Ep. 134 - Unlocking Creativity by Arranging Popular Music - Garrett Breeze

“I was one of those people that had some biases against pop music. Being in show choirs and seeing the ways that the songs were transformed and arranged really opened my eyes to different styles of music and changed my perspective. I no longer view popular music as being all that different from classical music or film scores. There's just something about arranging: taking all these pieces of a song and figuring out how to put them together. It's almost like doing a puzzle. It unlocks some of the same parts of my brain.”Garrett Breeze is a Nashville-based composer best known for his catalog of more than 1,500 choral arrangements of popular music, including more than 1,000 written for competitive show choirs.  For the past 15 years, Garrett has been actively involved in the show choir community as an arranger, show designer, clinician, and adjudicator, working with hundreds of choirs across the country.  His music is published by Breeze Tunes and Shawnee Press and regularly appears on J.W. Pepper’s Editor’s Choice and other recommended lists.As a skilled freelance orchestrator and music preparer, Garrett has contributed to a wide range of media projects, including 12 large-format films, Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir, and popular video games like World of Warcraft and Overwatch. He has also worked with renowned artists such as Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jordan Smith, Kristin Chenoweth, Michael W. Smith, Santino Fontana, Sutton Foster, and Tauren Wells. His original production music has been featured globally in commercials on all major television networks and in well-known TV shows such as Access Hollywood, Judge Judy, and Lego Masters.Garrett holds a Bachelor’s degree in Media Music from Brigham Young University and a Master’s degree in Commercial Composition and Arranging from Belmont University. He is host of the Selling Sheet Music Podcast and currently serves as ACDA’s Contemporary/Commercial Co-Chair representing Show Choirs.To get in touch with Garrett, you can email him at [email protected] or visit his website, breezetunes.com.Email [email protected] to contact our hosts.Podcast music from Podcast.coPhoto in episode artwork by Trace HudsonLOTL: Queer ConversationWe all crave Queer Conversations. Follow the link to listen.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify