Meet Bryan Morgan | Music Composer, Arranger, Educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bryan Morgan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bryan, what habits do you feel play an important role in your life?
I keep a daily routine that nourishes my body:

If I don’t have anything scheduled early in the day, I wake up in the morning usually around 8:07am. I set an alarm for a little later but my body usually wakes me up before because I’m hungry haha! I’m the first one up and I usually have a little quiet time for myself. I pray and read a little daily scripture and thank God for what I have been blessed with. I need that spiritual food. I do a bit of Duolingo French as well, either in the morning or in the evening. Speaking of food, I eat a good breakfast or I’ll eat something small like oatmeal and/or some fruit and then when my girlfriend gets up, I’ll cook us both a hearty breakfast. I take my daily vitamins. I’ll find sometime in the day to go to the gym and get a good sweat, even if it’s just for half an hour. I need to get my blood flowing.

Do something to advance my career:

In the profession that I’m in, I has to hustle. No one is going to tell me what to do and when to do it. I have to look for opportunities. It could be looking online for freelance job opportunities, working on my website, emailing people I have met to keep an active relationship, or writing some music. I have to do something to each day. Now, I’m not a robot and I will take some time for myself. That goes back to my first habit in self-care.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a music composer, arranger, and educator for concert and media. I have worked on numerous films, part of a TV special for New York University Sports Film Festival, dance performances, and some videos shorts. I also have written and arranged pieces for band, orchestra, chamber ensembles, and have done some voiceover work. I believe what sets me apart from others is my adaptivity and creativity. If the music I’m writing for a film is not fitting the narrative, I am able to approach the project in another musical way. That comes with communication with the filmmaker and seeing what is not working. I also enjoy experimenting with different combination of sounds. Whether I’m using textures and timbres from the orchestra infused with synthesizers or recording my own voice, processing it and manipulating it, I get a lot of fulfillment creating a sonic world that hasn’t been heard.

Getting to where I am today is not easy. It takes a lot of preparation, determination, patience, and resilience. You have to have some thick skin as rejections are part of the path. My parents raised my brothers and me to be gentlemen, hard workers, and contributors in society. I have been building my platform and my community brick by brick. Like I said before, I have so much support from others but nothing has been given to me. I am nowhere near where I want to be but I am thankful for my journey. The people I have met and the places I have visited have been unbelievable. I feel so blessed to have had these experiences.

Through my parents and life events I have learned many lessons. I had to learn how to prepare. I have to do things daily that put myself in a position to get opportunities and to be ready to perform when those opportunities do arise. I have to be proactive. I have to hustle to get my name out there. I have to do what I have to do even if I don’t feel like it. Just the other day, I had an opportunity to assist a composer during one of his recording sessions. I got a text early in the morning less than 2 hours before I had to be there. I jumped out of bed, got myself together and did the job. Now, it was optional for me. I could have said no and it would have been fine since it was super last minute anyway but I would have missed out on an opportunity on meeting some cool people. I would have missed out on building more community. And that’s me in a nutshell.

I love community. Meeting people is one my favorite activities in life. In this industry, I have to continue to get better and better at composing music. That’s my job, period. But also, I believe being a collaborative is key and it makes the job much more enjoyable and slightly easier in a way. In my experience, when I’ve developed a good rapport when a filmmaker/producer/director and they ask me to work on one of their films, as we start talking about the project, I may already have some intuitive thoughts on what type of music they want. I enjoy collaborating with others and being a part of something bigger than myself. It’s such a gift.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’ve been out to LA a handful of times but there are some places that I enjoyed and would love to go to again. These places and activities are in no particular order.

Go out to the Santa Monica Pier. The boardwalk area is full of shops and restaurants and vendors. They have roller coasters on the pier as well. I haven’t been on any of them but I do want to ride the ferris wheel next time I’m out west. Obviously if you’re a beach person, you should go out and enjoy the sand and ocean. When you want a bite to eat, I liked The Whaler and Del Frisco’s Grille.

Wake up and do one of the movie studio tours. I have done Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures, and Sony Pictures. All three have a bit of a different set up for tours but I enjoyed each of them. Whichever studio you visit, go in the morning. You’ll want to take your time and take it all in.

Go to Hollywood Blvd and check out all of the stars on the Walk of Fame. There are many shops and things along the street. I’m a Hard Rock Café t-shirt guy so when I first visited, I ran in and grabbed a shirt. Fun fact: I have a Hard Rock shirt from Edinburgh, Scotland and Munich, Germany!

Speaking of Hollywood, in WeHo I ate at a bar called Hi Tops. They have your standard bar food but I thought they’re burgers and fries were well-seasoned and delicious. If you’re a sports fan like me, catch the game on their many TV’s.

If you’re outdoorsy and want to get a workout, go for a hike! They have many trails on the mountains. I hiked a few, including one that gets you close to the Hollywood sign. Some nice photo ops! After one of my hikes with a friend, we got BBQ from Bludso’s, which is SO good!

If it’s baseball season, go to a Dodgers game! I went with some friends that live out there and we had a blast. The atmosphere was unreal. Also, before we went, we went to a bar near the stadium called “Short Stop”, which has a DJ and drink specials before home games. An absolute blast!

Last but not least, I am a Disney buff. I am still growing up on Disney. I went to Disney World in Florida a number of times when I was little. So if you can, spend a day at Disneyland and get tickets for both parks. When you need a break from the parks and/or want to actually sit down for a good meal, check out Downtown Disney. When I was out there with my girlfriend, we went to Naples Ristorante e Bar. Next time, I want to go get a CrazyShake milkshake!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First and foremost I want to thank My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for what He’s given me. I am nothing without Him and I will glorify Him in everything I do.

I want to thank my family, who has taught me countless lessons of life and has always supported me in all my ventures. I would not have the courage to do what I do without their guidance!

I also want to thank some of my close friends, especially Dariun Maxwell, Aubrey Coleman, and Matt Martindale. They are not “yes” men. They are straight shooters and tell me how it is. They are encouraging but also keep it real. I catch up with each of them periodically but we’ll contact each other with big life events to keep one another informed. Whenever we’re all in town visiting family and what not, we’ll make a point to see each other. These are the type of people everyone should have in their lives.

Last but certainly not least, thank you to my partner in crime Georgie Rickard. She keeps me grounded, motivates me and encourages me, and I love her oh so much.

Website: https://bryanmorganmusic.com/

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Image Credits
Isom Morgan III (@isommorganphoto)