Warrant Officer 2 Bandmaster Simon Tripp BMus(Hons) LRSM AMusTCL CTABRSM RM

Simon spent his early childhood in his native county of Cornwall, but it was whilst a pupil at the Royal Hospital School, Holbrook that his love of music first grew and at the age of 16, he was awarded the prize for best young musician. The school had a proud naval heritage, and in September 1988, on completion of his formal education, Simon’s ambition to join the Royal Marines Band Service as a trombonist was realised.  

He completed his training after two years and was drafted to the Royal Marines Band based at RAF Northolt, in London. A three year draft to Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth followed, and during this time Simon experienced his first trip abroad with the band to the USSR, and the making of two recordings under the direction of Lieutenant John Hillier. It was during his next posting to the Plymouth Band, based at HMS Raleigh, that he passed the Junior Command Course, and on returning to Dartmouth in 1999 was promoted to Band Corporal, enjoying further foreign travel to Oregon, San Diego and Washington in the USA.

In May 2001, Simon was appointed trombone instructor at the Royal Marines School of Music in Portsmouth and during his two years there, passed both the Senior Command Course and the Musician 1 Course at Higher Training for which he was awarded the Malcolm Macdonald Prize for his arrangement. Subsequently, he was promoted to Band Sergeant and in 2003 was selected to attend the intensive Warrant Officer Bandmasters’ Course, successfully gaining a LRSM qualification in conducting and AMusTCL in music theory. He then returned to the School of Music as academic and trombone instructor, during which time he further developed his arranging and conducting skills whilst studying for a Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree in Music at Portsmouth University, graduating in the summer of 2006.

With promotion to Band Colour Sergeant, Simon had a draft back to the Royal Marines Band Plymouth just in time to join them on a ten day trip to Sydney, Australia. During his eighteen months in Plymouth, he also acted as band treasurer and tasking manager.

In July 2007 he was promoted to Warrant Officer 2 Bandmaster and took up the position of Commitments Co-ordinator, organising and planning the programme for all the Royal Marines Bands from Headquarters Band Service in Portsmouth. Following a structural review, he also implemented and supervised the new request and planning system for the Band Service. Whilst there, he was asked by the Principal Director of Music, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Davis, to produce a special arrangement  of ‘You Raise Me Up’, featuring solo trombone, to be performed at the 2008 Mountbatten Festival of Music at the Royal Albert Hall.

Simon was appointed as Bandmaster of The Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines Scotland in April 2009 and lives in Rosyth with his wife Sarah.

Click here to download a high resolution photo of WO2 Tripp in Ceremonial Dress
Click here to download a high resolution photo of WO2 Tripp in Mess Dress

Last updated 14 April 2009