Brave Musician

In this episode, Monica chats with musician, actor, director, writer, songwriter, and UBU Project founder, David Simmons. David openly shares his path, including the struggles and tragedies, and shares how he arrived at a place of hope, resilience, and self-compassion, which he utilizes in everything he does. We discuss influences, songwriting process, teaching and arts integration, and visual art...

In this Season 3 opening episode, Monica and Marina talk the season 3 theme of Bravely Forging a Path. We believe that the process of forging your own path path is a living, breathing thing. It involves creating and reacting to a series of moments that make up your cumulative journey, which we sometimes only notice when we look back. We share our own stories and give you a preview into the element...

Monica and Marina talk about their milestones, lessons learned, and powerful moments of 2019.

In the wrap up episode of Season 2, Monica and Marina discuss the insights and lessons from this season. Some of the common themes across the episodes included moving forward with faith, building expertise through curiosity, and setting intentions through energy. As always, we are so thankful for our guests, listeners, and everyone who has supported this season. We are always happy to hear feedbac...

In this episode, Monica explores how to "Keep Going" and dives into some of the ideas you can utilize when you feel like giving up, revisits some of the advice given by the guests this season, and shares some personal experiences.  _____________ To support our mission, please consider joining our Patreon page - Patreon.com/BraveMusician . _____________ See the show notes at BraveMusician.com/podca...

In today's episode, Monica sits down with the incredible musician and jazz trumpeter, Alex Sipiagin. He shares tons of Brave stories including how he started playing trumpet by accident, what it was like learning jazz in Russia, and the first time he came to Washington DC after being a finalist in a competition without speaking any English, how he returned to the US and decided to stay and began t...

Today, Marina talks with Sharon Burch, an educator and author who advocates for beginning music at any age. We discuss why music is so crucial to brain development and how we can break down the core elements to make it easy to learn. Sharon also advocates for intentionally infusing music into our daily lives, just like we need daily nutrition and exercise. _____________   To support our mission, p...

In this episode, Monica sits down with saxophonist, composer, and educator Tia Fuller. They discuss the inspiration for her latest album, Diamond Cut, and the story behind the development of both the album and the tour. Tia also talks about how she got started in music, her first gig experiences after moving to NYC, how she grew while playing with Beyonce', and her current job teaching at Berklee....

In part 2 of this episode, Monica continues her conversation with Drew Tucker - vibraphonist, educator, percussion director, composer, touring musician, cofounder of MalletLab, husband and father. They talk about building a plan and Drew shares how to enroll parents in the process. They talk about how important help is and how we all need it and get it. In addition, Drew shares what learned about...

In part 1 of this episode, Monica sits down with Drew Tucker - vibraphonist, educator, percussion director, composer, touring musician, cofounder of MalletLab, husband and father. They discuss how he started in music, hustled his first gigs, and shares the story of the first time he sat in on vibes when he was 15. They talk about being honest and being yourself in music making, some of the pathway...

Monica digs into the world of DJing and break dancing with DJ and b-boy Nathaniel Hawkins, aka DeeJay Panic. They talk about how he got into playing music, how he gave it up when he found breaking and how that led him to wanting to be a DJ. They talk about diggin' in the crates for samples, hip hop culture and community, analog vs digital, and he shares his advice for anyone interested in DJing. T...

In this episode, Monica has a fantastic and energetic conversation with musician and creator Mario Yniguez, where they talk about everything from questions that surface during an existential crisis to creativity, being original, and the power of teaching music. Mario is a vocalist, guitarist, conductor, director, voice teacher, arranger, songwriter and a member of the band Harrison Fjord. He share...

In this episode Monica digs into some of the struggles and rewards of learning to play music as an adult and reiterate that it's truly, never too late. She offers insights and solutions to help adults navigate struggles in the areas of Time and Energy, Motivation, Ability to Learn, and Physical struggles. _____________ To support our mission, please consider joining our Patreon page - Patreon.com/...

In this episode, Monica sits down with three Brave musicians from Phoenix, AZ who all have followed their own path when it comes to keeping music in their life as they pursue other goals. Guests include baritone saxophonist, Brian Lapham who works in costume design, Mandy Snowden who is an attorney and plays classical bassoon and flute, and Adam Snowden is elementary and middle school music teache...

In this episode, Monica sits down with World Maestro, Colin O'Donohoe to discuss his Brave beginnings with music, his dad's influence on his early music development, how curiosity and wonder keeps him going, and some of the challenges he's faced along the way. He also shares the process of finding musicians from around the world to form the Pangean Orchestra and Colin's current fundraising campaig...

One of the most special things that musicians of all skill levels (pros and hobbyists alike) have in common is that we all a story of how we fell in love with music - whether it's the first time picking up an instrument, or returning to it after years. In the first episode of season 2, Marina and Monica talk about their Brave Beginnings - how they got started in music, why they chose the instrumen...

Thank you for listening to the Brave Musician podcast and making the first season a big success! We are working hard to bring you season two with stories from incredible people around the world.  In the meantime we want to invite you to join our community of Brave Musicians and supporters over at Patreon ( Patreon.com/bravemusician ). Patreon is a platform where you can help support projects on an...

In this episode, Monica reflects on the process of this season's podcast. She shares what she learned, what she is grateful for, some of the struggles she encountered, and the people who helped along the way. Huge thanks to everyone who helped make the first season a success!! _____________ See the show notes at  BraveMusician.com/podcast . _____________ To support our mission, please subscribe, r...

In this two-part episode, Monica and Marina explore the idea of story, including the purpose of stories, what we can use in them to express or share, and why we often struggle with telling our stories, especially as musicians. They explore their own individual stories - Monica as a professional musician and Marina as a hobbyist - the writing process and experience they created when working on bios...

In this two-part episode, Monica and Marina explore the idea of story, including the purpose of stories, what we can use in them to express or share, and why we often struggle with telling our stories, especially as musicians. They explore their own individual stories - Monica as a professional musician and Marina as a hobbyist - the writing process and experience they created when working on bios...

In this episode, Monica sits down with saxophonist and entrepreneur Jeff Antoniuk (Washington, DC) to discuss growth, process, and sharing. He tells how his 17-year old self made the fateful decision to take a year to get "jazz out of his system" instead of heading straight to school to be a physicist, how he uses that feeling you get when around really great players as inspiration and overcomes s...

In this episode, Monica sits down with trumpet and vocal entertainer, Chuck Curry to discuss his journey from music educator to guest entertainer on cruise ships, how he learned to sing, getting out of his comfort zone and highlighting some brave moments from throughout his career. He shares what it's like living in Thailand, his latest album project and his traveling all around the globe. As a bo...

In this episode, Monica discusses being ready and what we really mean when we say "I'll do it when I'm ready." She explores the concepts of being enough, dealing with other people's reactions, and perfectionism. She offers some concrete ways to do Brave things, even when you don't feel ready to do them and discusses preparation, managing expectations, possible creativity scars, and finding your "p...

In this episode, Monica sits down with her dear friend, mentor and band mate, Stan Smith (guitarist, composer, and educator from Columbus, OH) and discusses nurturing the soul, different kinds of fears, the composition process and the vulnerability of composing and sharing those compositions, and how he teaches his students to be Brave. He shares "H.U.R.T": an acronym for his requirements for any...

In this episode, Monica sits down with saxophonist and composer Rahsaan Barber to discuss musical identity, accepting that music is an emotional thing, and how he racked up brave moments in a special behind-the-scenes look at his headline performance at the 2019 Jazz Education Network Conference in January. _____________ See the show notes at  BraveMusician.com/podcast . _____________ To support o...