Phil started playing piano at age 6, violin at 8 and organ at 11 studying with, amongst others, Nicholas Danby, Dr. Francis Jackson CBE and Sheila Lawrence. He gained the ABRSM’s Amy Mills Robertson prize for piano.
At 18, Phil went to Glasgow for a BA (Mus Perf) degree studying organ and piano at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama under John Turner, Lawrence Glover and Miles Coverdale. Whilst at college, Phil enjoyed accompanying many singers and instrumentalists, coaching vocal ensembles (including the winners of the coveted Sir Hugh S Roberton Prize in two successive years), became repetiteur for The Lyric Club (one of Glasgow’s large amateur dramatics societies) and played in bands.