Meet Brien Engel

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brien Engel.

Hi Brien, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was a puppeteer, theatre tech, and composer/sound designer for theatre productions in the early 1990s. It was a time where I had a bit more stability in life to pursue instrument-building, and I’d always felt inspired by the magical, shimmering tones of the Glass Harp! So, after visiting countless restaurant suppliers and department stores collecting and auditioning stemware, I debuted my first version at a New Year’s Eve event in Midtown, Atlanta. There were crazy things that evening — wrestlers, stilt-walkers, puppets, and me, greeting visitors in a lobby and cycling through perhaps five songs I learned well while trying to improvise more songs.

That was so much fun as an introduction! So I tweaked my glasses further and busked at Underground Atlanta during the early to mid-nineties when Lower Alabama was often packed on weekends and during Braves games. Soon, I was playing in a few libraries, schools, and retirement communities as I realized I could keep body and soul together with a small musician business.

My craft and business has evolved since, to playing occasionally overseas, doing company events, fairs, and festivals, and of course continuing my teaching artistry in many states including here in GA, considering all the interesting sound physics of glass and its role as an improvised musical instrument. It can be challenging wearing all the hats, but I surely appreciate the free lifestyle of a self-managing artist.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Challenges have included keeping up with advertising in many disparate markets. And keeping up with fresh demands to evaluate and improve school performances and content, as the arts-in-education world continues to evolve. All of that is relentless. We glass musicians tend to not have agents and managers eager to represent us. The only exceptions I can think of right now are possibly my Glass Duo friends who live in Poland. They are fabulous world artists, and also they have twenty fingers in contrast to my mere ten, haha. This is commonly a chief/cook/accountant/tour planner/bottle-washer (etc) operation.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
The creative centerpiece of my life is the Glass Harp, made up of fifty stems, each with a musical pitch, like a piano. I play the rims of my glasses using finger friction. I particularly enjoy organizing complex arrangements of classical pieces, sometimes not so well-known but suited to the musical timbre of glass and I love these challenges, as well as writing my own pieces. I also am a passionate fan of mbira, the ancient instrument of Zimbabwe. I am fortunate to have met and studied with many Zimbabwean teachers of mbira. I am proud of having traveled to play in Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, and Kuwait (with the Glass Harp). I enjoy all my audiences and particularly like working with teachers and students for the k-8 presentations I do.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
What do I like best about Atlanta? It is human diversity and our miraculous springtime to start.

What do I like least? The traffic, of course!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.glassharp.org
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brienengel.glassharp/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brien-engel-81488029
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/brienengel
• Other: https://brienengel.bandcamp.com/music