An Interview with Adrian B. Sims

Adrian B. Sims is a composer and conductor whose concert band and orchestra music has quickly become a fixture of the modern wind repertoire. A graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park (music education and composition) and the University of Texas at Austin (composition), he has been publishing with Alfred Music since 2021. Grounded in music education and increasingly fascinated by how musical ideas are developed and orchestrated, he writes, first and foremost, music he can connect to — in the hope that students, teachers, and listeners will connect to it too.

Q: How did you first discover your passion for composing?

I first became interested in composition in early middle school. I would compose most days after school and noticed that I enjoyed expressing my creativity through writing music.

Q: Who has shaped how you think about music?

My middle and high school band directors, Cindy Stevenson and Christopher Gnagey, as well as my composition mentors: Brian Balmages, Omar Thomas, Dr. Robert Gibson, and Dr. Donald Grantham.

Q: What was the first piece you wrote that made you think, “I might actually be onto something here”?

Each year of middle and high school, my writing seemed to improve. The summer before my senior year of high school, I sat down to compose “Contraption,” and that wound up being my first publication, with The FJH Music Company.

Q: What’s the hardest creative problem you’ve ever had to solve in your work, and how did you get through it?

It’s simple enough to come up with a melody and create a contrasting theme to serve as a B section. What I find most interesting — and also most challenging — are the ways we develop and connect different sections of the music. To summarize some wisdom from one of my teacher’s teachers (who happens to be Nadia Boulanger): it’s not the musical idea itself that makes a piece of music good or bad, but rather how those basic ideas are developed.

Q: How has your compositional voice changed over the years? Is there anything you used to believe about writing music that you’ve since changed your mind on?

My voice as a composer has certainly evolved, and this is a great time to reflect. It grew most in two different periods. The first was during my undergraduate study at UMD, as I was performing cutting-edge wind band music and well-known orchestral works (by composers like Holst and Mahler). I was also encouraged to write plenty of chamber music, and I found that my large-ensemble writing improved most after spending time writing for smaller ensembles. The second was during my study at UT: in my final semester I composed music for a jazz combo recital, which I had never done before. Pat Metheny and Snarky Puppy were a couple of the musical inspirations for that recital, and what I learned from it continues to influence my writing style and harmonic development. As time goes on, I find myself less interested in specific melodic content and far more interested in how ideas — whether melodic or simply motivic — are paced, developed, and orchestrated to create a desired effect.

Q: Do you have a favorite piece on Alfred.com? What was the spark behind it?

Orbital is definitely one of my favorites. I just imagined planets, electrons, and other particles orbiting and undergoing extreme gravitational forces.

Q: How do you spend most of your working hours: composing, teaching, performing, or some mix of all three?

My time is pretty equally divided between composing, guest conducting (and preparing music for those events), and catalog production — including producing and editing recording sessions — for both Alfred and myself.

Q: Where did you study, and how much of what you do today traces back to your formal training versus what you figured out on your own?

I studied music education and composition at the University of Maryland, College Park, and music composition at the University of Texas at Austin.

Q: Did you grow up in a musical household, or did music find you some other way?

I grew up with music around the house, but I mainly explored my musical passion through school band and composing outside of school.

Q: How long have you been publishing with Alfred, and how did that relationship start?

I’ve been publishing with Alfred since 2021. I got connected with Chris Bernotas after submitting to a composition competition, and I had already been working with Brian Balmages since 2018 at The FJH Music Company.

Q: Outside of composing, is there another role in music — educator, clinician, performer — that’s been just as central to who you are?

Despite never officially teaching, I’m extremely proud of my background in music education. From my experiences in the program at the University of Maryland, to student teaching, to continuing to work with students regularly at residencies and honor bands, this knowledge has a great influence on who I am as a composer and how I write.

Q: How has the music education publishing world changed since you started, and how has that shaped what you write?

Education has shifted to focus far more on digital distribution recently than in the past, but I’m not sure that has changed anything about the music I compose. First and foremost, I have to write music that I’m able to connect to, and as long as I can find inspiration and life in an idea, I’m hopeful that someone else will be able to as well.

Q: What’s a type of piece or repertoire gap you think the industry still hasn’t figured out yet?

I don’t think we’ve figured out how to seamlessly integrate electronics tracks into concert music. It almost always requires a click track and can be somewhat cumbersome to organize. I’d love to figure out how to make performing works with electronics as easy as performing those without.

Q: What do you want your body of work to add up to — is there a throughline you’re consciously building toward?

I can’t say I’m focused on anything other than creating the best, most inspirational music I can, and hoping it resonates deeply with others — students, teachers, and listeners. If my music does that, I feel fulfilled and think I’ve done my job as a composer. I remember my experiences in middle and high school band vividly. I try to write music that is a magical experience for students and inspires them to keep playing and to learn more about whatever they’re interested in.

Q: Is there a favorite piece of yours that may not be your most popular work but resonates really strongly with you?

Haven (published by FJH) is one of those pieces. It’s about existing peacefully within a chaotic world, and the challenges of that. Everyone I’ve spoken with who’s worked on it has said it’s easily one of their favorites of mine.

Browse Adrian’s titles on Alfred Music and bring something meaningful to your next performance.

👉 Shop Adrian B. Sims on Alfred Music