Howard has been the bandmaster at Boscombe since April 2001 and has a well-established musical career as a pianist and teacher, as well as a conductor. He graduated with a Mus.B(Hons) degree from the University of Manchester. He also obtained LRAM, LTCL and ARCM (Hons) diplomas in piano teaching and performing, as well as brass teaching. As a postgraduate pianist of the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, he obtained a Diploma in Performance Studies. His piano studies were undertaken with the British pianist Gordon Fergus-Thompson, and later with the distinguished Russian pianist and international teacher, Sulamita Aronovsky.

As a pianist and conductor he has performed at major concert venues throughout the UK including the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Bridgewater Hall and the Royal Albert Hall. He has also made regular visits to Canada and the USA, as well as european countries such as Holland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

In the SA, Howard became the National Bandmaster (UK) from 1988, and in May 2000 was appointed Director of Music in the Netherlands, and conductor of the Amsterdam Staff Band. During the next six years he undertook two major tours with them to the USA West in 2003, and the UK in 2005. He is also in demand as a guest conductor for a number of bands, including the Leyland Band at the RNCM Festival of Brass (2008); the Grimethorpe Colliery Band for at the Deal Festival (2008); and the famous Brighouse and Rastrick Band at the RNCM Festival in 2010.

In 2005 Howard completed a Performance based Masters Degree with Distinction from Salford University, majoring in conducting. Since January 2007 he has also been working as a Lecturer at the University and was appointed to a Fellowship in October 2008, specialising in performance areas.

In July 2009 Howard was awarded a 'Doctor of Musical Arts'(DMA) from Salford University. His doctoral studies included the premiere recording of the brass version of Karl Jenkins' 'The Armed Man'. The significance of this project rests in its pushing of the boundaries of the brass band genre; its integration with other performance disciplines, allowing it to build bridges with the wider music community. Also within the doctoral submission was the recording Sanctuary with Boscombe Band, a unique survey drawn from a major area of the SA's reflective music in a form known as the Meditation. This received critical praise for renewing a sense of intellectual and musical centre within church music through the medium of the brass band literature. Sanctuary was also noted for performances that gave significant new insights into the performance of existing repertoire, having had its own historicity of performance practice. Distinguished premieres of the work of Ray Steadman-Allen, one of the most distinctive voices within the brass scene across all boundaries, were also a feature of Howard's doctoral success.

In addition to these many assignments he undertakes work as an examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and maintains a piano teaching practice.