This is a series of conversations to explore how other artists and creatives are spending their time and energy during the quarantine. In today's episode: Natalie Forteza.
(original picture by Natalie Forteza)
» Tell us a little bit about yourself:
I’m a singer/songwriter from NY’s Hudson Valley area, about an hour and a half north of the city. I've been co-writing & playing with my dear friends & band mates Anthony Candullo (bass) & Akie Bermiss (keys/vocals) for about 9 years.
» How did the quarantine affect your work?
Typically Anthony, Akie & I schedule a time to meet up, usually in Anthony’s kitchen primarily to drink coffee aaaand ultimately music comes of it lol, just depends what I have written in my notebook to tackle: developing a raw, new idea, arrange or re-arrange a song we’ve been working on, record a demo, or rehearse for an upcoming gig. The last time we were in the same room together it was early March, just before the shutdown. We met at my house, we were experimenting with recording some acoustic piano for a new song. By the end of our meet, we had mics set up, Akie did some rough takes, we were going to leave everything set up to record the real takes the following week. But the following week never came, stay at home orders came and like everyone else in the world, everything came to a halt.
It’s always hard for me to pump the brakes on a project - I’m just so pumped to work, work out ideas, arrange, record, whatever! And of course, release new music - so it takes me a minute to adjust to a new plan. But in this case, it was much easier to break because it was due to public health, my health, my friends’ health, family health, my neighbors’ health, and so on. So, no recording, no arranging, and very sadly, no coffee together!
I also had/have a part-time retail job that was furloughed for 2 months. Needless to say, I’d have 2 whole months’ worth of precious free time.
» Did you have any big plans for 2020 that you had to cancel or postpone it? What was the impact?
I had hoped to release an EP this year or at the very least a single or two, but I’m pushing everything back to 2021. Live performances were of course canceled, and it’s really opened ended as to when we’ll perform together, collectively we decided it’s better to play the long-game by being cautious, and hold off playing until we all feel comfortable to do so together — which is so weird to say and adjust to, but honestly eliminating that focus (which requires of a lot of admin & time), made a ton of room for the other areas of music like writing, production and learning (or re-learning) an instrument, even just organizing like cleaning out my computer and Dropbox! The biggest impact of it was the test of being adaptable and resourceful of newfound time.
» Since quarantine started, did you start any new projects, pick up any new hobbies, develop new abilities, etc?
I often feel that time is my most precious currency, it’s always hard to find time for everything, and there’s never enough time to really dive into things. So I had time. So I dove into as much as I possibly could while keeping a healthy balance:
I tried to read a little every day, even if it was a half-hour.
I joined a series of songwriter community classes on some weekends (which I couldn’t previously do due to working weekends), which ultimately led me to take a 4-week block-busting songwriting workshop called “Thinking Outside the Blocks” coached & directed by Allie Moss & Bess Rogers. I highly recommend this workshop! It was so healthy and useful for me immediately! I learned so much, and much about myself too.
I love the production part of recording, and while I know some basic stuff, I’ve wanted to learn more (or just can’t get enough of it!). So I spent some time diving into editing & EQ’ing (thanks to the help of the TOTB comm. classes) getting to know Logic a little better, (the program I use) for when we continue to record.
I feel like I’ve been trying to learn an instrument for a hundred years! lol. I started guitar 2 years or so ago, but inconsistently, and I have a lovely upright acoustic piano at home that my mother gave me I’ve little by little have been chipping away at learning. I admit I’m not great at committing to things on a weekly basis, but I loosely tried to learn a song a week either on guitar or piano.
Which I tied together with doing live IGTV performances of the songs I learned. The live media thing is still something I’m very awkward at lol, so I forced myself to get more comfortable with it and it also made me accountable to prepare something for the following week—but the only real law that I laid down for myself was that good, bad or ugly I HAD to perform it live! Learning to be comfortable with making mistakes is an important part of being an artist (and student), something I have a hard time with.
My husband & I make homemade wine, so we were able to spend some time caring for our homemade wine and researching and daydreaming about being on a European vineyard lol. Whilst drinking the wine of course!
» If so, is there anywhere online we can see what you've been up to?
Facebook and Instagram are primarily where I post. My IGTV is where I posted the videos of songs I (roughly lol) learned on piano or guitar over quarantine.
» Any advice for people who are losing their minds and looking for new things to do/try?
This is a tough one — we are all so different and need different things that it’s hard to say but here’s what’s often in my head… “Know thyself”… a useful quote. It’s important to know certain things about yourself, what your triggers are—what can make you negative, what stresses you out, what makes you depressed, what makes you happy, what balances you out, what gets you out of a haze or out of depression, etc. And what are the answers to those questions (sometimes it’s not easy to pinpoint), but knowing them can help you or hurt you—“the news makes me depressed,” “I feel better, I feel happy when I help others,” “I feel balanced when I ate healthy and exercise,” and so on. Self-awareness I think is the first step to learning our pitfalls, and learning to avoid them, grow from them, and maybe change the things that trip us up.
Be flexible. And be patient (with yourself)—adapting even in the smallest of ways I think can be so healthy to ourselves and others around us. Patience goes hand-in-hand with flexibility I think, nothing’s overnight, but it gives us the endurance to keep trying.
What have you always wanted to do/try?! DO IT! Paint, read, cook, write, start a business, start a podcast, hand write letters, make your own clothes, volunteer, it’s endless. Even if you’re bad at it at least you gave it a try! Lol. We all have something waiting to come out of us, if you’re not sure what it is, spend time to discover it.
» Any tips on music to listen, books to read, film/tv shows to watch, anything like that?
Flix - I fell in love and binge-watched The Last Kingdom on Netflix lol! And being a foodie & someone who loves to travel, I've really enjoyed getting into Chef’s Table.
Books - I looooooved reading Willie Nelson’s book, “It’s a Long Story!” It was hard to put down at times! I’m a huge James Bond fan (and was really bummed the newest movie release had to be postponed!), so I’ve been reading the series of books written by Ian Fleming. I’m on book 5 of 14. And I always have a songwriting book around too to dip into.
Music - I listened to a TON of classical music at the beginning of the shutdown. Mostly to keep thoughts and tension down, and always great for concentration. Nils Fram & Max Richter among my favorites to keep things on the level. RY X I’ve been overplaying at this point (if there’s such a thing) lol. And I returned to a childhood favorite, João Gilberto—there’s magic in his voice, it always brings me back to the center.
» What are the best channels/social media for people to be following you?