This week, Alexa chats with artist, songwriter, choir leader, and vocal coach India Bourne about life beyond the stage. From touring the world with Ben Howard to building a thriving teaching career, India shares how completing the BAST Foundation Course deepened her understanding of the voice, transformed her songwriting, and enriched her work with singers. She also opens up about balancing creativity, teaching, and motherhood, revealing how life as a mum has shaped her artistry, sharpened her instincts, and helped her to continue creating a sustainable, fulfilling career in music.
WHAT’S IN THIS PODCAST?
1:08 What venues are India’s favourite to play?
3:38 What has India learnt through touring and being a human in the music industry?
6:06 Does teaching ever feel in tension with being an artist?
12:37 India’s experience with BAST
14:50 How has being a classically trained cellist influenced artistry and teaching?
18:10 Songwriting and creative ideas
25:07 Singing and training emotion in music
30:02 Being the creative juggler
33:26 Protecting your own creativity
35:35 India’s new music
About the presenter HERE
RELEVANT MENTIONS & LINKS
Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw
Why Doing Nothing Can Change Your Life by Joseph Jebelli
Singing in the Brain: Ep.2: The Spaces in Between – Part1 Rest
Singing Teachers Talk – Ep.256 The Neuroscience of Singing: What the Singer’s Brain Needs
ABOUT THE GUEST
India Bourne is a classically trained musician, songwriter and vocal coach whose voice has travelled the world as a long-time member of Ben Howard’s live band. Singing and playing cello, bass and percussion, she has spent years immersed in shared stages and shifting landscapes. Alongside this, she has released music as Tender Central, where electronica and folk intertwine in songs that echo the emotional depth of Massive Attack, Lamb and Joni Mitchell.
Now, India returns to releasing music under her own name. This new collection is shaped by long-standing musical relationships, featuring collaborators Mickey Smith, Nat Wason and Rich Thomas alongside her all-female choir, The Big Skirts. Recorded live to tape at Middle Farm Studios with producer Peter Miles, these are songs of initiation and becoming – of motherhood, grief, nature, and new life – held together by the rare chemistry of old friends playing in the same room.
At the heart of the record is the voice, or rather voices. India writes with her women vocalists in mind, weaving their lines together as a living fabric from which melodies emerge. The result is music that feels both grounded and expansive, rooted in collective breath, resonance and connection.
