Arts Directory

About

Artist Bio

Daniel Murray (a.k.a Dani Brofe) is a multi-stylistic musician that enjoys laying down a canvas for other artists to paint on. The double bass is his primary instrument, but over his musical journey thus far he has also learned how to play the electric bass, cello, and piano. Daniel was born and raised in Columbia, SC where his athletic roots built up necessary foundations of diligence and courage, and not to mention teamwork, which he applies to his musical pursuits on the daily. Daniel earned undergraduate degrees in Music Performance and Spanish from the University of North Texas, he also holds a master’s degree in performance from Carnegie Mellon University. Today, Daniel cultivates educational spaces for his younger music students to learn from his breadth of experiences. He engages the Columbia art scene where he composes music for many instruments and arranges charts for combos like his own band, LUX. To summarize, Daniel believes that his mission on the bass is to sound very much like the human voice, and that its vast size alone generates a lot of possibilities for sound. In his case because of his upbringing Daniel gravitates towards Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, and Ella Fitzgerald levels of soul, and feels that the journey of replicating a human voice in its small “linguistic delicacies” is a way to truly enjoy developing one’s technique.

Artist Statement

My work exemplifies for the youth how to approach music making from a place that is intrinsic to you as a human being, one with divine rights to expression and the journey of self-discovery awaiting. Music has taken me from Carnegie Hall to Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA, as well as many Chinese performance halls between Beijing and Hong Kong. I’ve learned what it means to connect with another people through sound alone and what music as a universal language really allows us to do. Collaboration is intrinsic to my work, as the self-discovery that music calls for can only be measured when shared and performed with others. Whether in private lesson settings, group activities, or live performance, being in an intentional space of communicating sound to others develops interpersonal and intrapersonal skills necessary to be great leaders, group members, and even observers/critics. There is an art to listening and holding space for others that music takes on. The habits that we act on in music experience settings, such as feeling safe to sing along or confident to dance alone in front of others, relay so much more about upbringing and internal dialogue that many youth otherwise would not even have an outlet for. Fostering a deeper connection with the youth to accessible music training addresses a critical intentional limitation in broader American education that is very easily quantifiable. There is enough science proving the importance of music as it relates to pattern recognition, problem solving, reading comprehension, and decision making among other things. Many of them consume so much music in a week that to simply be a blind consumer is already a costly way to maneuver. There doesn’t need to be a thing on earth that a child believes they couldn’t reverse engineer. Music is one of those very tangible mediums that allow for the aforementioned ability to be exalted.