As a composer Brendan Cooney has written for a great variety of instrumentations and genres. His cartoon scores bear a debt to the classic scores of Carl Stalling, but also move freely through a wide spectrum of modern genres. His silent film scores are highly influenced by Bernard Hermann, but they also move freely through 20th century classical, jazz, and electronic genres. Cooney has worked as an arranger for noted bands such as Dr. Dog, Buried Beds, Rick Berlin and Jane Mangini (Trans-Siberian Orchestra). His string arrangements are set to appear on the upcoming album by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.

Cooney studied Jazz Piano at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he studied under the late Neal Creque and Dan Wall. After his graduation he began an in-depth study of the Taubman Approach to Coordinate Technique under the tutelage of Bob Durso. Cooney is now a certified teacher of the Taubman Approach with the Golandsky Institute.

Cooney founded Not So Silent Cinema in 2011. He is the chief composer and musical director for the group. Not So Silent Cinema writes new films scores to classic silent films and presents live film-score performances. Cooney has scores over 14 silent film scores for this project.

Cooney performs in a diverse variety of ensembles. He plays chamber music with the New River Ensemble, bluegrass mandolin and banjo with Noggin Hill, Turkish-inspired synth music with ZRNA, and jazz piano in a variety of arrangements.