We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bryan Christopher a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Bryan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
I knew I wanted to be a music creator the moment I wrote my first song. It’s been 22 years and I haven’t stopped.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I bought my first guitar in 2002, while in high school. I had no idea that I would fall in love with playing it as hard as I did. I couldn’t go anywhere without it. I taught myself to read tabs and to play by ear. Because I always had my guitar with me, I would often come across strangers that would ask to play it and they would teach me something new during that brief moment. As I got better I started writing songs and performing them. I’d play in random places, go to open mics, and book shows.
Later on I started dabbling in music production and it awakened something new in me. I deeply enjoy creating entire pieces of atmospheric music. I grew up listening to so many different genres of music and it’s been fun to blend those sounds into something I feel is unique to me.
One of the best things I did to develop my skill as a producer was collaborating with other creators . I’ve made music for YouTube channels, I’ve recorded podcasts, and worked on songs for other artists. Each with their own challenges, but all teaching me something new through trial and error.
I’m not really the type to pat myself on the back, but if I’m proud of anything it’s being able to make music that makes others feel something. At the end of it all it’s all I can hope for. I want to provide the listener with space to feel whatever it is they need to feel.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
A big lesson I had to unlearn is that I can make this music journey alone. With the way that technology in the music world has advanced, someone could technically do it alone, but I feel the music would suffer. Music is meant to be shared and in a way is its own language. What good is a language if there’s no one to talk to? I think something magical happens when we collaborate and form communities. Goals and dreams become unified and more powerful.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
I think the most rewarding thing about being a creative is that I’m doing something I love to do. I’ve taken the time to develop my gifts and because I truly love it, no one or nothing can take it away from me. There’s a sense of freedom in knowing that.
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Image Credits
Brynne Marcus The Artist