Wrapping up this three-part series with Karen Cubides was so fun! Karen is the host of The Musician's Guide podcast, as well as the Fempire to Inspire podcast. With a background in classical saxophone and orchestra admin, Karen set off to found her own marketing agency in Nashville-- the Karen Cubides Agency. Karen works with musicians of all stripes on building a rewarding career that is unique to them through coaching, photography, social media, web design, and videography.  In this episode: Why Karen loves podcasting (she has TWO new shows coming soon!) The role podcasting plays in he ..read more

In part two of our three-part series on musicians who podcast, I had the pleasure of chatting with Jason Heath-- host of the Contrabass Conversations podcast. Jason started his podcast way back in 2007 (!!) and has continued with it on and off ever since. The show is now close to reaching 3 million downloads!!! Jason's career has been very multi-faceted and is a textbook example of a modern portfolio career. From gigging all over the Chicago area, to blogging and podcasting, to teaching high school orchestra-- Jason has done it all!  In this episode: How podcasting has shaped Jason's car ..read more

This month, we are doing a 3-part series featuring musicians who podcast! First up is the host of the Flute 360 podcast-- Heidi Kay Begay. Heidi started her podcast as part of her DMA project, and 3 years later it is going stronger than ever! Flute360 offers "a panoramic view of flute-related topics for the modern day musician." Heidi now has her own course called "The Podcasting Musician" which takes entrepreneurial podcasters from scratch to launch in only 5 weeks!   In this episode: Why podcasts are an important part of the entrepreneur's arsenal  The perks of being a podcas ..read more

In preparation for our June series with musicians who podcast, I'm bringing back the original trailer for the show. Listening back to the trailer has been a helpful reminder to me about why I started this podcast, how much growth it has experienced in the last 8 months, and how much growth I've experienced through producing the show! I am SO pleased to share our next lineup of guests! Stay tuned to hear from Heidi Kay Begay of the Flute 360 podcast, Karen Cubides of The Musician's Guide podcast, and Jason Heath of Contrabass Conversations.  LINKS Pod Perks! Unclassical listeners recieve 1 ..read more

Last installment of mental health awareness month! I wanted to ask New World flutist Leah Stevens to come on the show during mental health month because I have admired how transparent she is about her mental health struggles online. In addition to performing with the New World Symphony, she has served as principal flute with The Orchestra Now and substituted with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Quad Cities Symphony, South Bend Symphony, and the Lexington Philharmonic. Leah has also won First Prize in the Orchestral Audition and Masterclass and Second Prize in the Piccolo Orchestral Auditi ..read more

Continuing with Mental Health Awareness Month on the podcast... This week we have Rusty Holmes-- french horn player, teacher, and motivational speaker based in Austin, TX. In addition to being in the private teaching scene, Rusty plays in many orchestras in central Texas. During the pandemic, he developed his Musican's System for Success mental fitness lecture and has delivered it over 20 times.  Rusty is a huge advocate for journaling, gratitude, and challenging yourself! If you aren't motivated to get off your butt and do something awesome after listening to this episode...  In thi ..read more

Welcome back to mental health awareness month here on The Unclassical Musician! This one is a must-listen! This week, I sat down with my good friend and master of social work Amanda Deligiannis to talk about some mental health issues pertaining to musicians, and the music school experience.  Amanda started at DePaul as a music ed major, with french horn as her instrument. Over the course of our four years there she waffled between continuing with music ed and considering switching to regular education. She eventually finished her music ed degree. During her teaching career she became pass ..read more

Thank you to everyone who took the time to check in on me while I was sick! Many people have been asking questions about my experience with covid, so I wanted to do an episode about it. We are kicking off Mental Month with a solo episode that goes into detail on the negative mental side effects of testing positive for the enemy virus during a global pandemic.  In this episode: The whole story!  The physical symptoms The mental side effects  Stay tuned next week for a conversation with my friend Amanda Deligiannis-- music educator turned social worker-- all about the trauma tha ..read more

Better late than never!  I am so pleased to FINALLY bring you this conversation with flutist, educator, studio-building guru, and pedagogy nerd Katherine Emeneth. Based in Georgia, Katherine has taken her successful private flute studio and expanded her career into studio consulting, speaking on private studio development, and career coaching for recent music grads. She is basically the queen of teaching musicians new to the private teaching game all about how to succeed in the industry!  In this episode: How her background in music education has benefited Katherine's career as a pr ..read more

Katie Velasquez is another flutist with Texas connections! Originally from Austin, Katie is now the principal flutist of the Missouri Symphony, and the Artistic Director of the Virtual Flute Music Festival! Katie has a very impressive background in orchestra performance and has killed it in many national competitions. Perhaps one of her most impressive feats is starting her own VIRTUAL flute and piccolo festivals featuring top names in the flute world. The truly unique aspect of this festival is the strong focus on empowering the artist through courageous thinking and mindset training. I wante ..read more