Success Beyond The Score

People across the UK, including the West Midlands, have been suffering far-right riots, violent attacks, arson, intimidation and aggression targeting migrants and "foreign people". These discriminatory actions are promoted and supported by Reform UK, Restore Britain, and other actors of the far right.

Stand Up to Racism was born in 2015 to oppose such propaganda and stop its outrageous consequences. Together with the Trade Union Congress Midlands, they have summoned more than 60 organisations to congregate at Victoria Square, Birmingham, this Sunday 4th October. There will be key speeches, performances, and a march to celebrate the diverse and multicultural spirit of the West Midlands.

The Musicians Union will be present, marching with the trade union bloc. If you are a member, don’t hesitate joining the group. There is no need to register or do anything beforehand, just arrive on the day.

Come along and bring your friends and family. Let's rally together, create connections, and sh...

Time For My Music is our online private membership group for emerging female musicians. This denomination includes singers, instrumentalists, singer-songwriters, rappers, DJs and spoken word artistes. Starting today, and for two weeks, it is open for new members. If you have been reading our updates from the group, and wondering how you can take part, this is your chance!

Specifically, Time For My Music is the right fit for you if:

• Music is your hobby, but you would like to perform and eventually get paid.
• You're returning to music after a break, and want support to get back in and boost your confidence. 

• You have gigged occasionally, but it doesn't seem to be working. However, you'd like to give your music one last push to see if you can realise your music dreams.

You can read more about the project in the about page.

Still unsure? No problem, signing up allows you to access the community group for 14 days before you have to pay even a penny. Come and have a look!

Click...

We have already covered the basics of health and safety, and also what amplifiers and mixers are. Now, to round up this first batch of summaries, we will go over how to set them up and down properly.

Recap on risk management

Before setting up, check for potential hazards: uneven surfaces, proximity to transit areas, and whether there is a chance your equipment will get wet (by being outdoors or close to where drinks are being served).

Tape your leads to the floor in order to prevent accidents. You can also tape them to the sides of poles or tripods, and if it's important that people see them, you can wrap them in colourful or reflective tape.

Set up your equipment within your reach, but not so close that you could hit it by accident while you perform. If you have poles, extend the legs as wide as the space allows it, and don't make the pole higher than yourself.

During soundcheck, make sure that there is no risk of interference between your devices, and that you have enough spa...

Today, we start revisiting the third, and for now last, season of the podcast Success Beyond The Score. For it, Millicent changed formats once again, deciding to explore the world of livestreaming.

The biggest advantage of recording the episodes live with an audience was the interaction. As you will see, she answered questions on the spot, and also reconnected with listeners at later episodes to clarify things. It was a good experience that reflected on her later e-learning opportunities. Speaking of that, you can join the mailing list to learn whenever more of those become available.

Here is the first episode, which outlined the structure of the whole season. It explains the seven stages that every gigging musician goes through during their career:

Here is the audio-only version. As always, you can find it at most podcast streaming platforms. Shares are appreciated!

You need only claim the events of your life to make yourself yours.
—Florida Scott-Maxwell, in ‘The Measure of My Days: One Woman's Vivid, Enduring Celebration of Life and Aging’ (1972) 

Florida Scott-Maxwell was an American playwright, author and Jungian analyst. When she was in her eighties and living in a nursing home, she turned her journal into the memoir ‘The Measure of My Days’ , where this quote comes from. The title of the memoir itself might come from psalm 39:4, which reads: “Oh Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!" 

• What does this mean to you?
• What influence could this have in your music?

As always, you can share your thoughts here.

As we have discussed before in the blog, New Year's Eve is not the only point in time where we can stop, look at what we have done, think about where we want to go, and make plans. In fact, to reach your goals, you should most definitely be tracking your progress and adjusting your actions way more frequently.

The beginning of September is a good checkpoint. Summer vacation is mostly over, kids go back to school. The demand for gigs decreases slightly, and the uninviting weather of early autumn is a great excuse to sit down inside and focus. Also, there is still enough time before Christmas to assess your situation at different levels of your life (family, music, finances, etc.) and make a solid plan to tweak what you need to tweak.

Dust off that list of new year's resolutions you made in January and evaluate. First, acknowledge any and all achievements and progress you have got so far. Good job! Then, in regard to the goals that are still pending, ask yourself why that is and answer...

A few weeks ago, there was a xenophobic incident in the area where I live. A hotel that hosts asylum seekers was surrounded by an aggressive crowd that hurled abuse and shouted at them to go back to their places of origin. Leaving one’s home and life behind due to the threat of violence is traumatic enough. The asylum seekers should be helped, not attacked! I reached out to the city council and my MP to tell them about the incident, and got their opinion. However, to effect real change, we need many, many voices.

The Ella Baker School of Organising knows the importance of community. For this reason, they are taking steps to connect with people all across the UK and give them tools to —as their name suggests— organise and react quickly to the constantly evolving political situation. They aim to help everybody develop leadership and critical thinking skills, make them know their rights and how to interact with authority based on them, and ultimately, change our perception of society.

T...

Here is the second season's finale of the podcast Success Beyond The Score. If you had to pick just one episode to revisit, this would be the one. Although it doesn’t include clips from the interviews with the wonderful guests who made the season possible, it has Millicent telling you what were the absolute best takeaways from her conversations with them.

Let’s hear, then, a brilliant summary of what we learnt from Tony Bean, Louise Dengate, Abigail Kelly, Anna Brooks, Dan Whitehouse and Ruby Turner MBE:

The recent death of Dr. Jason Arday, the youngest black person to ever become a Cambridge professor has, yet again, highlighted the issues others have towards people of colour.

In case you have not heard, this is what happened: a few weeks ago, the media reported that Dr. Arday had allegedly plagiarised some of his writings and made false claims about his life. This should have been looked into by his employer, the University of Cambridge, and his publishers. In a situation like this, the press ought to report the story to the extent that it is of reasonable public interest. However, what they did was create a huge scandal, amplifying racist and prejudiced voices both within and outside academia, which relentlessly hounded Dr. Arday, even when the matter no longer concerned the general public.

Shortly after the University of Cambridge announced an investigation into his appointment, Dr. Arday resigned. The attacks did not stop, despite the warning by multiple experts about the higher...

In the first post of this series, we talked about health and safety. Now that we know the necessary precautions we have to take, we can talk about the main devices we are dealing with: amplifiers and mixers.

1. What is an amplifier?

Amplifiers are not unique to music. In fact, they can be found in most, if not all, electronic equipment. Their basic function is to increase the magnitude of a signal, which is itself defined as a current that varies through time. Microphones, electric instruments and digital devices feed signals to audio amplifiers and mixers, which then amplify (i.e. increase loudness)them to make them come out of speakers with the volume and characteristics that we want. 

The main difference between an amplifier and a mixer is the number of signals that each of them can handle. The amplifier is designed for only one, while the mixer can process multiple signals at the same time. Due to this, amplifiers tend to have a built-in speaker, while mixers don't.

2. Ba...