SN) Can you provide a brief introduction about yourself to our readers?

SB) I was born in 1978 to a pretty non musical family but my mother always had great music playing in our house. We grew up fairly poor so there wasn't much in the the way of television or movies. My brother and I would go outside and make up little stories or pretend to either NPR on the radio or we had this cassette tape of The Good the Bad and The Ugly by Ennio Morricone. I began playing piano pretty early on and taught myself. how to play and read music. I'm still not a great player but I've learned how to read. I was eleven when I heard Jerry Goldsmith's score to Star Trek the Motion Picture and was blown away by the music and the images. It was then that I decided between acting and composing. So then we had a little more money and I would do chores to earn money so that I could buy classical music and film scores. After that I entered high school and began to compose for and conduct our high school band. I was very fortunate to that my high school band director, Rhonda Smalley, was very encouraging and allowed me the opportunity to do these things. Right out of high school I entered the Airforce and was supposed to be a cop but I asked if they had composers and I was told yes. So during basic training I would do the shooting, combat training during the day and at night I would get up go into the latrine (bathroom) fake like I was using the bathroom in a stall and wrote out this piece for the band which was my audition piece and I got the job. I was self-taught up to this point and could you imagine a naive eighteen year old joining a band where every musician has a master's degree? It was a great learning experience about not only music but about life. After the Airforce, I returned to my home and began to write music for anything:plays at the university, musicals for local theater, classical music, short films my friends were doing ect. I would've composed for a ten year old's birthday party. I just loved it and still do. One thing led to another, met a great mentor and friend who is a Hollywood composer, and through a series of odd circumstances, luck and tenacity ended up composing for films full time. I did two ballets last year so I've kept one foot in film and one foot in other things like classical music, operas, and sometimes rock and roll.

SN) What were some of the key motivators that led to your interest in composing music? 

SB) The absolute love of all kinds of music. My music is me and all the various emotions and thoughts I have. I think initially it was fun to go to a party, make up a song on the spot and get phone numbers from girls. I like the emotional aspect but I really love the problem solving or analytical aspects of music.I guess both hemispheres of the brain are working equally because both aspects, emotional and analytical, are equally thrilling for me. I like a good challenge and doing something different, new, re-inventing your musical language is is always compelling. So I like pressure and the odds maybe stacked against you and meeting the mountain and trying to climb it. Somtimes you fall down but the point is you met the challenge.You tried and next time you very well may make it to the top of the mountain.So the key factors would be love of music, problem solving and a good challenge. 

SN) Who would you say are your biggest musical influences? Not in any particular order:

SB) John Williams, Ennio Morricone, Jerry Goldsmith and on the classical side: Bach I love the intricate nature of his music, Copland I love his optimism, rugged spirit, adventure, Stravinsky, his barbarism, passion,and craftmanship, John Adams, the beauty of his music. I also love rock and roll: Pink Floyd, Coldplay, JImi Hendrix and I absolutely love South American music particularly Colombian and Peruvian.It's mystical, fun, both dark and happy, you can dance to it, reflect to it, and be absorbed by it.

Many diverse projects with many musical styles which is how I like it.

SN) What would you say are some of the key challenges in writing music for a mini-series?

SB) You have alot of music, in my case six hours, in a very short amount of time. All the while I'm doing other projects because I like to stay very busy. In this particular case, I have to span two thousand years of music and not much is known about early music. How do you keep each cue musically interesting and meet the needs of the film.It can be hard to stay fresh  and hopefully interesting so that is a major challenge.Time is interesting because it adds alot of pressure to create all of the time but it is a great motivator because you have to get it done.You can't fail because alot of people are depending on you. This one is challenging because they are still shooting and editing so I'm writing to bits and pieces and really don't know how it all fits together.The single biggest challenge is threading themes and variations along for six hours. There is going to be a soundtrack release so culling an hour from six hours will be interesting.

SN) As you look forward to the future, what types of projects would you like to see yourself becoming more involved with?