Mary Jayne is a musician and musicologist currently floundering into the real world. Born in Leicester at the beginning of Gen Z, she is a graduate of King’s College London. Her spare time is usually consumed by theatre, trips to the pub or binge-watching episodes of Time Team.

• Twitter
• LinkedIn

polyphony

Ramblings and Retrospectives on various themes

---

I’ve been thinking about/threatening to write a blog for a while now, but there was always a convenient excuse not to. Whether it was finishing an essay, rehearsals for a show or an unmissable social occasion, I kept pushing it onto the backburner.

Now, however, I seem to have run out of excuses.

The global pandemic put a sudden, devastating halt to my usual activities. Theatres, concert halls and universities all closed, and the stuttering economy has meant that finding a “proper job” is even more of a challenge than I expected.

So…

Lights up on Polyphony.

Yes, I am aware that the title and tagline are on the pretentious side. I really didn’t intend them to be.

But, I also didn’t want to restrict myself too much in terms of my content or topics so Polyphony seemed to be a good fit. Literally meaning ‘many sounds’, my hope is that the blog will reflect this. It’s intended to provide a space to discuss a whole range of subjects, from music to theatre and anything else that catches my interest!

As well as giving me an outlet for, potentially self-indulgent, ramblings, I also hope that the blog teaches me a bit about myself.

Without meaning to sound like a cliché, the last twelve months have seen my mental health spiral downwards rather dramatically. While I don’t expect that writing here is going to solve all of the issues that have led to this, I hope it will give me something else to focus on and encourage me to keep thinking about things that I enjoy.

I have been very lucky in my education. I went to a good school and had some amazing times swanning around London during my University years. The classroom stuff was great, don’t get me wrong. However, I always felt that there was more that I wanted to say, more that I wanted to explore.

For me, the best parts of my degrees were spent chatting over a pint.

We’d talk about all sorts of things: from politics to music, from religion to television. It didn’t really matter what the topic was; it was being able to have informed, at times heated, discussions and come out the other end still friends and having learnt something.

This is one of the things I’ve missed most during the last year. So, hopefully Polyphony will give me an opportunity to get at least some aspects of this back.

I’m reminded of a quote:

---

If you have any comments about the blog, or would like to contribute in any way, please do get in touch.