Success Beyond The Score

Hillary, known professionally as Tiny Sax, is part of the Time For My Music online community for emerging female musicians. Her instrument is the alto saxophone, with which she plays a variety of genres including blues, soul, jazz and funk.

She has performed as a solo artist at a number of events, like a Windrush celebration (H Suite), OPOL function (Legacy Centre of Excellence), Our Journey function (Ibis Hotel), and as part of the ‘Not Just Jazz V’ concert of multi-award-winning saxophonist Millicent Stephenson. She has also played at private events like garden parties, and for children at schools.

Hillary plays in two bands: ‘As One Collective’ and ‘Mojo Train’. She has been occasionally invited to join the brass section in the Mike Davids Band too. You can watch her in action on her YouTube channel:

About Time For My Music, this is what Hillary has to say:

When I initially learned to play the saxophone, I had no...

Here is the transcription of episode 7 of season 3 of the podcast "Success Beyond The Score". Happy reading!

- Watch the video of the episode here: YouTube

- Listen to the audio of the episode here: Kajabi

INTRO:

Hello, hello, hello. I hope you're well. I've changed my setup here. I've put my notes to this side. So if you see me looking that way, that's what I'm looking at instead of that way. And I had a nice iPad stand for my birthday yesterday. So I'm really excited. I'm trying it out today.
Really, really happy. So I'm hoping you can hear me okay. Um, it looks as though my volume might be a little bit too loud. So let me just turn that down one second. Yeah, that seems a bit better, not peaking.

Okay, so today is about: "Do you have a music hobby or a music business?" And I think this is a really good topic. When I started off, many moons ago, at school, I did some music, left school, did some part-time studies. Music was my hobby, and eventually I moved it into a music...

Last year was a busy one for the women of Time For My Music, our community for emerging female musicians. Among the highlights, there's their first meeting face to face at the OLDP Women's Hub, and many preparations, workshops and rehearsals for their first live concert in Birmingham.

The idea to make the jump from the screen to the stage was brewing since 2022. While the event was originally planned for November or December 2023, the group arrived to the conclusion it'd be better to move it to 2024. That way, the suggestions of the survey we conducted in regard to the concert could be better addressed, there would be more time for logistics, and the participants would have more time to become confident in their performances.

The work in progress has been rewarding on itself. Every member of Time For My Music has been involved every step of the way, starting from the selection of the songs. The set list includes long time dreams of some of the women, as it's the case...

On November 15th, 2023, our director Millicent attended a hearing health workshop in Birmingham, taught by Miles Dakin, the founder of Dakin Custom Audio. Miles Dakin is a guitar player who suffers from tinnitus. Around ten years ago, he got in contact with other professional musicians and sound engineers to develop ear monitors that protected the users' hearing. He also campaigns to bring awareness to hearing issues.

This is what Millicent had to say about the experience:

The workshop was fantastic. I learned about the structure and anatomy of the ear canal, which allowed me to understand better how the process of hearing actually works. Miles Dakin explained that whenever we are exposed to loud and startling sounds, like sirens, roaring machinery, or blasting speakers at live concerts, we might experience ringing in our ears or discomfort. These sensations indicate that some of the nerves on our ears have died, therefore our hearing has been...

It's a new year and, as with every new beginning, we have the opportunity to take decisions and attitudes to work towards achieving our dreams. For 2024, we'd like to bring kindness to your attention.

Let's be kinder to ourselves. Diligence and discipline can take us very far, always that they remain that and don't turn into self-deprecation and self-mistreatment. Think about it: you are the one best equipped to understand your own rhythm and your limits. There's a difference between pushing yourself to do your best, and forcing yourself again and again to attempt something you can't do yet, until frustration crushes you. As the American actor Jason Alexander quotes during a master class at Boston University: "You don't yell at a bud because it isn't a flower yet. It's going to be a flower, but it opens when it's time for it to open."

Look at the goals you've set for yourself this year and ask yourself whether they are realistic and specific enough to be useful to...

Happy 2024!

Today begins what we hope is a very exciting year full of fascinating new things to learn, challenges to tackle, goals to reach and happiness to be found. Best wishes to all of you and your loved ones!

2023 is about to end. We hope that you had a spectacular year, and that 2024 is even better.

Joannie, known professionally as Joannie Joannie or JoannieJMusic, is part of the Time For My Music online community for emerging female musicians. Her element is the voice: she's a singer, songwriter and poetical lyricist, radio presenter and DJ. She is passionate about social connection and communication, which has allowed her to bring joy with her music to people of all ages, from youth groups to care homes residents.

Joannie joined Time For My Music to find support in order to tackle the hurdles that lockdown brought her, namely some voice problems and loss of confidence. With Millicent's guidance and the help of the community, she got back on track in no time. Once restrictions on live music were lifted, she got gigs, interviews, award nominations, and this year, the opportunity to release a single: You Bring Me Joy. 

Nowadays, Joannie is working regularly as music performer in restaurants with her duo SistasWithSoul. You can also find her on London World Radio,...

The main instrument of any musician is their own body. From the brain to the limbs, to the internal organs, to the skin, different parts of the body interact with musical instruments, with other bodies and the world around them to create music. It's no wonder, then, that musicians and their health are a topic of interest in medicine.

An interesting example was presented by the British Dental Museum this year with the exhibition The Challenge of the Perfect Embouchure. Defined as "the way in which a player applies their mouth to the mouthpiece of a brass or wind instrument, especially as it affects the production of the sound," embouchure is critical for players of these kinds of instruments.

The exhibition was dedicated to Maurice Porter, a dentist and amateur clarinettist who became an authority on embouchure during the 50s and 60s. One of the first doctors to pay attention to how poor dental or facial health was specifically detrimental to wind and brass players, Porter wrote some...

Here is the transcription of episode 6 of season 3 of the podcast "Success Beyond The Score". Happy reading!

- Watch the video of the episode here: YouTube

- Listen to the audio of the episode here: Kajabi

PODCAST INTRO:

Hello, hello, hello! I hope you can hear me. I'm just checking my mic levels. Of course, if you can't, please put a message in the chat. Now, today is scorching. It's super hot here, which is kind of nice! We don't get a lot of really hot weather, and then we complain, and then it gets cold, and we want the hot weather back. But it's great. So, at some point, I may have to put a fan on, because I've just kind of kept all the windows closed to stop the noise on the microphone. Let me just make that a bit closer to me. Yep. And, hopefully that should work. Just let me know in the chat if everything is fine.

Okay, today we have got an interesting hot topic, and that is: is playing for free a contradiction for musicians?

Thinking of this title, I thought,...