Principal Trumpet Player Master Sergeant Amy McCabe of Bonfield, Ill., joined “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in July 2006. She was appointed to her current role as principal in 2022.

Master Sgt. McCabe began her musical instruction on piano at age 6 and trumpet at age 10. After graduating in 1997 from Herscher High School in Herscher, Ill., she earned her bachelor’s degree in music and elementary education from Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington in 2001. She earned her master’s degree in trumpet performance in 2006 from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. Her instructors included Charles Geyer and Barbara Butler of Northwestern University, and Steve Eggleston and Judith Saxon of Illinois Wesleyan University.

Prior to joining “The President’s Own,” Master Sgt. McCabe was a featured soloist in the Tony and Emmy award winning show Blast!, and a member of MusiCorps, a music education and advocacy program designed to promote music awareness, appreciation, and training in the Chicago Public Schools. She performed with the Chicago Civic Orchestra, the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra in Charleston, S.C., and the Walt Disney World All-Star Collegiate Jazz Band and Christmas Brass in Orlando, Fla. She also received the Roger Voisin Trumpet Award while a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Mass. 

Master Sgt. McCabe performs with the Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra at the White House, in the Washington, D.C., area, and across the country during the band’s annual concert tour. She was featured as cornet soloist in William Bolcom’s First Symphony for Band on the Marine Band’s 2011 educational recording “Flourishes and Meditations on a Renaissance Theme.” In addition, she was a featured soloist on the Marine Band’s 2016 and 2018 national concert tours.