Looking at some of my female inspirations

To help celebrate International Women’s Day 2021, I wanted to take a look at some of the amazing female artists and musicians who have inspired me.

My very first female musical influence that I can remember was my very first piano teacher Helen Andrew’s. She is an amazing singer-songwriter who now lives in Malta. I remember going to a local church once a week after school and being enchanted by how lovely and nurturing she was. Whilst she was my teacher, I had the opportunity to perform in a Christmas concert. I must have been 6 or 7 at the time and it was my first time performing in front of a crowd by myself. She, alongside my mum, was super encouraging and gave me the confidence to go up and play in front of all those people.

You can listen to Helen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ij1EInGPpY

By far my biggest female influence would have to be Jenny Russel from the FB Pocket Orchestra.

http://www.fbpocketorchestra.co.uk/

Jenny has had a huge influence on my life and is the reason that I am now working at Hot House. Jenny alongside her band members introduced me to music technology and music production. They record and produce all their music, something that is extremely rare. I even have a production credit on one of their albums just for messing around with the levels! Jenny helped me achieve my grades 1-5 on the piano and 2 Jazz grades on the saxophone. I really do have to attribute my confidence as a musician to her, as she was the one who taught me not to take it too seriously and that it is about having fun, not just achieving qualifications.

But it is not just my former teachers that have had an influence and inspired me. One of my favourite artists is Taylor Swift. I love what she stands for and her lyrics are super relatable (well to me anyway). She was one of the artists that I grew up listening to, and I have taken that love into adulthood. Her story is very inspiring to all budding musicians and songwriters. If you haven’t, I seriously recommend watching her Miss Americana documentary on Netflix, where she openly discusses both the highlights and the struggles of her career.

If you would like to here some more about not only my influences, but also the amazing hhmacy’s and hhtessa’s, why don’t you go and check out the sneak preview of TRIBE season 3 celebrating women in music.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Ls3O8viZM3vQwSta9u3IG?si=7x9rDglRQ5C8FA_IqJYJog

#InternationalWomensDay2021 #IWD #nurture #access #legacy #employability #hhmack