Follow Your Curiosity

Conservatory vs. College with D'Anna Fortunato

My guest today is a highly acclaimed mezzo-soprano who has sung a wide variety of music and operatic roles. She has performed at venues including Carnegie Hall and Tanglewood, with conductors including Leonard Bernstein. I met D'Anna Fortunato when I was a junior at Bucknell; she joined us to perform Aaron Copland's "In the Beginning," which I also discussed with Dr. William Payn in our last episode. D'Anna joined me to talk about her own musical journey, including the difference between a university music program and conservatory, the value of doing your artistic homework, and what she's learned from teaching and encouraging the creative spirit.

I've included some links to her performances in the show notes at fycuriosity.com, so be sure to check them out!

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Aiming for Excellence with Dr. William Payn

Today’s guest has been an important part of my life, and a big influence. A composer of music for choir and handbells, a respected festival conductor, and a former professor of music and director of choral studies at Bucknell University, he’s my college choir director, Dr. William Payn. I spent four years singing for him in Bucknell’s Rooke Chapel Choir, where I learned more than just great choral music. We talked about his history with music, from childhood on, the experiences of conducting vs. composing, how to encourage people to do more than they think they can, and how a particularly memorable choral performance at the American Choral Directors Convention—a rarefied experience for us all—came to be.

Listen to us sing Aaron Copland's "In the Beginning," and two of Dr. Payn's compositions, at the links at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

Chasing Curiosity with Vicky Cook

As you know, I'm a big fan of following your curiosity, so you can imagine how excited I was to come across someone else who finds it as key as I do. That someone is Vicky Cook, a coach who focuses on helping woman 40-ish and above get through midlife doubts (dare we say crises?) and finally do the things they're really here to do. We talk about identity, especially when it comes to women who are moms, about and how curiosity can get us through rough times. Vicky also tells us how she found, and what she finds, in her somewhat unusual hobby (spoiler: she's a silversmith).

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

Singing a Different Tune with Amber Petty

Amber Petty attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, taught musical improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade, and starred in an off-Broadway show based on the 50 Shades books. She also discovered that the life she’d imagined and the one she was living weren’t the same, and shifted into writing. She also helps ordinary people build confidence about singing at SingADifferentTune.com. We talk about the realities of life as an actor; dealing with rejection (and whether that’s harder as an actor or a writer), how “overnight success” really works, why singing is such a vulnerable act, and more.

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

Making Mischief with David Spencer

David Spencer is the creative force behind the Mischief Factory, where he seeks to create fun and adventure through art and illustration. He recently illustrated a new children's book, The Epic Adventures of Huggie and Stick, and also draws his own clever characters as well as commissioned and fandom-based art.

Dave embodies the ideas of mischief and fun, and has more creative energy than almost anyone I've ever met. We talk about how he got started in illustration, as well as impostor syndrome, how he fits his art into his busy schedule, and how he interacts with kids, both to fuel his own work and to encourage theirs. (Dave is basically a big kid himself, which helps!)

Visit fycuriosity.com for full show notes and links for this episode, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

Being "Good Enough" with Lela Rohrer Stech

Lela Rohrer Stech is an artist based in New York. Lela’s work is playful and fun, and so is she. (You’ll hear us talk about one painting I could see in the background, from a distance, and I’ve included a photo of that painting in the show notes at fycuriosity.com so you can see it, too.) In addition to her art, we talk about what she learned from living abroad, and how everything we learn somehow manages to come together in a useful way over time.

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

Going Home Again with Adam Dietz

Adam Dietz grew up in small-town Pennsylvania, went to Westminster Choir College in New Jersey, and then moved to New York to seek his fortune on the Broadway stage. Things didn't go quite the way he'd planned. Adam and I talk about what it's like to audition in New York, how to survive even without your creative dream coming true—and the effects of making that sacrifice—and how you actually can come home again and find work that fulfills your dream, even if home is a rural area rather than the big city.

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

Transcending Creative Boundaries with Nina Hart

Nina Hart is a writer, dancer, stand-up comedian, and improv artist who is also a fellow Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coach. Her first collection of surreal short fictions called Somewhere in a Town You Never Knew Existed Somewhere was selected as a Short Stories (Adult Fiction) category finalist in Foreword Reviews' 2014 IndieFab Book of the Year Awards. Nina was also an original member of the experimental dance troupe Contraband, in San Francisco and, playing a purple electric bass, has recorded and performed with numerous bands. 

Nina joined me to talk about everything from stage fright and vulnerability to how we teach vs. how we should teach to the inner critic and just what "good" means, if anything. (Spoiler: We're not convinced it means much!) Like my interview with Dawn Kotzer, there's a lot to take in here.

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

The Soul of Creativity with Dawn Kotzer

Creativity and curiosity are bigger than just the arts. They're bigger than hobbies. They're vital parts of life, and the quality of our existence. Dawn Kotzer understands how creativity links into the realities of life better than almost anyone I know. She's a coach with multiple backgrounds, including Kaizen-Muse (like me) and Martha Beck. She's also an incredibly wise soul who always seems to have the right insight for the present moment.

This is a deep conversation, and I hope you'll feel free to digest it in small chunks, if necessary.

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

Modeling Disease Outbreaks with Robert Smith?

We think of creativity as something associated with the arts—dance, music, poetry, etc. That's why I wanted to talk to Robert Smith?, a mathematician who creates models that help improve disease control. He gained some fame a few years back for modeling zombie outbreaks—and that work has proven useful in the real world. Robert has also written several books about Doctor Who. If you're skeptical about math as a creative pursuit, or a math agnostic/atheist yourself (I hear you!), I promise you'll see things differently once you listen to this interview.

(Note: In October 2020, Robert transitioned and is now known as Stacey Smith? Because of the quantity of material predating the transition, Stacey has chosen to credit Robert for items before October 2020.)

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com., and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!