We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Justice Phillips a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Justice, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Actually, one of the most meaningful projects I’ve had the pleasure to work on is the one I’m working on now! I will be performing at a few concerts my organization, Austin Classical Guitar, is having on December 10th and 11th. I will be playing with our Executive Director, Matt Hinsley, and our Communications Director, Angelica Campbell. But, what makes this project so special to me is that I will be writing a Suite of Four Pieces, written for three guitars for this concert. Our theme for our concert season this year at Austin Classical Guitar is “Home,” so I’m made that the theme of this work I’m creating. Each piece in the suite represents a different home that Matt, Angelica, and I have each had. I worked to encompass the feelings, experiences, and mood of those places we’ve called home.

Justice, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I really aim to tell stories through music. I’m a composer who has had the fortune to be able to learn and grow and have many opportunities to learn and grow. Through my experiences of writing for videographers, world class performers, visual artists, and schools, I’ve learned how to be adaptive and expressive in every setting. Every time I write, I aim to capture to paint a picture of an emotion, moment, thought, or anything. Every time I write, I aim to out do myself and create the best work I’ve ever made. That’s something I’m most proud of, my drive and desire to be the best I can be and constantly challenging and out doing myself.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being a composer for me is knowing once you write a piece or once it’s played, it lives on forever. Or at least way past how longs I’ll be here. It’s something I’ve thought a lot about actually. I liken writing music to a story. A piece of music doesn’t exist and a score or sheet music. It exists as the actual sounds you’re hearing. As long as those sounds exist somewhere in someone’s brain, it lives on. That’s really cool to me and is probably the most rewarding part of being a composer.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Honestly the hardest time I’ve had as a composer is when I first started composition lessons in college. I was writing music that was very imitative of old great composer such as Bach and Beethoven. I thought I was doing great, and the music was a good imitation of those styles, but but my first composition teacher tore my music apart and told me how I needed to find my on voice. It was hard to hear, and really discouraged me from wanting to compose further as I thought I was writing great music. But, over the years I did develop my own voice through listening to tons of music and picking and choosing what I liked, as well as just practicing more. Now, I definitely think I have my own unique voice in my compositions.

Contact Info:

• Website: justicephillips.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justicethecomposer/?hl=en
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0szFCm6kmRs

Image Credits
Jack Kloecker