The Other Manuscript

Hello and welcome to The Other Manuscript blog!

My name is Niamh McKendrick and I am a fourth year undergraduate student at the Royal Northern College of Music studying Vocal Studies and Opera.

I’ve sang for many years, I joined a choir at ten years old and have had singing lessons since I was twelve. I love to sing but, I’ve notice more and more as I’ve gotten older that so much of the music I’ve sang, is by dead, white, cisgender men and there is so much incredible music written by everyone else. So, in this blog, I’ll be writing about underrepresented composers, my favourite pieces of theirs. I’ll also have a podcast titled ‘The Other Manuscript’ where I’ll be interviewing underrepresented composers, mainly student composers , which I think will be very interesting since they’re at the start of their careers and process. I’ll be chatting to them about their life, their music, their favourite composers and everything else that goes along with being an underrepresented composer in today’s world. 

I hope you’ll come away from this blog having learned about some great composers and perhaps it will encourage you to seek out some pieces that are not as commonly played as their white male counter parts. I know from speaking to these composers and researching others and delving a little deeper into some lesser known compositions, that I’ve heard and learned some really great pieces that I just wouldn’t have known about had I not looked for them. I hope you enjoy and if you have any questions, please get in touch.