! He wrote in one of my school reports that: those on fish and The Statue of Liberty were not the only types of SCALES that exist and that I should really learn them (...the rest of the report was glowing, of course!)

 
I wrote a book a couple of years ago and it ends with a quote from Steve that stayed with me, since my last ever lesson. He said: ‘if you could really master the harmonic series, you could really master any brass instrument’. So true, and that's probably why I became so interested in the natural trumpet when I went to the RNCM. 

I'm sorry I can’t be at the funeral today, but I'll be thinking of Steve. He'll be remembered by so many musicians, especially on the Isle of Man and in the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, as a complete legend! RIP Steve. 

I'll be listening to Tutti's Trumpets and Trombones by Tutti's Camerata today, one of his favourite albums.