Sidney Hopson: Resilience Through Music & Cultural Policy
Percussionist and arts policy consultant Sidney Hopson’s discovery of cultural policy enabled him to combat audition anxiety, a decade of depression, and the pervasive racism of the classical music industry.
Renée Baker: Nothing's Gonna Stop You From Creating
Spending an hour over Zoom chatting with Renée Baker about her more than two thousand musical compositions and perhaps almost as many paintings was inspirational as well as motivational. Renée does not let anything deter her and while her music is extremely wide ranging and gleefully embraces freedom of expression, her daily schedule is precise and meticulous.
Aiden K. Feltkamp: Transgender Identity, Neurodivergence & the Lens of Equity
Librettist & Singer Aiden K. Feltkamp, who serves as the Emerging Composers and Diversity Director at the American Composers Orchestra, speaks openly about their personal experience transitioning, the impact that Gender Dysphoria (experiencing discord between one’s gender identity & one’s assigned sex at birth) had on their mental health, & how writing helped their healing process.
Hila Plitmann: Healing through Creativity
Soprano Hila Plitman shares her thoughts on mantra singing, motherhood, and how “the mind is a playful instrument.”
Adolphus Hailstork: Music is a Service
“Music is supposed to have meaning,” says Dr. Adolphus Hailstork whose music captures the tribulations and the occasional triumphs of African Americans in this country. Hailstork’s 80th birthday year got off to an impressive start with a performance of his music as part of the Presidential Inauguration ceremony of Joe Biden. Since then there has been a world premiere of a concert aria he composed to commemorate the centenary of the Tulsa Massacre and he awaits the premiere of his recently completed Fourth Symphony.
Jessie Montgomery: Reclaiming Creative Play & the Process of Anti-Racism
Composer and Violinist Jessie Montgomery shares how she has shifted her creative process since the pandemic began to cultivate a sense of playful freedom and reconnect with her childhood love of diverse musical styles.
McQueen & Blankenship: Partnership, Power & Vulnerability
Co-hosts of the Trilloquy podcast Garrett McQueen and Scott Blankenship share their experiences with depression, therapy, medication, cannabis, creativity, and addiction.
Susie Ibarra: Hybrid Culture
Susie Ibarra’s collaborative approach has informed her work with jazz, classical, indie rock, and traditional Philippine musicians.
Anxiety as an Editing Eye
The lingering anxiety that appears while I write can actually serve as a tool in the editing process, provided it remains in check and in direct dialogue with my work.
Christopher Trapani: Depression, Memory & Communication
Christopher Trapani evades and encodes the filter of depression into his music, as he tells Julia Adolphe in the latest episode of her LooseLeaf Notebook podcast. They also discuss myths about the tortured artist, medication, and therapy, and how mental health challenges can be better addressed in the workplace and in schools.
The Attraction of the Tortured Artist Myth
Julia Adolphe shares her thoughts on why the myth of the tortured artist has been attractive to society as well as to herself personally as she was struggling to come to terms with Anxiety Disorder.
Elena Urioste & Melissa White: Your Unique Body, Voice & Healing Process
Violinists and yoga instructors Melissa White & Elena Urioste discuss the impact of abusive or unsupportive teachers and methodologies in conservatory life that strip power from students instead of inspiring self-care and compassion.
Ricky Ian Gordon: My Way of Enveloping a Story
For the past 20 years, Ricky Ian Gordon has been creating works for the stage—operas, musicals, or one-of a-kind music/theater hybrids—and getting them produced one after another, seemingly without a pause. But 14 months ago, everything came to a screeching halt as the world went into lockdown due to the pandemic.
Untangling Anxious Signals and Creative Impulses
There are stark differences between imaginative impulses and anxious physiological signals.
Daniela Candillari: Creative Blessings in Disguise
Conductor and composer Daniela Candillari reflects on her personal experience with performance anxiety, how emotion shapes our perception of time, and why her memories of living through the wars in the former Yugoslavia have returned to her during the pandemic.
Pamela Z: Expanding Our Imaginations
The only thing that is almost as exciting as watching and listening to a multimedia performance by Pamela Z is to hear her talk about it.
Cindy Lam: Voicing Trauma and Connecting with Your Inner Child
Pianist and Music Educator Cindy Lam shares her experience of PTSD, the stigma surrounding mental health challenges within Asian-American circles, and reflects on the escalating hate crimes against the AAPI communities.
Sarah Kirkland Snider: Illuminating Anxiety, Creative Process & Nurturing Support
Composer Sarah Kirkland Snider shares her experience with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder and how they impact her creative process.
Judith Lang Zaimont: The Music She Has to Write
Judith Lang Zaimont is defiantly unwilling to be typecast for creating music in a particular style, which makes her music always a welcome surprise.
Creating Safe Spaces and Asking for Help
Julia Adolphe shares why she started this project, and how her composition professor, Steven Stucky, created a safe space for her to talk during lessons.
Introducing LooseLeaf NoteBook – A Podcast on Creativity and Mental Health
In the midst of the pandemic, national protests against systemic racism, increasing threats of domestic terrorism, and going stir crazy in my living room, I started the podcast at first simply as a creative and emotional outlet. I yearned to connect with friends and colleagues about the collective toll this period has taken on our mental health and creativity, and to remain active and present within our community while so many of us are forced to wait, or worse, are struggling to survive or function.
Kris Bowers: In Love With Accompaniment
Kris Bowers creates music that is attuned to whatever project he is working on–whether it’s the score for the 2018 motion picture Green Book, the 2019 EA Sports videogame Madden NFL 20, the 2020 Phyllis Schlafly-inspired Hulu series Mrs. America, or the 2021 Netflix sensation Bridgerton.
Julie Giroux: A Wind Band is a Box of 168 Crayons
Julie Giroux, who creates music primarily for wind band, takes musicians and audiences on a journey that is a real sonic adventure and, at the same time, is always fun.
Valerie Coleman: Writing Music for People
Valerie Coleman is committed to storytelling through her music, no matter the idiom. “I recognize that there are stories that are yet untold that if they were told, they would transform all those who would hear them. So it’s my job to create music that allows that transformative power to happen.”
