Teacher Profile: Mikey Brannan

About Mikey Brannan

Mikey’s music journey began at the age of 8 with guitar lessons. They were inspired by their parents’ music taste and video game music. With encouragement from their grandfather, a guitarist of many years, Mikey learned many classic and modern rock tracks.

Middle school brought a widening range of music to Mikey’s repertoire! From Metal to Orchestral and Jazz, Mikey was immersed in it all. They started off playing guitar in the middle school Jazz Band, expanding their ability to read chords and play extended harmony. After some time in Jazz Band, Mikey felt the calling of string orchestra. The cello particularly called to Mikey. Mikey stuck with string orchestra all through the rest of middle school and continued to play on their own time throughout high school.

Mikey is incredibly passionate about playing in an ensemble, as it provides a very different, collective experience as opposed to a solo performance - which of course has its own merits and joys. They got to study cello again with Thomas Landshoot while studying Music Education at Arizona State University.

Along with that, Mikey performed with the Philharmonia ensemble, led by Julie Desbordes. Mikey was also privileged to study Jazz guitar for a short time with Jeff Libman, a stand-out of their time at ASU.

All this time, Mikey was building experience playing in bands. They started their music performance journey in 2018, with just a guitar, their voice, and a handheld recorder. It has since blossomed into a career bringing them all around California, Arizona, and now Washington. One of their highlights so far has been opening for Red Jumpsuit Apparatus with their band The Enjoyers.

Mikey finds music education to be so important because music is all around us. Whether the music is coming from someone playing it on a Bluetooth speaker, the radio, or the overhead speakers at the grocery store, their mission is to build an appreciation for what goes into the songs people hear every day. Mikey strives to bring specific attention to music so that it is no longer just noise to the listener, but art made with intentional choices by the musicians that made it.

Mikey has a wide appreciation for genre, from heavier acts like Tool and Korn to softer singer-songwriters like Alice Phoebe Lou. Mikey’s top inspirations right now are Alabama Shakes, Jeff Buckley and Brazilian Popular music of the 70s to modern day. Mikey is excited to share the love of music and provide inspiration for their student’s prospective musical journeys:)