About Brian
Brian Smith is an interdisciplinary percussionist and writer who explores cultural practices, social forces, and technology through the medium of sound and musical performance. Praised for his feline-like grace as a percussionist, Brian delivers “committed and energetic” performances (Sequenza 21) with a versatile repertoire that includes historical, contemporary, and experimental musical practices. His work as a contemporary percussionist includes the U.S. premiere of James Wood's "Jôdo" and improvisatory audio-visual works utilizing animated notational schemes, which he explores as a co-founder and member of the ensemble ScreenPlay. He is also a co-founder and member of RhumbLine, a sound art collective that produces interactive eco-acoustic swarms of mechanical zoomorphic sound sculptures, acoustically reproducing environmental soundscapes. Brian’s current “solo” project, Human+, combines his interest in technologically-mediated sonic arts with a fiendish advocacy for new works by living composers to develop a repertoire of duets for musical robotics and percussionists.
A member of the Percussive Arts Society Scholarly Research Committee, Brian has presented artistic and academic research on musical robotics and animated notation at International conferences, including the Transplanted Roots Research Symposium, Music & the Moving Image, and Reproduced Sound. His research has been published in the conference proceedings of New Interfaces for Musical Expression and the Institute of Acoustics. The RhumbLine installations have been featured in New York, Shanghai, and the Society for Electroacoustic Music in the United States. As an orchestral percussionist, Brian has performed with ensembles throughout the U.S. and Europe, appearing in world-class concert halls including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Berlin Philharmonie. He plays period timpani and percussion with the Staunton Music Festival, and his ethnographic interests include West African drumming and dance from Ghana, Togo, and Benin.
An experienced educator, Brian is a member of the International Artist Program at the Global Music School in Shanghai. He has also taught at Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, the University of Lynchburg, Randolph College, Stony Brook University, and Texas State University. Early in his career, Brian served as a Teaching Artist with the nationally renowned ensemble, Tales & Scales, working in local schools and community centers as an artist-in-residence.
Brian received a bachelor's degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a master's degree from Rice University, and he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University.
A member of the Percussive Arts Society Scholarly Research Committee, Brian has presented artistic and academic research on musical robotics and animated notation at International conferences, including the Transplanted Roots Research Symposium, Music & the Moving Image, and Reproduced Sound. His research has been published in the conference proceedings of New Interfaces for Musical Expression and the Institute of Acoustics. The RhumbLine installations have been featured in New York, Shanghai, and the Society for Electroacoustic Music in the United States. As an orchestral percussionist, Brian has performed with ensembles throughout the U.S. and Europe, appearing in world-class concert halls including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Berlin Philharmonie. He plays period timpani and percussion with the Staunton Music Festival, and his ethnographic interests include West African drumming and dance from Ghana, Togo, and Benin.
An experienced educator, Brian is a member of the International Artist Program at the Global Music School in Shanghai. He has also taught at Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, the University of Lynchburg, Randolph College, Stony Brook University, and Texas State University. Early in his career, Brian served as a Teaching Artist with the nationally renowned ensemble, Tales & Scales, working in local schools and community centers as an artist-in-residence.
Brian received a bachelor's degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a master's degree from Rice University, and he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University.