Today we’d like to introduce you to Bruce Greer.
Hi Bruce, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve always been captivated by the piano. As a child of 3 or 4, I would hear something on the radio or at church and come home and play it. Soon after I discovered my older sister’s piano books and taught myself to read the notes on the page and correlate them to the keys on the piano. From then on it was always about the music! I would sit for hours reading music or creating arrangements for piano, other instruments, or even music for choirs. (Yes, I was a music nerd!) By the time I was in high school, my compositions were being performed at church and in school choirs. During my senior year of high school, my choir sang one of my pieces at the University Interscholastic League competition. Interestingly enough, that same piece was recently published by Oxford University Press and recorded by Sir John Rutter. Another choral composition, which was also written for my high school choir, went on the following year to become my first published work at the age of 19. I studied music at Baylor University on full scholarship and graduated with honors with a degree in Music Theory and Composition.
Upon graduation, I went to work as a Creative Director for Word Records, the world’s largest producer of Christian music. I spent six years as a songwriter, arranger, and producer for Word Music, recording several projects as a piano artist. Word’s distribution brought widespread recognition and interest for my piano artistry which led me to leave Word to pursue a full-time writing and concert career. Since then, I’ve had hundreds of titles and projects published by a wide array of leading publishers. I won a Dove Award, Christian Music’s highest honor, for arranging and orchestrating.
My solo piano artistry, as well as my artistic collaboration with Grammy-winning vocalist, Cynthia Clawson, has taken me around the world (from England to Asia, Canada, and all over the U.S.) performing in churches, conferences, and leading concert halls. I currently serve as Music Supervisor for Lyric Stage, a professional theatrical company in Dallas. I have been pursuing my passion for writing musical theater and frequently collaborate with lyricist Keith Ferguson. We have found success through our works, most notably our popular musical adaptations of It’s a Wonderful Life (licensing available through www.BroadwayLicensing.com) and A Christmas Carol. Our musical Hidden, based on the Book of Esther, is in development with a Broadway producer. Also, we have written a comedic musical adaptation of John Grisham’s novel, Skipping Christmas (with his blessing!). And our latest musical is Canceling Christmas, based on the historic toymaker of the erector set, A.C. Gilbert, and his effort during WW1 to save Christmas. In addition to these theatrical ventures, I also am currently serving as Chief Accompanist at First Baptist Dallas with an online presence that reaches millions of people all over the world each week.
And most importantly, I’ve been married to my precious wife, Kim, for forty years! She is my life and love and makes everything better. We have four sons and ten grandkids that we love and try to spend as much time with as we can.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Oh my! Nothing is ever easy, and obstacles are everywhere. Also, things in life take so much longer to come to fruition than most people looking from the outside are aware. I’ve had many professional rejections over these years. I’ve always been one that waits on God to open the doors that I should go through. I guess because I’m not really a very good self-promoter. Because of this, I’ve been overlooked for opportunities for which I felt very qualified. With regards to the theatrical world, it’s really hard to get your foot in the door and get someone to listen and see your work. The struggle is not giving up and just pressing on, knowing God is in control.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My creative journey in music allows (as well as requires) me to pursue many different opportunities. Always step out of my comfort zone and try things that might not come naturally. My strengths are playing the piano as well as writing (which includes, songwriting, choral composition, arranging, as well as orchestrating, these gifts have opened the door to do things like musically direct theatrical shows. I’m currently working exclusively with Lyric Stage here in Dallas. Our shows, many of which I have musically directed, are performed at the beautiful and historic Majestic Theater downtown. Some of my most special musical moments have been performing and making music with the talented, Grammy Award-winning singer Cynthia Clawson. She is truly one of a kind and one of the most gifted musicians I have ever known We have traveled everywhere together performing! My kids always laugh when a certain city comes up in conversation and I’ll say, “Oh, I’ve performed there!”
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc.?
Well, the most obvious would be the Bible. I try to live the words of Jesus. I fail a lot, but that’s my heart to follow Him. On a musical note, getting and learning the digital music notation tool, Finale, 30 years ago, changed my life and made writing so much faster! (And more legible, ha!) Also, use the app For Score for performance. Instead of carrying around tons of sheet music, everything is digital and all I need is my iPad and I’m good to go.
Contact Info:
- Website: BruceGreer.com
