Tracy started learning piano at the early age of 6 after family and teachers discovered that she could hear a piece of music and just play it by ear and felt that lessons would be a good idea. Her grandparents very kindly gifted her their piano and she started lessons with a local teacher based in Chessington, where she grew up.
Soon after starting piano lessons, Tracy first heard the oboe played in a performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Scheherazade’ at the Royal Albert Hall. Knowing how much she loved the beautiful sound of the oboe and believing that she had a natural ‘gift’ for music, her parents scrimped and saved to buy her one.
Following a change of piano teacher to the inspiring Barry Armstrong, Tracy had the great fortune of being awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music junior department, funded by Surrey County Council. From the age of 10 to 15 she studied piano, oboe, theory and history of music at the college, situated right opposite the Royal Albert Hall where she had first been so inspired, and where she recently learned that her piano teacher, professor Patricia Carroll, had performed on three occasions at the BBC proms in the early 1960s. Miss Carroll often commented that Tracy had played a piece reasonably well, but not quite as it was written (the latter remains the case today)!
After the age of 15, academic work took priority and then life took over, and Tracy barely touched the oboe, and only played piano on occasions until 2019, when she happened to hear about Chertsey Orchestra through her daughter’s violin teacher. Somewhat apprehensively, she went along to St. Peter’s Church with her oboe case in hand and managed to get out some rather rusty notes, but she really enjoyed it and has not looked back since. Tracy now plays oboe and cor anglais (basically a big oboe) in both Chertsey Orchestra and Woking Wind Orchestra, as well as being part of the Musica Sempre trio. Getting back into music has been absolutely life changing for Tracy, and playing with other musicians (and great friends) has been a great source of joy.
