Bio.
Drew Morris, Born March 9th, 1984, Springdale, Arkansas.
Sometime around 1992, my parents made me start taking piano lessons from Carolyn Neil. Sometimes I loved it, sometimes I didn’t practice enough and dreaded going. Now, I am so thankful for those lessons. They are the foundation of everything I have done in my musical life.
(If you notice a lot of my music has a certain quirk to it, I am pretty sure it is comes from the fun/silly piano solos that Mrs. Neil picked for me when I was developing as a musician. Music is supposed to be fun right? Thanks Mrs. Neil!)
I began my life in band in Springdale, Arkansas as a trumpet player. When I got to Springdale High School, I was in Pat Ellison’s band. She is a legend in the band world. I decided to become a band director while I was in her band because of the amazing passion she brought to every piece of music we played. While in high school, I also started taking trumpet lessons from another legendary teacher, Robert Bright.
I got my Bachelors in Music Education from The University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. I had many amazing teachers in my time there. Dr. Richard Rulli was my trumpet professor, Dr. David Goza was the orchestra director, and even though I was never in his orchestra, I was in his music history class and loved every second of it. His teaching made me love Beethoven and Stravinsky even more. Dr. James Greeson was my composition teacher (for the few semesters I took lessons) and jazz band director. I learned so much from him. I wish I could be in his jazz band again!
I began taking my composition seriously in college and had my compositional debut when Dr. Rulli agreed to perform “Odyssey for Four B-Flat Trumpets” with the University of Arkansas Trumpet Ensemble. Shortly after, I had my banddebut when the Ozark Mountains British Brass Band performed “Town Festival March”.
My next compositional shot in my arm came when I student taught in Berryville, Arkansas under Daniel Hodge and Julius Stevens (amazing teachers, and even better friends). I wrote a piece of music for the high school band, “Dichotomy: A Love Severed, The Ballad of Lazerhands” (a remarkable contrivance, with makings of a great quasi-comedy/space-opera if I do say so myself).
I started my life as a band director in Green Forest, Arkansas. Because of a combination of not understanding how copyright law worked and wanting to test myself, I wrote the music for our marching show that year (and discovered my deep love of the Tango). I was also asked to write another composition for Berryville, which turned into “Yellow”. This piece eventually got selected as a finalist in the Third International Frank Ticheli Composition Contest.
The following year, I started teaching in Berryville with Hodge and Stevens, where I taught for nine years. In my time at Berryville, I developed my percussion writing and got my first piece published, “Alpha Bravo Niner”.
After teaching in Berryville for five years, Hodge and Stevens moved to other districts, and I took over as director of bands. While in that position I got to work with three fantastic band directors; Michael Moon for three years, Andrew Enis for two years, and Kolby Palmore for two years.
An opportunity to get a Masters in Jazz Studies from the University of Arkansas in Monticello, while continuing to work as a director became available and I jumped at the chance.
In 2017 I decided to take my composition more seriously. I left my job in Berryville to focus on writing music full time. Since that time I have been commissioned around a dozen times, written many pieces for concert band, percussion ensemble, piano solos, chamber ensembles, orchestra, and electronics. I self publish my sheet music through my publishing company “Yellow Envelope Publications”. I also co-founded my own chamber ensemble, Thought Form Collective, and I am currently working on my first solo album release which consists of electronic music I have composed in the last few years.
I currently live in Springdale, Arkansas with my wife Holly, my cat Pumpkin, and my dog Grady.