Hello, everyone! I'm M-J (Mary-Jannet sometimes, but never just Mary!) and I'm a Scottish professional musician based in London. Over the years, I've studied both music (mainly Historical Performance) and Ancient History, and now, I'm incredibly lucky to have an AHRC studentship to study for a PhD at the University of Southampton. There I'm studying the music of composers that I love to perform - London-based Scottish musicians of the long eighteenth century.

This new website and blog has been in the pipeline for several years. I'm one of those people who can work tirelessly on projects (usually for other people), but when it comes to doing something which I really care about and would further my own career, I avoid it like the plague! The fear of failure is just too great. So much so that I purchased my new website design in June 2018, and it has taken me until now to get the content ready. Yes, readers. 2 years to write a few paragraphs. In that sense, lockdown has proved to be a fantastic motivator - the excuses for procrastination have finally dried up. So, I'm just delighted that, with the help of fantastic website designer Russell Gilmour, and excellent designer Daniel Kevin Lloyd, here the new website is, with a beautiful logo which reflects my heritage and musical identity. To the future!

I'm planning to post twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays. I'm hoping to write about my experiences in the whirlwind that is the world of classical music, tackling some of the issues that we don't talk about enough, such as mental health in the music business and anxiety. But I'm also going to be posting about my research and the fascinating Scottish characters I encounter in 18th century London - and I'm very excited about sharing these discoveries with you.