Honestly, I can. There aren’t many things in this world that I’m sure of, but that is one of them. Up to now, most of the videos on my YouTube channel have been of Tudor ballads, for the obvious reason that that is what I spend my time working on and my public engagement tends to concentrate on them. But I wouldn’t say that they were the best indicator of my vocal abilities.

At the beginning of last year, I joined the local community choir, the Valley Singers, and in May, I was asked to sing a solo in their concert at Hurst Green. I chose Vilja, from Lehar’s Merry Widow, which was one of the songs I sang for my Grade 8 ABRSM exam while I was doing my PhD. My dad recorded it, so I thought I’d share it with you now. I’d really like to thank our conductor, Shaun Turnbull, for accompanying the piece so beautifully.

Before we had the children, my husband Chris and I were two thirds of a folk trio called Triptych. We recorded one album, and when we stopped performing because of children (and because the other third of the band, Chris Maybury, moved to the Isle of Man), I put some of the recordings up on MySpace and then later, on YouTube.

One of them is the traditional Irish Connemara Cradle Song, which is accompanied by my painting of Downings beach in the rain – not Connemara but Donegal, but it was the best I could do! The harp tune I play at the end is one I wrote as a lullaby for my niece, who is now away doing an MA!

Two songs, Part of My Heart and Michael, were written by husband. He wrote Part of My Heart after reading a newspaper article about Iri Maruki, a Japanese artist who was born in Hiroshima and, with his wife Toshi, collaborated on the Hiroshima Panels. Michael was about the Irish politician and IRA leader Michael Collins.

Cruel Sister is my husband’s take on the old story of the girl who is murdered by her sister so that she can get the boy. Again, it features me on harp, I think.

The last one was another traditional Irish song, which was always my stand by at folk clubs, She Moves Through the Fair

Then about 5 years ago, my mum recorded me singing Richard Thompson’s Waltzing’s for Dreamers with my daughter. Five years on, she probably won’t thank me for sharing this video with you! I’ve never managed to get a decent video, or even audio recording of our real party piece, Steve Tilston and Jez Lowe’s gorgeous Beacon Hill. Maybe that’s a job for the summer, after I’ve performed John Balshaw’s Jigge.

I probably also ought to point out that my elder son, James, has his own YouTube channel – jameshydemusic – and is writing and recording his own exellent pieces too. The latest is Dancing Out in the White Snow, but of his covers, I’m particularly fond of Overjoyed and Who Says, the latter of which he recorded with his friend Bob Tinsley during the covid lockdown (not together, of course).