Tw: Mentions of suicide and it’s prevention In a society opening up conversations around mental health, suicide is still severely stigmatised and misunderstood. Today we meet pianist Gosia Garska who volunteers at the Listening Place - a charity set up to hold space for people struggling with suicidal thoughts and ideation. We discuss common myths around suicide, as well as how the Listening Place supports those with ongoing struggles. We also hear from Gosia about how work at the Listening...

WE PASSED OUR VOICES RADIO TRIAL! Here's our most recent episode-show where we answer beautiful questions from our Insta followers (thanks you guys!). We chit-chat about our favourite and least favourite memories of TMDTA, Father Christmas and Wendy Christmas, a slightly different origin story of the podcast, the power of sharing our stories on social media, balancing pod commitments, Becca's wet cat and not treating the pod as a job. Thanks again to Voices Radio for giving us another...

This week we speak with the inspiring Emily Ashton, baroque cellist, viola da gambist and climate activist. Emily is a founding member of XR Baroque, a group of early music environmentalists who perform at Extinction Rebellion protests. We discuss how we process the overwhelm and anxiety that come with thinking about climate change, the murkiness of being a freelance musician and staying true to your beliefs, and the tension between the need for systemic and individualistic change in...

On this episode, Hattie speaks with flautist Kathryn Williams, co-author of the Independent Society of Musicians's (ISM) Dignity at Work 2 study, which looked into the experiences of discrimination among those working in the music sector. They also speak about Kathryn's experiences as a single parent 11 years ago, navigating studying at the Royal Northern College of Music whilst being the sole carer for a 1-year-old. Follow Kathryn on Instagram: @kathrynwilliamsflutes Discover the ISM...

In this episode of Things Musicians Don't Talk About, Hattie and Becca chat from the cosiness of Hattie's new-ish house and perfect podcasting room. We have a candid conversation about the recent arts cuts and the precarity of freelancing, plus Becca's recent feelings of audition burnout, and how we've both experienced and dealt with (or not dealt with...) performance anxiety in the past. Join us as we break down the barriers and continue to talk about the things musicians don't talk...

Where do musicians go for support in a crisis? For many years Help Musicians UK has been the main source of advocacy, funding and research for musicians facing crises of health and finances in the UK. In response to the increase in need for mental health support post pandemic, last autumn Help Musicians launched its subsidiary charity, Music Minds Matter to focus in on the mental health provision for musicians. Today we speak to Head of the charity, Joe Hastings, about its launch, his own...

Today we are coming with a fascinating episode with Ingela Onstad, who is a psychotherapist and performance coach, as well as a professional soprano. Both Rebecca and I have been interested in getting to know a musician who is also trained as a psychotherapist and were curious to understand how she deals with boundaries in her job. We explore all of this, asking for Ingela’s insight into diversifying her musician life, becoming more than ‘just’ a singer and helping people through a...

***This episode deals covers topics including eating disorders, mental illness and the Holocaust. Kate talks about them incredibly respectfully and not in graphic details, but for listeners that would rather sit this one out, we understand*** It's our last episode of 2022 and this time, we're speaking to the exceptional Dr. Kate Kennedy, broadcaster, academic, cellist and writer, who specialises in combining biography, words and music. She is also the Co-Director of the Oxford Centre for...

This week we are coming from a North London living room with our wonderful friends from Three In A Bar Podcast. Verity Simmons (cello) and Seb Philpott (trumpet) join us for a 2-part series of collaborative podcasting and incredible company. We talk about how podcasting has altered their lives, who writes the emails, their careers and experiences as freelancers and the Three In A Bar podcast genesis from in the pit of Funny Girl the Musical. We also learn about their most traumatic...

Introducing our producer, the wonderful flautist Katy Ehrlich. We are so excited to introduce Katy to you all and for you to hear the journey of her incredible life, and role in the pod, through county youth orchestra to Manchester University and then to the Royal Academy of Music for masters. Katy's journey uncovers a lot of the difficulties with music college environments and we discuss how hard it can be to be honest about your personal life and limitations whilst studying. Katy also took...

‘It’s easy to slip into a mode of being  where you think your life is happening to you and  you’re stuck…you think you have to carry on xyz  trajectory because that’s how it’s been for so long…’  This week’s guest is the soprano Betty Makharinsky who spoke to me (Hattie) during a day of rehearsals for the charity and organisation she co-founded, Vache Baroque Festival ✨ Betty and I spoke about her difficulties with the music college system after leaving Oxford and how going too soon affected...

This episode we are sharing the space with BBC Radio 3 presenter and flautist, Hannah French. Recorded in a North London office space, we listened as Hannah explained to us her journey to a diagnosis of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, a collagen deficiency which affects the soft tissue and has impacted her ability to walk, play the flute and live life as she once knew it. She took us through the reality of living with EDS, and the process of moving away from flute performance and into her current job...

This week on TMDTA, Becca and Hattie chat with Guy Withers, Artistic Director, founder and CEO of Waterperry Opera Festival, about this year's upcoming festival which will celebrate it's fifth anniversary with an innovative eight-day open-air collection of eight productions in Waterperry, Oxfordshire. As usual, Becca and Hattie want to know more about what's going on behind the shiny facade of such a successful festival and they chat with Guy about not only the festival's journey to fruition...

Hattie and Rebecca are joined this week by violinist and podcaster Cliodhna Ryan. Delving into the years Cliodhna spent in the busyness of London, Cliodhna talks about her move back to Ireland and the creative projects that sprung from the move. Violinist in the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Cliodhna speaks about the realities of freelance life, as well as her experiences living with panic disorder and injury. Cliodhna has her own podcast, Bittersweet Symphony, in which she speaks with fellow...

Welcome back! A while back, we talked with photographer Olivia Da Costa (after our #gifted photoshoot) about her new career as a photographer specialising in musicians' portraits and what's led her to this point. Olivia shares with us her journey through music school and college, through a complex relationship with the cello and music, and into the pandemic when she founded her photography business. It's not often that we see a musician change career paths and still stay firmly rooted in the...

Today we are joined by consultant laryngologist, voice disorders specialist and singer Declan Costello! We speak about common vocal injury among singers, the technicalities of his practice, what happens in vocal surgery and whether some injuries are irreversible. Check out Declan here Declan's Biography Mr Costello studied music at St John's College, Cambridge, where he was a choral scholar under Christopher Robinson. He went on to study medicine at Imperial College and undertook his ENT...

Trigger warning: eating disorders and mental illness Part 2: We return to Rosie's story to hear about both the rock bottom and how she moved onwards and upwards past it. We would recommend listening to part 1 if you haven't already (released only a couple of days ago!) as this'll make a lot more sense with the rest of Rosie's story. We feel so incredibly honoured and grateful to Rosie for her time and vulnerability with us, and are so excited to see where Rosie goes in life with her...

Trigger warning: eating disorders and mental illness Part 1: We are extremely grateful to guitarist Rosie Bennet  for letting us into the nooks and crannies of her life story. We talk about Rosie's musical training and her travels all over the world, and the subsequent dark periods in her life that culminated in a breakdown during her years at music college. The way in which Rosie speaks about her life and her music is so poetic and an absolute joy to listen to, despite the depth and...

We reached 10,000 downloads which we think sounds a lot so we did a celebratory Q&A episode! Admittedly we didn't get as many questions as we'd expected (for some reason we thought number of downloads = number of questions with no effort required ) but we still had a nice chat and an orange san pell on Hattie's bed. Thanks as ever for your support and for your continued listenership, and here's to the next 10k!! Follow us on Instagram And Twitter Our website Get in touch with your...

Oh hey there again and thanks for joining us for episode 39! I could listen to Vic talk all day, honestly. Today, we present to you our chat about life as a freelance musician parent and Vic's experiences of pregnancy discrimination - a very real but seldom talked about topic. Vic herself is an amazing trumpet player who frequently appears on TV as well as performing to a live audience. She's performed at the BBC Music Awards, Strictly Come Dancing, Britains Got Talent and This Morning, as...

Today we are thrilled to release our conversation with violinist and co-founder of the Manchester Collective, Rakhi Singh. Speaking with Rakhi was so joyful and restorative. We discuss her life within the Manchester Collective, how they continue to push boundaries and what ‘daring collaborations’ mean. We go on to talk about chamber music and the ways in which we can feel restricted in the definition we have created within classical music. Rakhi suggests a more integrative and whole approach...

Hattie and Rebecca are joined by the chair of the Conservatoires UK Student Network, Cara Houghton to speak about their Burnout Campaign in collaboration with Healthy Conservatoires, starting this week from 21-26 March. Rebecca and Hattie go on to discuss their own experiences of burnout, the difference between mental illness and burnout and Hattie’s experience living in a convent to get away from musical life! They also go on to speak about Rebecca’s experience with running and leaving...

Wow, what a conversation we had with Jocelyn. We discuss the London Chamber Orchestra's recent-ish decision to drop their dress code, but before we get into that we talk about her life before being appointed the Managing Director of LCO, and now the CEO of Three Worlds Group. Freelance life is a struggle at the best of times, and we are so so grateful to Jocelyn for speaking so powerfully about her experiences and thoughts on the subject. This felt like such an important and energising...

This episode, Hattie and Becca are joined by BOP* Stuart Beard. They chat (unsurprisingly) about life as a freelance musician, Hattie’s big move to London, the Sunk Cost Fallacy, turning opportunities down and general other chatty topics. Listen wherever you usually get your podcasts, and if you can, please leave us a review and subscribe! *(Boyfriend of the Pod) Follow us on Instagram! And Twitter Our website Buy our stickers (What Would Yuja Wear) Or buy us a coffee!

Frances Wilson, publicist and writer/blogger extraordinaire talks to Hattie and Rebecca about her blog and other work, her love of live music, lack of creative motivation in lockdown, and what it's like to get to know the artists behind the music. She is most famed for her wonderful blog, The Cross-Eyed Pianist, and her popular series of written interviews, Meet the Artist, that is about to turn 10 years old! We are incredibly grateful to Frances for her time and her wisdom. p.s apologies...