About Brennan -- Musical Biography

I grew up in a family of non-musicians, but was still enveloped in good music from family members with their own distinct tastes. I first developed an interest in playing music around age 11 when my middle school band performed the main theme from Star Wars, and hearing that iconic melody on the trumpet blew my young mind. In that moment, I decided to take up the instrument in the band program.

After having picked up the trumpet, I found myself unable to put it down both inside and out of the classroom. I would arrive to school early and stay late to practice in the band room, in addition to bringing the horn home with me to play at home as well. It quickly became apparent to my family that trumpet would be a large part of my life moving forward.

Even before my enrollment at Rancho Buena Vista High School, I had involved myself with the band program for two years in both concerts and even Disneyland parades. My experiences with the intense marching season and rich concert opportunities made me flourish, and I found more love for the instrument and music as a whole each passing day. 

Towards the end of high school, I developed an obsession-like interest in the heavy metal band Metallica, and had a particular fascination for their first bass guitarist, Cliff Burton. His use of the instrument was unlike any other bassist up until that time, and his work has influenced players of the instrument today. After attempting (failing miserably) to pick up guitar, I decided to try bass, and found it worked quite well for me. I learned it quite quickly and it has remained my secondary instrument through today, if even in completely different context/genre as any of my trumpet playing.

By the end of my time at RBV, I had been encouraged and decided that pursuing music with higher education would be my path. Having earned principal trumpet two years in a row, along with multiple major solos/features in shows, I definitely was interested in having more of that. Wanting to remain local to San Diego, I chose to audition for and planned to attend San Diego State University after several recommendations from students and faculty. After a successful audition in February 2020, I began at SDSU as a Music Education major in that following fall semester. Unfortunately, my experiences at SDSU during my first year were lackluster at best due to the university's handling of the pandemic and all that it affected in terms of in-person access. I chose to not return after a tumultuous year in order to allow the school time to adjust, and happily returned to SDSU in fall 2022 to a normal college experience, where I have thrived as a Music Performance student since.

I am currently in my fourth year at San Diego State, enjoying every moment I am able to perform. Each group with which I play means very much to me, and it means a lot to work with such fantastic faculty and peers. I plan to continue my education with a Masters of Music in Performance after my graduation from SDSU, and from there to hopefully earn places performing professionally.