What Would Mozart Do?

Today I am talking to Alexander Simpson and Helen Daniels who are both classical singers and presenters on the podcast “Where’s My Freaking Dressing Room?!” In our chat we talk about a variety of topics regarding the impact that the pandemic has had on young singers and how a shift in time management has revolutionised the way in which Alexander and Helen approach their work.
British countertenor Alexander Simpson is a versatile young singer who enjoys performing a wide range of repertoire and styles.

Recent operatic roles include Nireno Giulio Cesare (English Touring Opera), Cowslip Fairy Queen (Waterperry Opera Festival), Athamas Semele (Royal Academy of Music), Arsace Partenope (Iford Arts Festival), Arcane Teseo (London Handel Festival) and Refugee Flight (Royal Academy Opera).

Alexander studied at the Royal Academy of Music where he was awarded a full scholarship and graduated with a DipRAM for an outstanding final recital. He later graduated from Royal Academy Opera where he studied with Michael Chance, Caitlin Hulcup and Anna Tilbrook.

In addition to his singing commitments, Alexander has trained to become a Life Coach. He firmly believes that the industry should be made more accessible for all musicians and has set up a new ‘holistic approach’ towards singing as a career. His aim is to encourage singers to understand themselves properly as individuals and then apply these discoveries to their career so that they are able to navigate a career that is successful and fulfilling rather than being tossed randomly from one job to another.

Together with his friend and colleague Helen Daniels, Alexander has co-created a podcast entitled ‘Where’s My Freaking Dressing Room?!’ which encourages classical musicians to chat honestly about previous experiences in order to create a community which is more supportive and connected.

Helen Daniels is a mezzo-soprano from Coventry, currently studying at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance with Sarah Pring where she is an Eva Malpass scholar. Under Trinity Laban’s tuition she has performed in the nationally renowned Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and taken part in online masterclasses with Barbara Hannigan, Gidon Saks, Christopher Underwood and Robert Alderson. She is looking forward to playing Rosina, Il barbiere di Siviglia; Nancy, Albert Herring and Ursule, Béatrice et Bénédict in the college’s opera scenes showcase later this year.

Alongside her studies Helen is a professional ensemble singer and has performed with many celebrated groups including Classical Opera, Philharmonia Voices, The Hanover Band, City Bach Collective and Sansara. In January 2020 Helen founded a chamber female vocal ensemble with harp, Levedy, who won the inaugural Trinity Laban Carne Trust Chamber Music Competition in October 2020.

Helen read academic music at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where she sang with Trinity College Choir under the direction of Stephen Layton. Solo performances include Haydn’s Nelson Mass, Bach’s St John Passion, Handel’s Messiah and Vivaldi's Gloria.

In summer 2020 Helen partnered with a close friend and colleague, Alexander Simpson, to record and produce a classical music podcast entitled ‘Where’s My Freaking Dressing Room?!’ The podcast encourages classical musicians to talk openly about their experiences of the industry in order to create a more supportive and interconnected musical community.

Instagram: @helendanielsmezzo

https://www.wheresmyfreakingdressingroom.com/

https://www.alexandersimpsonlifecoach.com/

Today I am talking to cellist Alana Chown. She has supplemented her career as professional cellist and music teacher by training as a speech pathologist. In our chat we talk about the similarities between the need for paying attention to detail both in music and speech pathology. Alana speaks enthusiastically about the joy of connecting with the world through music and speech, also highlights the importance to create a livelihood that would sustain you in the emergencies that life can bring across your path.
Alana Chown (cello): B.M (Ithaca College) and M.M (University of Michigan). Alana was previously a faculty member of the String Academy of Wisconsin at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. At the String Academy, she provided high-quality individual and group cello instruction, acted as a guest lecturer in cello pedagogy, directed the summer chamber music festival, and coordinated the Urban Students in the Arts Outreach Cello Program. As a freelance performer and teacher, Alana was the principal cellist of the Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra, an Artist-in-Residence at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Milwaukee, taught for multiple summers at Ithaca College's Summer Music Academy and maintained a thriving private teaching studio. Currently, Alana is performing as a substitute with Symphony New Hampshire and is a faculty member at the Concord Community Music School. In collaboration with pianist Elena Abend, Alana recorded and released her solo debut album Paper Moon in 2015 which can be found on Spotify and iTunes.

In conjunction with cello playing, Alana graduated from Marquette University in 2016 with a M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology. She currently works with preschool aged children in the Windham School District serving a diverse group of students in both individual and group settings.

Hear Alana play the cello here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmXWTjYz2r8

Today I am talking to flautist Angela McCuiston. In our chat Angela passionately shares her story of how a series of playing-related injuries have caused her to become a Fitness Trainer for Musicians.
Angela McCuiston is a NASM-CPT, CES, SFS and CETI-CES (Certified Personal Trainer and Corrective Exercise Specialist, Senior Fitness Specialist and Cancer Exercise Specialist) and owner of Music Strong, a business that specializes in personal fitness training for musicians.

Winner of the 2007 NFA Piccolo Master class, Angela received her Master of Music in Flute Performance from Florida State University and her Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance from Tennessee Technological University. An avid performer, Angela is Assistant Principal/Piccolo of Sinfonia Gulf Coast of Destin, Nashville Philharmonic, Columbus Symphony and Nashville Flute Choir. Joining the military soon after 9/11 she recently became a member of the 313th Army Band in Huntsville, AL, after completing a 16-year tenure in the 129th Army Band in Nashville, TN. In addition to her solo performances, she has performed with such celebrities as Kristen Chenowith, Pink Martini, Jamie Bernstein, Morgan James, Chris Mann, Nancy Griffith and Mary Wilson of the Supremes.

As a trainer, Angela maintains several training locations in Nashville and also travels to give her workshops and presentations, most notably presenting at the National Flute Association Conventions in Salt Lake City, UT; Las Vegas, NV, Washington, D.C. and Orlando, FL. Among her recent workshops, she has travelled to present at Arizona State University, Florida State University, Stephen F. Austin University, Ft. Lewis University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga among others.

Recently she was sought out by the Old Guard, Army Fife and Drum Corps as a special consultant to prevent playing related injuries. She has since taken up residence on the faculty of the Stetson University flute camp and has been sought out for numerous other positions including her recent appointment Fall of 2018 as Chair of the National Flute Association Performance Health Committee and adjunct flute professor at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, TN in August 2020.

In February 2019 she published her first book: The Musician’s Essential Exercises, with plans to branch out into instrument-specific volumes in the near future. During the pandemic of 2020 she recorded over 20 instrument specific workouts available for download.

When she is not performing or training, Angela can be found riding her Trek road bike as many hours as there are sunshine. She recently completed her 4th century ride (100+ miles) and has a goal to ride between 5-12 centuries and log 5,000 miles.

Angela is constantly on the search for new research and her studies include Aexander Technique, Barbara Conable’s “What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body” Body Mapping Class and Eva Amsler’s classes in Dynamic Integration in addition to live workshops with NASM, most recently traveling to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to complete coursework in Neurokinetic Therapy.

Angela's book
In print: https://musicstrong.com/meeprint/
eBook: https://musicstrong.com/ebook/
On Amazon: https://amzn.to/3vyZhsv
Other Activities
Instrument Specific workouts: https://musicstrong.com/services-instrument-specific-workouts/ (free short ones are on YouTube, these are longer and better done)
Covid Comeback Challenge: https://musicstrong.com/covid-comeback-challenge2/

Elle Luna is a designer, painter and writer, and the author of “The Crossroads of Should and Must.”

She facilitates a global art movement, #The100DayProject, where participants create and post something every day for 100 days.

She has played a key role in shaping some of the defining products and applications of our time, working as a designer at IDEO, Mailbox, Medium, and Uber.

After years as a designer, Elle faced her own crossroads. In a powerful Medium post that went viral, Elle described the realisation that despite her professional success, all she really loved to do was paint. Step by step, while continuing to work full time as a designer, she walked her path toward becoming an artist until she could leave the corporate world behind in pursuit of her MUST.

In her first book, “The Crossroads of Should and Must” (Workman Publishing, 2015), Elle explains “There are two paths in life: should and must. We arrive at this crossroads over and over again. And every day, we get to choose.”

Recently, in early 2018, Elle released her second book, co-authored with Susie Herrick, “Your Story Is Your Power: Free Your Feminine Voice“. A potently instructive toolkit on self-examination, it lays out how properly defining and understanding our own lives can help form better futures.

Elle currently resides in Sausalito, California and online at instagram.com/elleluna
#thecrossroadsbetweenshouldandmust
#yourstoryisyourpower

Bobby Huebner is the managing director of “The Accomplished Traveler,” a lifestyle travel concierge company. Our paths first crossed when we were studying at the University of Michigan and today we caught up after many years. In our chat we talk about what Bobby did to create a life he loves and how his background in music influences his work in the leisure travel industry.
https://accomplishedtraveler.com/