James A. Brickey was born and raised in San Diego, California. He began his music studies in 4th grade playing the clarinet but was lucky enough to stumble on to the tuba in 7th grade. Since then, Jim has performed in numerous ensembles, including the San Diego Youth Symphony, La Jolla Civic Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, and in the Southwest Symphony since 1985. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education from San Diego State University, and a Master’s degree in Secondary Education from Utah State University.
He taught band, orchestra, choral and classroom music in public schools from Kindergarten through 12th grade in Bakersfield, California and Washington County, Utah. He has been selected as the Teacher of the Year for Washington County School District, Teacher of the Year by the Utah State Board of Education, Educator of the Year by St. George Chamber of Commerce, and Middle School Teacher of the Year by the Utah Music Educators Association. He has taught private lessons to Tuba students for many years. Mr. Brickey retired from the Washington County Schools in 2006 and has been an adjunct professor at Utah Tech University since 2009. He and his wife Elaine are the parents of 8 children and 20 grandchildren.