LooseLeaf NoteBook provides a safe space to talk about mental health challenges and modes of healing, including therapy, medication, and at-home self-care practices, as well as examining the complex and often misunderstood relationship between mental health and creativity. I share why I started this project, and how my composition professor, Steven Stucky, created a safe space for me to talk during our lessons, ultimately enabling me to seek professional help for my anxiety at the age of 19.

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

Mezzo-soprano Myah Rose Paden shares the positive aspects of ADHD, and how she manages her Anxiety and Depression by caring for each distinct mood, or self-state, as if it were a unique person who requires a specific form of care and loving attention. We discuss the process of starting therapy, the healing nature of artistic expression, and how Myah's podcast, Thorn & Thistle, gives her a platform to cultivate authentic conversations about intersectionality, identity, and self-exploration.

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

Highlights from my interviews about Creativity and Mental Health in the context of the pandemic, featuring composers Jessie Montgomery, Billy Childs, and Samuel Adler, pianist Gloria Cheng, librettist Aiden Feltkamp, percussionist Sidney Hopson, and high schooler Jaden Gaines.

Librettist & Singer Aiden K. Feltkamp, who serves as the Emerging Composers and Diversity Director at the American Composers Orchestra, shares how they work with large institutions to identify & dismantle internal discriminatory practices & address unconscious biases. Aiden 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. We discuss our shared experiences of mental illness, or what Aiden & fellow diversity educators call Neurodivergence, & the benefits of therapy & medication in treating Anxiety, Depression, & ADHD

www.AidenKimFeltkamp.com

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

Composer Jessie Montgomery shares how she has shifted her creative process since the pandemic began to cultivate a sense of playful freedom & reconnect with her childhood love of diverse musical styles. We discuss how systemic racism has affected Jessie's perception of her own musical identity, and her thoughts on her growing role within the classical music community to represent Black women. Jessie offers advice on how to pace oneself while participating in the ongoing process of Anti-Racism work so that we can continue to care for our own health and creative vitality.

www.jessiemontgomery.com

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

Geopolitical analyst & co-founder of Reconsider Media Xander Snyder draws from Stoic & Buddhist philosophies, as well as practices from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, to help him navigate the toxic political divisiveness rampant in today's media coverage. He offers tools to help recognize what we can and can't control as political events unfold, and how to examine our own emotional biases. We discuss his diverse career paths, from studying classical music to data science, and how Xander stays connected to his creativity.

reconsidermedia.com

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

How does scrolling social media & the news mirror my experience of anxiety? It's a constantly changing quick succession of conflicting, highly volatile information that tells me I'm in immediate danger! I discuss how scrolling impacts people with high sensitivity levels, and how I've learned to let go of my shame around being "too sensitive" and instead embrace how this threshold of perception enhances my creativity.

Composer Dara Taylor shares how she stays focused on her writing for film & TV while striving to process the current national reckoning with systemic racism. We discuss how Dara moved through environments where she did not feel welcome as a female composer of color to how she found her creative home working with mentor turned collaborator Christopher Lennertz in Los Angeles. Dara shares how composing and therapy helped her begin to process her father's passing, and how an unexpected creative hobby opened her up to speaking more about her racial identity. 

www.DaraTaylor.com

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

My best friend composer Dale Trumbore & I talk all things anxiety disorders & composing during a pandemic. Dale is the author of "Staying Composed: Overcoming Anxiety & Self-Doubt Within a Creative Life." We discuss her choral works written specifically for Zoom, her experience w/ anti-anxiety medication & how she addresses unhealthy thought patterns in order to return to her creativity.

www.DaleTrumbore.com

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

American Samoan tenor Fatu Su'esu'e shares how the virtual reality of the pandemic made him realize how self-conscious he felt on camera about his body. As a playful quarantine challenge, Fatu began taking photographs of himself and embracing his physique, leading to an unexpected & empowering discovery about his operatic voice (as well as a modeling gig from a big and tall clothing company!) Lastly, Fatu shares what it was like to loose touch with his artistry after the death of his parents and how that experience shapes his mindset in the face of today's pandemic.