Profile: Phillipa Edwards

Musical Director Footscray Yarraville City Band

4BRDU takes a look at the profile of Australia's first A Grade Brass Band female conductor...

At the age of 9, in the sleepy Victorian town of Wodonga, Phillipa Edwards was given a Flugel horn, a ‘Tune a Day' and a directive to go home and ‘learn to play'.

After a very traumatic first ‘Play Out' the following weekend, she rose through the ranks of the band in a very short time to become Principal Cornet and when the need arose, Soprano Cornet.

Many trips to Melbourne through her High School years saw her perform in many State based ensembles and competitions. Upon her completion of her High School Studies, she gained a place at the Victorian College of the Arts and enjoyed the teaching of brass luminaries such as Gordon Webb, Mark Summerbell and Rob Smithies.

In her first year in Melbourne she won the Junior Trumpet section at the State Championships and played Principal Cornet for Diamond Valley Band and later Preston Band.

She then went on to become Soprano Cornet for Preston, Associate Principal Trumpet to Anthony Pope with the Geminiani Chamber Orchestra, Trumpet/Vocalist in the Melbourne University Big Band and, until 2004, Associate Principal Cornet with Footscray Yarraville City Band.

She is currently Associate Principal Trumpet of the Astra Choir, 20th Century Choral/Ensemble boasting members of the MSO and run by John McCaughey.

Phillipa is also an accomplished singer and has sung in many settings including T.V. and on various recordings. A Classically trained soprano, she has performed in groups from ‘The Melbourne University Big Band' to Indie pop bands ‘Skeeta', ‘Hyperswing', and ‘Spenser',  Ska/Swing  band ‘Yeah Yeah' and other Jazz ensembles. She has also sung the Part of ‘Kate' in the Nova Theatre Companies production of ‘Pirates of Penzance'.

Phillipa has studied conducting with Dr Barry Bignell and Brett Kelly and her experience in this field is both extensive and varied.  She has worked all over Australia with Concert Bands, Stage Bands, Symphony Orchestras, Choirs and small ensembles.

She has achieved State and National Championship success and is regularly called upon as a Clinician, Adjudicator and Convener for camps and Specialist Training in all aspects of brass, wind and ensemble playing.

After the retirement of Ken Smith in 2004, Phillipa was asked by the members of the Footscray Yarraville City Band to become their Musical Director. She willingly took over the position and within six months the band was the clear winner, based on aggregate score, at the Victorian State Championships. The band had turned a corner and was ready for the 2005 Adelaide Championships.

Disaster struck when at the annual band camp, held 2 weeks before the competition, Phillipa tripped over the Principal Percussionist during a game of ‘Band Rounders' and shattered her elbow. An operation a week before the competition to screw back the broken pieces meant that her left arm was completely useless and very painful. The band rose to the occasion even managing a place in one section!

The band has continued to go from strength to strength and boasts one of the more stable, musical and non political line ups of the Victorian banding ‘Scene'. With her husband, Jamie Lawson as Principal Cornet, and other equally talented lead players, Footscray Yarraville City Band, under the direction of the dynamic Phillipa Edwards, is band to watch in the future.