Q & A with Dr. B.J. Brooks, Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition at West Texas A&M University

Q: When did you decide to make music your career?

A: Around 8th grade. I began to imagine that I would probably someday be a band director. In high school, I imagined that I might want to be a professor too.

Q: What/Who has had the most significant impact on your work?

A: My piano teacher for helping me learn to compose and my High School band director for learning how to write better.

Q: What is it like to be a composer in 2012?

A: Well, no one really needs composers and composing is easier in 2012 than ever before, so there is tons of competition. I feel fortunate to be able to write music that I would want to hear and that other people seem to share that sentiment.

Q: One of your compositions, “El Simbolo Zia” premiered at the 2012 NMMEA All-State Convention. Can you tell us a bit about the commissioning process, the premier and your inspiration for this piece?

A: All of my compositions in the last five years has been the result of commissioning. Before I write a note I like to think and meditate about the commissioner and the performers and feel what the performance will be like. I can often see the performance in my mind before I can hear it. For El Simbolo Zia I used the Zia icon, a red circle with four lines on the top, bottom, left and right and its symbolism, four directions, four seasons, four parts of the day and the four ages of life to unify the piece in a significant and meaningful way. The piece is in four distinct sections, each representing a part of the Zia symbol.

Below is a video of the Eastern New Mexico University 2012 Alumni Band performing "El Simbolo Zia" with Dr. Brooks conducting: 

Q: What do you want the audience to experience through your music?

A: I want the audience to feel something. I can't expect them to feel what I do, but I feel successful if they simply feel something, either for good or bad. I appreciate solid responses, rather than lukewarm. So a "I really HATED that" means more to me that a "I guess that was nice, I really didn't notice."

Q: What are your expectations of a conductor who programs your work?

A: When I give a piece away, its like I give it up for adoption. The conductor is the new transformative person who raises the work and sets it loose. 

Q: What are your expectations of a performer who plays your music?

A: Depending on if the work has a conductor, their role may be similar to the conductor's. They bring the work from the page in to sound.

Q: From your perspective, has social media had any impact on contemporary classical music? If so, what?

A: Perhaps. Social media and the democratization of music distribution through sources such as iTunes have allowed for composers to play to vast niche markets that could have never happened in the past.

Q: Do you feel that music programs are adequately preparing student musicians to appreciate, program, interpret, and perform new music? Why or why not?

A: I am more concerned that music programs may not be preparing student musicians to appreciate music itself. Society is driven to distraction. Without knowledge of musical expectations in music that is not designed to appeal to a mass audience many nascent listeners often become "bored" or "confused" by a musical line or "lost" in the form of an obtuse work. It tends to be the case that people don't know what they like, they like what they know. More exposure and musical exploration can yield listeners more attune to variety in their listening.

Q: What projects are you working on at the moment?

A: I am currently working on a piano piece for eight hands, a solo saxophone piece, an organ piece and a concerto for flute and wind ensemble.

Q: List any upcoming projects, performances, etc.

A; October 28, "The Mark of Zorro" Silent Film
November 3, "Starry Messenger" for the Amarillo Master Chorale.
December - "Joy to the World" Orchestra & Choir at WTAMU.

The following questions were posed by 7th Grade junior high school students in Tennessee: 

Q: How much work do you put into composing?

A: About 1/3 of my job as a Professor at a university involves composition.

Q: How long does it usually take to write a symphonic piece?

A: My usual answer is "All of my life". It takes everything I've ever known to complete a piece and I'm always learning new things, so I feel I can work better everyday. Other than that, about 1 hour for 30 seconds of music. A symphonic work of 10 minutes in length can take a few weeks.

The video below is a performance of "Cadence" by Dr. Brooks performed by the WTAMU Symphonic Band at the 2012 TMEA Convention.

Q: What kind of music do you compose?

A: I compose music that I would like to hear. Sometimes that might be music you would want to hear, sometimes not. There is quite a bit of variety in music and I like to vary my style too.

Q: What made you start composing?

A: I started composing because there was music I wanted to hear that I did not have, and hadn't heard before. So I sat at the piano and came up with music that I enjoyed.

Q: How old do you have to be to become a composer?

A: You can start composing at any age.

Q: What's your favorite subject / topic to write about?

A: I like to write about topics that people know well but that I can interpret musically my way.

Q: Do you write strictly from emotions or is there something else involved in your writing process?

A: I always write based on what I feel. But I have done a lot of studying about music, so my instincts are easy to represent musically. I also incorporate precompositional strategies, like brainstorming and outlining, so that I can be consistent in my writing.

Q: How long have you been composing?

A: 25 years.

Q: How long does it take to compose for a whole CD?

A: All my life.

A CD is about 70 minutes. My last piece was an orchestral work that was about 90 minutes long. I wrote the 98,000 notes in about a month.

Q: How stressful is it to compose music?

A: I don't get stressed because I know my workflow and my limitations. I don't make promises I can't keep. I say what I'm going to do and then do it.

The following questions were posed by 8th grade junior high school students in Tennessee: 

Q: When were you first interested in music?

A: When I was young my grandmother taught me how to play the piano because she noticed I was interested. I was about five then.

Q: How old were you when you composed your first piece?

A: I wrote my first piano piece, Musikalisch Schӧnin, in 1988 when I was in seventh grade.

Q: Did you grow up in a musical environment?

A: My mother was in band and my father played fiddle. One of my uncles runs a recording studio and the other writes country music in Nashville.

Q: What do you do when you're not working on music?

A: I spend time with my family and I like to build things with wood and make machines out of Legos.

Q: Were any of your family members composers?

A: The uncle I mentioned earlier writes music for country singers in Nashville. If you are a country music buff, you may have heard his music before.

Q: Do you ever have times when you can't think of what to write?

A: No, but I always think I could write better.

Q: What inspires you?

A: Thinking.

Q: How old are you?

A: 37.

Q: Do you like to compose?

A: Yes. I find it to be very rewarding.

Q: Did you ever have doubts about your career?

A: No. I've always quite enjoyed every job that I have had, but then again I tend to be quite optimistic about things.

Artist Biography: 

Dr. BJ Brooks was born in Portales, New Mexico in 1975. He was guided in his early piano compositions by his piano teacher Cheryl Pachak-Brooks and was later instructed in large ensemble techniques by band director and arranger Pat Henry. He spent 5 years in DCI as a member of the Troopers Drum & Bugle corps as well as an age-out member and tour director of the Blue knights Drum & Bugle corps of Denver, CO.

BJ holds a bachelor's degree from Eastern New Mexico University, a master's degree from West Texas A&M University, and doctorate from Texas Tech University. He was instructed in composition by Dr. Jon Jonsson, Dr. Stephen Duncan, Dr. Norman Nelson and Dr. Peter Fischer.

BJ has composed numerous works for ensembles, solo performers and the electro-acoustic medium. His works are played by a wide range of performers, from universities to beginning ensembles around the world. In 2011 his “Cadence-Fantasy on Rhythms of Nick Angelis” was selected to be performed by the Croatian Army Symphonic Wind Orchestra at the International Society for Contemporary Music in Zagreb, Croatia. His music has been honored with numerous awards, has been included as educational material at the University of North Texas Conductor’s Collegium, is included in the acclaimed book series Teaching Music Through Performance in Band, is found on several repertoire lists including Texas’ PML, and has been featured at numerous conventions such as TMEA, TBA, United States Army Band Tuba-Euphonium Conference, and the Midwest Clinic. BJ is an active clinician and adjudicator with concert ensembles and marching bands across the Southwest.

Dr. Brooks is Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas. There he resides with his wife, Melanie, two children, Meghan and Tobin and a dog, Grainger.

For further information on Dr. Brooks and his work, please visit:

http://www.octatone.com/