About Composer Michael Brickey
Born in St. Louis in 1947, composer Michael Brickey was raised in Jerseyville, Illinois. He studied piano intermittently and then moved to French Horn, which he continued to study through college, and afterward with Kaid Friedel of the St. Louis Symphony. He holds Bachelor of Science (1969) and and Master of Music (1972) Degrees in Music Education from the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana. He subsequently taught Band at Jersey Community High School for 9 years. During his years in Illinois he performed on French Horn in numerous professional and civic symphony orchestras, both in the St. Louis area and throughout Illinois.
He excelled in music theory beginning in high school and continuing at the University of Illinois. Later his musical preference for piano improvisation led him to study Jazz harmony. The computer revolution and increasingly better sound samples and software led him to composition. Starting with simple programs and early synthesizers, he moved on to his current system, a Mac Pro computer with Logic Pro sequencer software and Vienna Symphonic Library (VSL) sound samples. The audio recordings on this website are his own VSL realizations of his compositions.
Brickey continued his musical interests during a change in occupation. In 1983 he became a Practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method, a form of somatic training and rehabilitation. He was fortunate to study directly with the method’s originator Moshe Feldenkrais in Amherst, Massachusetts. As a Feldenkrais Practitioner, has worked with a number of instrumental and vocal musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area to assist them in improving performance and maintaining healthy functioning within stressful schedules.
In 2015 he began study with Charles Sepos. Under his guidance Michael has reworked and notated a number of orchestral and small ensemble compositions while working on new material.
He excelled in music theory beginning in high school and continuing at the University of Illinois. Later his musical preference for piano improvisation led him to study Jazz harmony. The computer revolution and increasingly better sound samples and software led him to composition. Starting with simple programs and early synthesizers, he moved on to his current system, a Mac Pro computer with Logic Pro sequencer software and Vienna Symphonic Library (VSL) sound samples. The audio recordings on this website are his own VSL realizations of his compositions.
Brickey continued his musical interests during a change in occupation. In 1983 he became a Practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method, a form of somatic training and rehabilitation. He was fortunate to study directly with the method’s originator Moshe Feldenkrais in Amherst, Massachusetts. As a Feldenkrais Practitioner, has worked with a number of instrumental and vocal musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area to assist them in improving performance and maintaining healthy functioning within stressful schedules.
In 2015 he began study with Charles Sepos. Under his guidance Michael has reworked and notated a number of orchestral and small ensemble compositions while working on new material.