By Senior Airman Stephen Morris
As long as I can remember, drums have been a part of my life. As a child, my uncle was a drummer and drove my mother crazy with his constant tapping on his instrument. Years passed, and on a hot Los Angeles afternoon imagine her surprise when she heard that familiar tapping coming from my car seat behind her as she put on her favorite big band tunes.
When I was four years old, my mother asked the drummer of the church we were attending if he was willing to give me lessons, and he agreed. After being bribed with McDonalds, I agreed to take the lessons. I continued drum set lessons throughout elementary school, but by middle school, I had other interests. My drum set sat untouched in my parents’ garage until one day when the local high school drumline performed for my eighth-grade class. I was headed to high school, and I was hooked.
Throughout high school I was heavily involved in my school’s band and choir programs, but I didn’t have a clear direction. As season pass-holders, my family would often visit Disneyland during the summers, and it was there I finally found what I wanted to do for a living. I saw the Disneyland All American College Band perform their big band set on the Carnation Café’s brightly colored stage. Amidst the flurry of all of that is a Disneyland parade and hordes of people rushing to different attractions and shops, my attention was fixed solely on the drums.
One Friday evening I plucked up my courage and introduced myself to the drummer, Mitch. He was a young and energetic college student who cared deeply about the music he performed. His enthusiasm was infectious. He was kind enough to take me under his wing and direct me to different drummers to listen to and study. That summer while other members of my family were on rides I was watching Mitch play, hoping to absorb as much of his skill and technique as possible.
After high school graduation I enrolled in the jazz program at my local community college. Armed with a determination to do whatever it took to make my dreams of becoming a professional musician a reality, I took advantage of my eighteen-year-old energy levels. Working the 11:00 pm closing shifts at the local Chick-Fil-A paid for my additional private drum lessons. Every other week I would wake up at 5:00 am to drive to Hollywood through the abysmal downtown L.A. traffic to those lessons. It was worth it to me; I was pursuing what I loved.
At the end of my first year of community college, a guest saxophonist from the Eastman School of Music played with our jazz band. She was one of the most musical saxophonists I had ever heard, and it piqued my interest in her alma mater. After auditioning the following year and waiting with bated breath, I was fortunate to be accepted into Eastman’s jazz program as a transfer student. That same year I won a position in the 2014 Disneyland All American College Band, and Mitch was one of the first to congratulate me. I spent the hot California summer trying to keep up with some of the best collegiate musicians in the country and performing with talented guest artists. These experiences helped motivate and inspire me through the next several years at Eastman.
After five years of the coldest winters this Southern California native had ever experienced, I completed my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in jazz drum set. Graduating from Eastman in 2020 was bitter-sweet, as COVID had just become a world-wide pandemic and school immediately shifted to being online for my final semester. Graduation and other performances were cancelled, along with my degree recital.
A year of living in a world with COVID went by, full of the sound of chips frying in hot oil and customers clamoring for burritos at the Chipotle where I worked. Prospects for my music career felt bleak until a friend of mine won a position as an arranger in one of the Air Force regional bands and told me about the job. Incidentally, a percussion audition opened right after our conversation.
The next few months flew by in a blur of mallet excerpts and drum set practice. I arrived at Travis Air Force Base, played to the best of my ability, and won the audition. I was excited to become a military musician. My grandfather had served in the U.S. Army in Germany during the 1960s and I am proud to carry on his legacy of service. The day I swore my first oath of enlistment was his birthday, and the day I graduated from basic military training was the anniversary of his passing.
From touring the West Coast, to performing for the President and other world leaders, the past two years of service have been the most musically enriching years of my life. It is a privilege and honor to share the Air Force’s messages through the universal language of music, and I look forward to what the future holds.
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