“What I keep grabbing from being a leader is the exact opposite of what I thought it was gonna be. I thought it was gonna be ‘I need to grab the reigns’ when, quite frankly, it’s ‘what are you feeling?’ and ‘what can I do for you?’”

Lead trumpet of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and jazz cat since the 5th grade, Nick Marchione has always had his sights on being a musician. From 6am wake-up calls of his dad playing Mahler 5 trumpet excerpts to his mom playing concerts on piano with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Nick grew up surrounded by music.

By the age of 12, Nick knew he wanted to be a jazz cat in the Big Apple. He found his love for jazz thanks to Thad Jones & Mel Lewis records, and now, he’s playing lead trumpet in the very band his idols created. The journey to get there ranged from playing in the Disney Youth Orchestra to touring with Prince, with lots of lessons learned along the way about leadership and “folding”. Every step of the way, he’s been bringing people together.

“Playing lead trumpet, you’re in a leadership position… it’s such an awesome responsibility.

Keep up with Nick Marchione on Instagram @nickmarchionetrumpet and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra @vanguardjazz and https://www.vanguardjazzorchestra.com. 

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“Really, anything is possible. The world has exploded, and we’re still here.”

In this solo episode, Karen paves the way from conundrum to clarity, reflecting on the route she takes to get unstuck, trust her gut, and take the first step into “doing the thing”. With a goal-oriented framework, visualization process, and gratitude practice, you’ll be surprised at what you’re capable of.

What is your goal? What’s stopping you from going after it? What is it going to take to accomplish it? What would life look like after following through with your goal? After asking yourself these questions, next comes the daunting part: “What’s my first step?”

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“At the end of the day, what’s really important to us is connecting with people in a unique way, and putting music out there in a way that hasn’t necessarily been done before.”

In this episode, Rebecca Steinberg, Kate Umble Smucker, Erin Paul, Sara Mayo, and Jenn Hinkle of Calliope Brass join Karen Cubides to talk about their process of innovating music performance and education, and how their creativity led to an additional member of the quintet – Calliope the puppet. With genuine passions for music performance and education, Calliope Brass paved a path of educational entertainment through the “What’s Your Story?” program, combining kids’ stories with modular scores through the character of Calliope.

With Calliope Brass, performances are exciting experiences. You’ll be amazed at how the quintet came to be and how their work together innovates music performance and engages audiences, even with Covid-19 complications. 

Keep up with Calliope Brass at calliopebrass.org, Calliope Brass on Facebook, and @calliopebrass on Instagram and on Twitter.

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Inspired by musicians, entrepreneurs, and other professionals pivoting in the pandemic, Karen flies solo for this week’s episode reflecting on important tips for first-year business owners. She explores a few broader concepts and follows up each of them with practical and specific examples in her own life. Tackling the M word -- money -- she examines the way it moves, the relationships we have with it, and the correlation that often occurs between the two. Furthering the umbrella topic of clarity, Karen also reflects on the quality of her business and the work that comes out of it. Beyond portfolios, emotional intelligence, and experience, she’s found over the years that having clear job descriptions is critical for both one’s organization and oneself as a professional -- especially when it comes time to outsource.

What are the rules and requirements for a division of your company? How clear is your message? What’s your vision? How can you increase your awareness of the financial flow in your foundation? How do you actually delegate? Tune in wherever you listen to podcasts to learn all of this and more.

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This week, Karen sits down with her longtime friend, Technical Sergeant Darren Workman -- foodie, trombonist, teacher, and member of the U.S. Air Force Band’s Ceremonial Brass. In this uplifting interview, Darren takes us through his time as a college professor before his military service, explores his reasons for getting back into the audition circuit, and shares some of the profound and meaningful facets of his work. As a self-described Type A individual, Darren loves the process and getting after it in his practice. Darren unpacks some of his practice strategies, audition mentalities and experiences, and even his journey alternating between tenor and bass trombones. 

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Human disco ball, NYC freelancer, Calliope Brass Artistic Director, and Trombona Lisa artist Jen Hinkle joins Karen Cubides for an incredible conversation filled with wit, wisdom, and whimsy. Jen unpacks her journey as a younger trombonist who, after treating a hereditary hearing condition, suddenly heard the musical world in living color and was captivated by low timbres. Jen traces every musical opportunity she’s had -- including her classical career in the northwest, her life on and off Broadway in New York, and Calliope Brass -- back to a set with the Stardusters Jazz Orchestra in Indiana. “Believing you are capable of winning a job is really a huge part of actually winning the job. It’s self-fulfilling -- you’re gonna play the way you feel.”

To learn more about the audacity of asking for what you want, creating niches for yourself as a freelancer, debunking the mythos of the genius, cultivating a skill tree, or about bean burritos and the brain’s reward system, tune in wherever you listen to podcasts and settle in. 

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“Am I going to be able to learn in public, and am I going to be okay with that?” 

Trombonist, Blair School of Music Faculty, and dog dad Nick Laufer takes the wheel to interview KCA’s Karen Cubides for this exciting episode, celebrating seven years of KCA, three iterations of the company, eighty episodes of the Musician’s Guide Podcast, Karen’s upcoming birthday, and Aldo and Reina’s fourth birthday. Nick and Karen break open the challenges of creating and maintaining podcasts, such as performance anxiety in interviewing, balancing quality control against controlling everything, and elevating the podcast and the brand alike as she continues to bring exciting new professionals onto the show. Karen gets real about the unique pressure of feeling like a beginner when she started her podcast while also being a professional with clout. 

Karen also digs deep with some of the lessons she’s learned along the way and in the current climates of the pandemic and of the social justice movement. She talks about what it’s like to pivot and to bring artists of all walks of life onto the show, talking about their experiences with mental health, inequity in the arts and in arts education, women’s rights, and more. 

In light of this, she discusses some of the plans for making the Musician’s Guide Podcast an even greater guide for artists who are in need of direction in today’s ever-changing world. 

How can I better elevate those around me? Who am I associating with? How can I better grow as a person to handle the next season of my professional life? Do I have to sacrifice my own well-being to meet a deadline in my career? What does it mean to show up for others -- or myself?

If these kinds of questions are on your mind, then this episode is for you. 

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In this episode, the McCains sit down with podcast host Karen Cubides and talk about their upcoming projects, teaching innovations in the age of social distancing, performing in a pandemic, and their perspectives on the revitalized racial equality movement. As educators who have also attended some of the top music institutions in the nation, they both share their experiences as Black musicians in music school and as applied faculty members. Through this lens, they dive deeper into what inclusive and diverse programming looks like, what it’s like facing the barriers into performing and teaching careers as Black musicians, and what daily and active allyship is. You don’t want to miss this.

Keep up with what the McCain Duo is up to at mccainduo.com, The McCain Duo on Facebook, and @mccainduo on Instagram and on Twitter.

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In this episode, host Karen Cubides invites Sam Lane, the Director of Sales and Marketing at S.E. Shires Co., onto the show to talk about her experiences as a musician, entrepreneur, and marketing expert for one of the top brass instrument manufacturers in the world, the S.E. Shires Company. Sam brings her myriad experiences as a professional musician and businesswoman to her roles at Shires, leading the marketing campaigns, collecting data from performers and customers around the world, and fitting musicians to custom trumpets, trombones, and euphoniums in-house. She hints at some of the exciting research and development happening in the workshop, what it’s like to work with some of the music industry’s leading artists, navigating her shift in professional identities, how being a mother made her even better at her job, adapting to the market in a pandemic, and the incredible pivot that Shires made from bankruptcy to being the leader in the market. 

Tune in wherever you listen to podcasts to learn more about Sam, the amazing team at Shires, and the exciting work they’re up to. https://www.seshires.com/

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