Carse, born in Newcastle, studied in Germany and at the Royal College of Music. He was assistant music-master at Winchester College 1909-22, and professor at the RAM 1923-40. Carse's early work includes two symphonies. His later works for student orchestras and beginners are light, tuneful and ideally suitable for their purpose. His reputation, however, rests on his study of the history of instruments and the orchestra, and on his collection of 350 old wind instruments which he gave to the Horniman Museum in London. His books The Orchestra in the Eighteenth Century (1940) and The Orchestra from Beethoven to Berlioz (1948) are classics in their field.