BACKGROUND
Brandon Aguilar was born in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, but he was raised in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. He was first introduced to music at the age of 5 when he saw his dad play guitar. He became really fascinated by the sound of it and he knew right away he wanted to learn. This was the beginning of Brandon’s music career. At age 8 he received an electric bass for Christmas and he hated it at first because “it was boring and too simple,” little did he know he would pursue a college career.
At age 12, he joined the “Orquesta Sinfonica Esperanza Azteca de Ciudad Juarez” which is a symphony orchestra that was founded in Juarez City in order to help fight the violence and crime giving kids a chance to focus and pursue something that will enrich their culture, mind, skills, and help make a change in the world. This is where Brandon’s first professional music skills began to develop. Here, he learned to play the cello, learned to read music, and learned professional etiquette. In this environment, he was challenged a lot due to the fact that everything he knew about music came from his dad, watching YouTube videos, and learning by “ear.”
At age 14, his family and him moved to the US. During the first few years it was challenging for them as they had to learn and adapt to a new and different lifestyle. Brandon attended Northwest Classen High School and was amazed that it was normal for schools in the US to have music programs. He took advantage of this opportunity and joined orchestra during his 4 years of high school. One of Brandon’s first challenges in the US was that he did not know how to speak English. He was place in ELL classes that helped him learn and overcome this obstacle. As he learned and adapted, he pushed himself more to become a better musician and joined more music programs such as marching band, jazz band, piano classes, and guitar classes as well.
He graduated high school in 2015. When it was time for college, he decided to attend ACM@UCO (The Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma) the upcoming fall. Here he spent 2 years learning and studying contemporary music in electric bass under the coaching and mentoring of Joe Gillian. Throughout this time he also learned to work with bands, work in a recording studio, learned some music business skills and learned the history of contemporary music. He graduated with an Associates in 2017.
Fall 2017, he decided to attend the UCO School of Music to obtain his music education degree, a minor in Jazz Studies, and focused on learning the double bass under the teaching and mentoring of Dr. Michael Geib. Brandon was part of the UCO Symphony Orchestra, Jazz Ensembles, Jazz Combos, Wind Symphony, Concert band, and Marching Band.
During college, Brandon worked with multiple bands from different styles such as Rock, Funk, Latin, Jazz, Country, Pop, etc; as well as doing church work.
After 7 years of college, Brandon did his student teaching in Fall 2021 and graduated at the end of the semester with a bachelors in Instrumental Music Education and a minor in Jazz Studies.