LooseLeaf NoteBook with Julia Adolphe

Civic Engagement & Personal Expression

What can we do as individuals to make a difference in our struggling world? Each of us can tap into our unique identities to determine how we can best contribute to forwarding human rights & the health of our society & planet during this time of crisis. This will look different for every person and there is no single path towards improving the lives of others. I believe the first steps in this process are deep emotional self-reflection, & then finding a movement to join (or lead!) that speaks to your personal story or passions & will enable you to heal & feel fulfilled while you simultaneously help others. 

 

Questions or comments may be shared on Julia Adolphe's YouTube Channel

Billy Childs: Creative Process, Internal Pressures & Racial Identity

Composer and pianist Billy Childs shares the impact of the pandemic and systemic racism in America on his creativity and how he returns to his writing process with practice and persistence. Billy speaks candidly about the pressure he puts on himself to create and perfect his craft, how his musical brain is constantly processing the world around him,  and the healing nature of artistic experience. 

 

www.billychilds.com

 

Questions or comments may be shared on Julia Adolphe's YouTube Channel

Myths of Medication, Creativity & the Tortured Artist

When I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder at 19 after experiencing panic attacks, multiple psychiatrists recommended that I begin medication. I share why I was scared to start anti-depressants, how I feared they would damage my artistic process, and how they ultimately improved my health, happiness, and creativity.

 

Have you faced stigmatization for taking or perhaps even considering medication for a mental illness or disorder? Questions or comments may be shared on Julia Adolphe's YouTube Channel

 

 

 

 

 

Julia Jordan Kamanda: Parenting, Creative Energy & Mental Health

Singer-Songwriter & Music Educator Julia Jordan Kamanda shares how she works to reclaim her own creative impulses while raising two kids during the pandemic & working from home. Julia talks openly about her 9-year-old's new feelings of anxiety, emerging since the murder of George Floyd, and how she and her husband encourage their kids to find healthy outlets to process big feelings. Julia shares how connecting with our creative selves makes us more engaged parents and how the arts provides a powerful educational tool to the young girls she and her husband, Ali Biko Kamanda, empower through their Creative Arts Initiative in Sierra Leonne.

 

www.themusicmommy.com

 

How do you balance caring for your loved ones and staying connected to your creative self? Questions and comments may be shared on Julia Adolphe's YouTube Channel. 

Zachary March: Flexible Boundaries for Couples Working from Home

My partner Zach and I share what we've learned as a couple both working from home for the past five years. We discuss how we have created flexible boundaries, our struggles with co-dependency and personal space, and how we talk about and manage my anxiety disorder as a couple. Zachary shares how he learned to embrace theater and dance while growing up in a small town in Kentucky where he was encouraged to pursue sports. 

 

What do you need to stay focused and motivated and how do you communicate your boundaries? Questions and Comments may be shared on Julia Adolphe's YouTube Channel

Samuel Adler & Emily Freeman Brown: Hope & Perspective in Pandemic Times

Composer Samuel Adler and conductor Emily Freeman Brown share how they are staying hopeful and creative during the pandemic. Born in 1928 to a Jewish family living in Germany, Samuel Adler gives his unique perspective on how he draws inspiration from artists who have both struggled and thrived during times of extreme crisis. He and Emily discuss adaptations musicians made following the 1918 pandemic, how Emily plans to teach orchestral conducting with social distancing measures, and why artists should be careful about creating work overtly and specifically about today's pandemic. 

 

www.samuelhadler.com

www.efreemanbrown.com

 

How do you stay hopeful and gain perspective during this pandemic? Questions or comments may be shared on Julia Adolphe's YouTube Channel

Reframing Pre-Pandemic Work for Today's Emotional Needs

I share how I shifted my creative approach to my orchestral work for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, which I began writing before the pandemic, so that it feels just as meaningful and reflective of my life today. I also dive into my thought process on composing a new solo violin work for Yevgeny Kutik and how I reframed the project for myself to speak to my emotional needs during quarantine.

Questions or comments may be shared on Julia Adolphe's YouTube Channel

My Anxiety Disorder

Today, I want to share publicly that I have an anxiety disorder that impacts every aspect of my life. I was diagnosed at 19 with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, considered a mental illness, and have been in therapy and on medication for 13 years. My hope is to help de-stigmatize mental illness, and to open a dialogue about the relationship between creativity and mental health, within the context of a pandemic that has impacted us all. It is my belief that creativity and emotional vitality are so inherently linked. There is a myth that a tortured psyche creates great art, but in my experience, the healthier I’ve become, the more powerful my music becomes, because it grows closer and closer to reflecting and expressing my authentic self. Working towards mental health enables us to reach our full potential in all areas of our life.

 

Questions and comments can be shared on Julia Adolphe's YouTube Channel

Sidney Hopson: Resilience through Music and Cultural Policy

Percussionist and arts policy consultant Sidney Hopson shares how he found strength and comfort in classical music as a young child struggling to care for his ailing parents. We discuss how Sidney's discovery of cultural policy, pinpointing how he could bring the transformative power of music to others through legislative action, enabled him to combat audition anxiety, a decade of depression, and the pervasive racism of the classical music industry. Lastly, Sidney unpacks why he's experiencing increased creativity and motivation during the pandemic and offers advice to those of us who may be struggling to produce creative work or take social action during this difficult period.

 

Sidney Hopson celebrates a diverse career spanning the music industry and public policy. As a percussionist, he has performed for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Opera, Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble, Southeast Symphony, Ensemble FIRE (NYC), Los Angeles Master Chorale, Opera Santa Barbara, members of the Echo Society, and more. He is currently the principal percussionist of the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra. He has also performed and recorded with a wide range of commercial artists including Stevie Wonder, Danny Elfman, Rhianna, Burt Bacharach, the cast of "GLEE", Dionne Warwick, Lamont Dozier, Dave Koz, Patrice Rushen, David Benoit, and Brian Wilson. Sidney can be heard on over 100 film/tv soundtracks, from the cult horror film The Caretaker to Illumination's How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2018).

As an arts consultant, Hopson advises artists, arts institutions, and the public and private sectors on content development, strategy, and best practices to advance social justice and cultural equity, foster economic growth, prevent local crime and global terrorism, mitigate climate change, and support international development via the arts. 

 

Questions and comments can be shared on Julia Adolphe's YouTube Channel. 

Gloria Cheng: The Intimacy of Recording

Pianist Gloria Cheng discusses how she and her students grew closer together while facing the unique challenges of virtual music education, how incorporating new recording exercises provided surprising gifts, and how she returned to her own daily artistic practice during the pandemic. We also share memories of the late composer Steven Stucky, and how Gloria channeled her grief at his passing into a creative tribute, her album entitled "Garlands for Steven Stucky," which includes my composition, "Snowprints."

Grammy and Emmy Award-winning pianist GLORIA CHENG has long been devoted to a process of creative collaboration, having worked extensively with such internationally renowned composers as John Adams, Terry Riley, Thomas Adès, and the late Steven Stucky. Ms. Cheng has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta and Pierre Boulez, and on its acclaimed Green Umbrella series with Esa-Pekka Salonen and Oliver Knussen. She has been a recitalist at the Ojai Music Festival (where she first appeared in 1984 with Pierre Boulez), the Chicago Humanities Festival, William Kapell Festival, and Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music. Ms. Cheng inspired and premiered such notable compositions as Esa-Pekka Salonen's Dichotomie (of which she is the dedicatee), John Adams' Hallelujah Junction for two pianos (written for her and Grant Gershon), and Steven Stucky's Piano Sonata. Partnering with composers in duo-recitals, she premiered Thomas Adès's two-piano Concert Paraphrase on Powder Her Face and Terry Riley's Cheng Tiger Growl Roar. Ms. Cheng received a Grammy Award for her 2008 recording, Piano Music of Salonen, Stucky, and Lutosławski, and a second Grammy nomination for her 2013 disc, The Edge of Light: Messiaen/Saariaho. On screen, Ms. Cheng's film, MONTAGE: Great Film Composers and the Piano — documenting the recording of works composed for her by Bruce Broughton, Don Davis, Alexandre Desplat, Michael Giacchino, Randy Newman, and John Williams — aired on PBS SoCal and captured the 2018 Los Angeles Area Emmy Award for Independent Programming. Her most recent disc, Garlands for Steven Stucky, is a star-studded tribute to the late composer by 32 of his friends and former students. After obtaining a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Stanford University, Ms. Cheng studied in Paris on a Woolley Scholarship and earned graduate degrees in performance from UCLA and the University of Southern California, where her teachers included Aube Tzerko and John Perry. Ms. Cheng now is on the faculty at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music where she has created courses and programs designed to unite performers, composers, and scholars. www.gloriachengpiano.com

 

Questions or comments may be shared on Julia Adolphe's YouTube Channel