Scott Morris: State of the Arts

Scott Morris says that when he was an undergraduate at the University of Southern California he thought the whole world should revolve around classical guitar.

“All I wanted to do was practice and go to my guitar classes,” he says. “But then I ended up taking all these art history classes and becoming interested in orchestral music, other instruments, and theatre. If all I ever did was get a degree in one thing and never study anything else, I wouldn’t be able to teach a Humanities 200 class now. You get that from a university experience with lots of things happening.”

In the face of the state’s budget crisis, Morris is working to maintain the notoriety that the guitar program and music department at California State University, Dominguez Hills earned by hosting the annual conference of the Guitar Foundation of America (GFA) in 2007. This past Labor Day weekend Sept. 4-6, Morris presented the first Dominguez Hills Guitar Festival and Competition in the University Theatre and LaCorte Hall with the help of international colleagues, fellow performers, and donations of cash prizes, guitars and equipment from corporate sponsors.

“Los Angeles is [possibly] the most exciting guitar city in the country and we don’t have a proper guitar festival,” says Morris of the festival, which was featured on local radio stations KUSC, KPFK, and KPCC. “So, since GFA, it seemed logical to do that here. We’ve got a healthy guitar program and the idea behind the festival is to keep its profile up and bring students in to continue to grow it.”

The event featured lectures, performances and master classes by scholars and artists, including Peter Yates, Scott Tennant, Tom Kerstens, William Kanengiser, Carlos Rivera, and Jeff Young, former guitarist for heavy metal band Megadeth. Morris’ students, who served as volunteer assistants throughout the three-day festival, had the opportunity to attend all events for free.

Jonathon Grasse, assistant professor of music at CSU Dominguez Hills and an ethnomusicologist whose research has focused on the music of Brazil and Indonesia, presented “Brazilian Popular Music and the Guitar in the Early Life of Composer Heitor Villa-Lobos” during the Saturday sessions. That evening, the YMT Trio, which is comprised of Young, Morris and Steven Thachuk, http://steventhachuk.com/index.htm performed in the University Theatre.

Guitar students and performers who had not yet been represented by professional management took part in the International Solo Competition. The first prize, which was named in memory of Rod Butler, the late professor of music and former department chair, included a $2,000 award, the opportunity to perform at the CSU Dominguez Hills Guitar Festival in 2010, and a top-of-the-line model from the Hill Guitar Company. Second and third prizes included monetary awards, an Alhambra guitar and strings from D’Addario.

“I don’t think I would have pulled off the GFA if [Butler] hadn’t taken me around to meet people who could help at the university,” Morris recalls. “He really knew how to set things in motion. I do everything I can to keep his memory going.”

Morris also hopes that efforts like the CSU Dominguez Hills Guitar Festival will keep the arts alive in an era of deep budget cuts to programs on campus.

“I really feel that a university without the arts is not a university, it’s a technical college,” he notes. “Before people were talking about programs being in jeopardy, I’ve always felt that a music department enhances the university experience.

“Students go to school and take the classes they specifically went there to take,” he says. “Then somebody convinces them to do something else and they become more varied in their experiences. A campus is a better place when you have an active music department, theatre department, student art shows. It makes the campus a culturally more interesting place, not just a place to go and sit in class, take notes and go home. It’s a place where you might like to hang out and explore your horizons.”

Morris's most recent recording, “The Guitar Music of Paganini,” was reviewed in the American Record Guide earlier this year as a Critic’s Choice by Kenneth Keaton. He has been a featured artist at many major festivals, including the Beijing Guitar Festival, the Boston Guitar Fest, the Iserlohn International Guitar Symposium in Iserlohn, Germany, and the California-based festival La Guitarra. An artist-in-residence at the Beijing Central Conservatory, he performed in 2008 as a soloist at the National Centre for the Performing Arts and the Beijing Central Conservatory, where he also gave a series of master classes.

- Joanie Harmon

Photo above: Scott Morris (in center) and students in the guitar program welcome guests to the CSU Dominguez Hills International Guitar Festival. The students served as volunteers for the event, representing the CSU Dominguez Hills chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon.

L-R: Christian A. Rosales, junior, music education; La Verne M. McCoy, junior, music performance and president, Mu Phi Epsilon; Morris; Christian A. Lopez, junior, music education; and Wendy Reyes, junior, music education

Photo by Joanie Harmon