Success Beyond The Score

Yesterday, the International Menopause Society (IMS) observed the International Menopause Day 2026. Their aim with this is to spread awareness and share information about different topics related to menopause. This year, they talked about chronic pain at midlife.

The NHS defines chronic pain as pain that lasts more than 12 weeks, or beyond the natural process of healing, which means that it persists even if your tissues and organs seem alright, and your tests come back normal. Chronic pain can be its own diagnosis or a symptom of something else. In both cases, there are things you can do on your own to improve your situation of cope better, and treatments that you can take with the guidance of your doctor.

Click here to see the resources that the IMS put together about chronic pain in midlife.

Living with chronic pain is very challenging, especially in stages of life like menopause, which increases the symptoms. However, it doesn't necessarily means that you must give up on music. I...

Electronic music is young, and techno, even younger. So much, in fact, that Andrea Gill, known professionally as The Tunegirl, was born before it, in the 60s, at what was West Germany back then.

Techno first appeared in Detroit, USA, during the 80s, when Andrea was already a young adult. It is a genre that focuses on rhythm and the use of sound synthesis to develop new timbres, which means that it is heavily reliant on sound technology. Electronic instruments, digital audio workstations, software emulators and synthesizers are what allow techno artists to build their music across long periods of time —sets, rather than songs.

Andrea was captivated by the genre and its possibilities. She spent that decade and the next exploring minimal techno and working as a DJ. Then, she had a long pause, during which sound technology developed at great speeds and changed the field for electronic musicians. By the time she came back, the use of music software was so widespread that it looked inescap...

On International Women's Day, we want to highlight the effort and achievements of our community for emerging female musicians, Time For My Music.

As the COVID-19 pandemic forced the world into lock-down, our creative director, Millicent Stephenson, moved her projects to support women in music to the digital space. Time For My Music was thus born as an online community, where women could network, learn about the music industry, and build a path towards their goals.

As a group, Time For My Music has put together two online concerts and one live performance in the city of Birmingham. You can watch them on YouTube:

• Highlights of first online concert
• Second online concert
• Live concert, part 1
• Live concert, part 2

They also got a photographic exhibition:

Individual members have gone to become part of bands, get booked for private gigs, perform in front of bigger audiences and grown their social media following.

Women are underrepresented in the music industry, particularly as...

It’s always important to let people know when you have been recognised by an external organisation. Grants, awards, honourable mentions, they all help build your reputation and brand as a creative. They are proof that your talents and contributions have been valued and appreciated by peers, fans and society at large. Never downplay such achievements! Share them on social media, include them in your portfolio and press kit, tell potential clients about it. There is no point in getting shy.

In my case, I was recently featured by the F-List, which is the Directory of Female & Gender Diverse Musicians. The e-mail arrived in my inbox surprisingly, I must say. They were highlighting four women in total, from which they had three. They thought that I would fit really well with the others. I felt honoured!

 

 

 

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It quickly became clear during my conversation with them that, albeit I am a me...

Today is World’s Menopause Day, when people around the world raise awareness and share their experiences in regard to this natural stage of human life. For the occasion, this year, the International Menopause Society published the 2025 White Paper, The Role of Lifestyle Medicine in Menopausal Health: A Review of Non-Pharmacologic Interventions. There, they show strong evidence, gathered across multiple studies, that point at how healthy habits in daily life can make a real difference in the well-being of menopausal individuals.

This idea aligns neatly with Millicent's own experience as a menopausal musician. When I joined the Smarter Change 12 weeks programme with Pamela Windle, we focused in making healthy lifestyle changes tailored to the specific needs and workings of my body. That’s why I wore a blood sugar monitor for weeks, in order to learn exactly which foods favour my metabolism, and what is the best time to eat for me. We looked at how to optimise my sleep patterns within th...

Sleep was one of the areas of my life most affected by the changes of menopause. My quality of rest and sleep decreased drastically, affecting my health, performance and appearance. I took it to my own hands to fix it, and came up with 1o Things You Can Do If You Are Sleepless And Menopausal. It worked well, although —as it normally happens— there was room for improvement.

Said improvement came from what I learned during the Smarter Change programme with Pamela. There was some fine-tuning of things that I was already doing, and the introduction of a whole new concept:

I set up my sleep when I wake up

A lot is said about the importance of the last couple of hours before bed to ensure sleep quality. However, with Pamela, I learned that the first hour after waking up is just as crucial.

As soon as I open my eyes in the morning, I look for some light. I go to the yard or sit near the window, remove my glasses, and allow the sunlight to fall on my eyelids. Those minutes of quiet, that I...

There are two days left for you to join Time For My Music. Upon signing up, you will get free trial access to the community's library of resources and information, and you will also get a 20 minutes one-to-one talk with Millicent, in which you will be able to learn more about the dynamics of the group and talk to her about your music journey and aspirations.

You can learn more about Time For My Music here and sign up here.

For your consideration, here are some highlights of the testimonials that the members of Time For My Music gave during the Evening Showcase last year, which was the first face to face concert they put together as a group:

With Millicent's support, we've been able to achieve things that we never thought were possible.
—Michelle

What Millicent gives us is the confidence to come out and play in front of people.
—Patricia

Time For My Music is togetherness, a way to put ourselves out in the world as musicians together.
—Melody

We have been pushed out of our comfort zo...

We're happy to announce that ‘Time For My Music’ is currently open to new members. The community-focused online programme, aimed at women, offers information, resources and support for emerging musicians to reach their goals in the music industry.

Learn more about it in the about page.

This is the right programme for you if you’re a female musician, singer, DJ, rapper or spoken word artiste, and you’re in one of the following situations:

• Music is your hobby, but you would like to take it to the next step by performing and eventually get paid.
• You’re returning to music after a break, and could use some support and a boost of confidence in order to get back in.
• You have gigged occasionally, but it doesn’t seem to be working, and you’d like to give your music one last push to see if you can realise your music dreams.

There's no level of gigging experience required, and you can join from anywhere in the world.

Sign-up now and get access to a free trial of the community group unt...

Stress, stress, stress, and more stress.  We are living in a stressful world. When I was younger, it didn’t feel like that. I don’t know if it was because there were less stressful things, or because I was less aware, less connected with the state of society. In any case, I feel there is so much stress nowadays, with the social and political unrest, the rising cost of living, and the need to balance that with the challenges of relationships and other factors of life.

On top of all that, I’ve learned that menopause makes us more susceptible to stress. This happens due to the changes in our hormonal levels. For example, the reduction of estrogen in our bodies gives way for cortisol, a hormone produced as a stress response, to shoot up quicker and more drastically. Before taking Pamela’s course, I didn’t even suspect that what I considered overthinking and worry could actually be a natural response caused by menopause. That said, the fact that I understood why I was so stressed didn’t me...

This is the last, but in no way least, post about the stars who shone in the Time For My Music Evening Showcase at the MAC theatre of Birmingham in October last year. Sign-ups for the programme will open very, very soon, and we have a lot in store. Join the mailing list to be the first to know when recruitment starts.

So, here's Tiny Sax. She’s an alto saxophonist with a deep appreciation of Blues, Soul, Jazz and Funk. She fell in love with the sound of the saxophone after hearing the soundtrack to the film ‘Alfie’, played by saxophone legend Sonny Rollins. As well as solo appearances, she also performs regularly with soul band As One Collective.

This is what she told the audience about her experience with Time For My Music:

I came upon the group quite by accident. When I was invited, I thought, “great, I’ll go along.” I said, “saxophonists? It’s only me and Millicent who are saxophonists, I better represent!” I opted in really, really confident, and then there were seven of them.

...