Her father had been worried that the tuba was too big an instrument for an eight-year-old, and had made the mistake of telling his precocious daughter as much when she showed an interest in taking up music. It could only have added fuel to the fire.
Even for a child her age, Julie Woods was small but was armed with a seemingly innate sense of determination.
Picture the scene: a tuba, all roughly five metres of turning brass tubes to that unmistakable giant bell, resting on a chair because its infant maestro was so young she had to prop it up to manage it. Behind the instrument is a young Julie, sitting on a stack of four cushions so that she could reach the mouthpiece, legs dangling, gleefully proving the sceptics wrong.
"I thought, 'I'll show you' the story of my life." Mrs Woods said, laughing down the line as she set sail on a holiday cruise at the weekend. Now in her 60s, she is a lifelong musician who has followed her passion all over the world. As she explains it, there are few places that she could go and not find another instrumentalist in a local brass brand to connect with. Music is the great unifier in that way; it brings people together.
Mrs Woods' partner is also a tuba player. He was a member of the Grimethorpe Colliery Band that inspired and played on the soundtrack of the 1996 comedy film Brassed Off, starring a young Ewan McGregor in the tale of a northern English mining village facing closure and the end of the miners' brass band.
It would become a serendipitous connection as they prepare for a special performance in Newcastle at the end of the month commemorating one of the most infamous Australian upset victories over the British outside of the cricket in the past century.
Newcastle's relationship with the former steelworks is legendary; there were few places in the city that the long arm of the generational employer in town didn't reach. But one unsung chapter surrounds the Steelworks Band that, in 1924 - a century ago this year - travelled to the UK for the British open brass band championships and took home the title that the Poms thought would never leave the isle.
The steelworks band was founded on a 50-pound company grant in 1916 and took part in its first contest at Kurri Kurri two years later. What followed were a few years of local contests before the band's conductor, Albert Baile, spied his white whale.
In March 1924, the band set sail for the UK and the championships. For about 30 days at sea, there was little to do but practice so that by the time the Australians disembarked, they were a honed unit.
A historic photo of the band around that time is resplendent in its uniform finery as the band boastfully pushes its accolades to the foreground.
The preceding decades of Australian band culture had been, in some respects, characterised by the pernicious criticisms of English musical personalities who looked on Australia as a rough colony at the bottom of the world. Australian bands needed tuition by "men who have practical experience" William Short, the chief trumpeter in the private band of King Edward told the Australian Star in 1908 if they were ever going to shape up to the rigours of the old empire.
The English thought the Australians lacked the conductor muscle to wrangle their musicians. Perhaps that's what made the Steelworks Band's 1924 win so memorable. The local boys were comparatively green - many of the other bands competing that year had much longer tenures.
Thousands turned up to see the players from down under bring their plucky 'we'll show 'em' attitude to the establishment, wining the British Empire Championships at Halifax and taking out third at the Crystal Palace in London, referred to at the time as the World Championships. It was an historic win - the first time that a visiting band had taken the victory from the home players.
On June 30, the Brass Band of Newcastle under the baton of conductor Conrad Curry will perform a special commemorative concert at the Conservatorium of Music resurrecting the music of the day in tribute to the Steelworks' Band's achievements.
Mrs Woods said the band hopes the concert will help rejuvenate ensemble music in the city and encourage the next generation of players to take up instruments in community bands.
"I credit my life skills to joining community bands at a young age," Mrs Woods said, "There's nowhere in the world I can go and not find someone who is in a brass band and connect with them.
"I think, the way that the world is now, the more we can connect young people to music and that camaraderie - I think that is really important."
Tickets for the concert are available online, and proceeds will be donated to Dementia Australia.
