Carrying a Tune

16/08/2026

This week has been a rough ride for a lot of people in academia, so apologies that I'm not the most enthusiastic about research right now.

Still recruiting for the pilot study - MT performers who have given birth in the last 12 weeks or 11-13 months, please get in touch.

31/07/2026

This little game is addictive. You can play for free to help raise money for the project. I scored 187 - can you beat me?

Collect as many books as you can and race to the top of today's leaderboard. Finish first to win a £100 donation for your cause. Every game also enters you into a random £100 donation draw, so everyone's in with a chance.

27/07/2026

There are so many stories to be told and I'm really excited to start sharing them. I'm not so excited about actually having to write things.

22/07/2026

Trying to get some self-tapes recorded as I always seem to be ill whenever I get a request for a song.

Having kids was a big trigger for changing my rep. Though I found all the chnages to my voice very difficult to deal with at the time, I've come to embrace them and hope I can help others to do the same.

I've had a fantastic response to the pilot study call out and I'm now specifically looking for performers 4-8 weeks post-partum or 11-12 months post-partum. Please get in touch if that's you!

20/07/2026

You walk into the hospital dreaming about meeting your baby… and walk out carrying a trauma you never saw coming.

You imagined first cries, first cuddles, and bringing your baby home.

You never imagined fearing for your life.
Or theirs.

You never imagined that one day, someone would ask about your birth story, and your chest would tighten before you could answer.

People celebrate the baby you brought home.

But they don’t always see the mother who left that hospital changed.

The one who replays every moment.
Who wonders what could have been different.
Who still feels her heart race at the sound of hospital monitors or the smell of antiseptic.

Birth trauma doesn’t end when you’re discharged.

Sometimes it follows you home.

And while everyone is focused on your newborn, you’re trying to make sense of an experience that shattered the version of birth you thought you’d have.

If this is your story, I hope you know this:

You can be deeply grateful for your baby…
and still grieve the birth you lived through.

Those two things can exist together. 🤍

19/07/2026

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17/07/2026

Covering exhaustion with make up - classic actor move.

Grateful, but tired.

14/07/2026

My first pregnancy affected me in ways I couldn't have imagined. My range shifted downwards, I couldn't belt amd started to question who I was and why I was even trying to work in musicals. I've also heard some amazing stories of mums jumping back into work a few weeks in. I'm not here to judge, just to record the shifts in voice and identity that are possible through pregnancy and post partum.

If you are a musical theatre performer in that stage of your life, please get in touch to findnoit how you can contribute.

12/07/2026

At the end of every term, the research department at Guildhall School of Music & Drama comes together to share their work and gain feedback: Third years at Christmas, Second years at Easter and finally it was our turn for the Summer Symposium. I say finally, when actually the end of first year seemed to come round impossibly quickly. Still, I’ve had a brilliant time presenting my research so far, and was lucky enough to get the chance to try out my delivery a couple of weeks before in a relaxed and friendly environment on the Voice training day Mountview. It didn’t stop there, and I hit my Conservatoire hat-trick in Leeds sharing the presentation at the annual Luminate Research Festival. For UCLeeds Performing Arts

I am now running up and down the country working with participants in the pilot study. In order to take part, you must be:

👩‍🎓 Over 18
🤰🏿 Currently pregnant or have given birth in the last year.
🎭 Completed a minimum 1-year course of conservatoire standard training in Musical Theatre and/or have at least one professional Musical Theatre credit.
Please get in touch if you’d like to know more.

Photos of Guildhall courtesy of Goi Ywei Chern

09/07/2026

The section of the song I couldn't sing while pregnant.

I thought it would be super cute to sing She Used to Be Mine while I was pregnant and then I'd go viral and launch my career (not really, but I can dream!) only I just couldn't sustain this section. I really struggled with singing while pregnant and it has taken me a long time to recover, but with help from the amazing I feel like I can sing again.

I'm now using my experiences to help other performing mums. I'm currently conducting a research study on MT performers who are pregnant or up to one year postpartum. If this is you, please get in touch.