timothy bryan johnson

Every composer has his own reasons for writing. I remember trying to pick out a piece that I heard in my head and realizing that I had no idea where it came from - so I started writing it down. It was shortly after that, putting music to home movies, that I discovered my fascination with the relationship between music and motion.

I was born in South Carolina but, since my father was in the military, moved constantly. A classically trained pianist, I left my formal studies to play keyboards in a rock band. I then ended up in Seattle playing piano professionally. it was there that I met composer Alan Hovhaness and studied composition with him for four years before moving to San Francisco.

Besides playing the piano for three years in musical theater after coming the Bay Area, I have filmed, edited, and written music for over a dozen videos - mostly for non-profit organizations. The most notable being for Project Open Hand. I filmed over 60 full length interviews and created several small documentaries from the video.

Over the last few years, I received certifications in both audio and video production and techniques from Bay Area Video Coalition. I also am Level 1 certified in Final Cut Pro through Apple.

The biggest lessons I learned from Alan Hovhaness was, firstly, to follow my intuition in both playing and composing and that the music must always connect with the listener at some level - otherwise, it is just sound.