EXPERTISE AND MEDIA COMMENTARY ON:
SONGS AND SONGWRITING • MUSIC AND WELLBEING • SONGWRITING TEACHING • FEMINISM • GENDER EQUALITY IN MUSIC • SONGWRITING AND BABY LOSS/GRIEF
Hi, I’m Sophie Daniels. I’m an Associate Professor of Songwriting at The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance (ICMP) and a Principal Fellow at Advance HE. My day job is as the Head of School: Music Performance and Creation at ICMP, with responsibility for all ICMP’s higher education programmes in these areas. I’m also ICMP’s Masters of Songwriting Programme Leader.
I was honoured to be the UK’s first female academic to become a Professor of Songwriting and one of only a handful of females to hold this title. My professorship was awarded for my pioneering work in the field of songwriting teaching.
You might have heard me on BBC Radio 6 Music, where I’m a regular contributing ‘6 Musicologist’ on Huw Stephens’ drivetime show, having spoken on everything from protest songs and musical archetypes to rhyming lyrics and middle eights.
I’m also an experienced public speaker, having delivered keynote speeches at universities all over the world on topics including songwriting and wellbeing, gender equality and music, why we write songs, and songwriting pedagogy and processes. I’m currently turning my academic and community research project work into a book.
On top of this, I’m a Director at The F-List – a UK directory of female and gender diverse musicians, am on the Advisory Board of the female songwriter empowerment platform She Writes Songs, and am an external examiner for music degrees at two UK universities.
As an artist, I write and perform as Liberty’s Mother. The second Liberty Mother’s album, Peaceful Warrior, is out now. It’s a six-track feminist song cycle art and activism research project, exploring themes including internalised sexism and the patriarchy.
Sophie Daniels | Songwriting Courses | ICMP Music School
Sophie Daniels is Head of Songwriting at ICMP where she founded the institute’s songwriting provision in 2004. Her early career was in songwriting, performing, teaching and the record industry, where she held marketing roles at major labels Sony UK and S Records, and worked directly with Simon Cowell.
Directors of The F-List | The F-List Directory of UK Female+ Musicians | Search for Musicians
“I’ve worked in the music industry and music education for more than 20 years. It’s apparent to everyone that positive action needs to be taken to address inequality with respect to gender. Having worked to create a more equal environment for female songwriters, I’m delighted to have the opportunity to get involved on a bigger scale with The F-List.”
Why We Write Songs II – Songwriting Studies
This virtual roundtable event for the Songwriting Studies Research Network took place on the 18th May 2022 and was chaired by Sophie Daniels of ICMP. The panel featured Pat Pattison, Frank Turner, Simon Barber, Phillip McIntyre and Andy West. Together they debated and discussed their thoughts on why they write songs.
PEACEFUL WARRIOR
Peaceful Warrior is a new feminist song cycle and the second album from Professor Sophie Daniels,aka ‘Liberty’s Mother’. While the first Liberty’s Mother EP, released in 2019, was an awareness raising, charitable community piece for baby loss awareness, record two is a war cry. The album speaks to the collective grief of a generation of women railing against the lies sold to them about ‘having it all’. as they labour under the patriarchy and raise children under a microscope in a world where the future is uncertain and misogyny is on the rise.