Today we’d like to introduce you to Jordan Morrison.
Hi Jordan, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I have been enamored with music since the 7th or 8th grade. I joined the band (percussion) in the 5th grade but things started to come into focus when I started to compose music in junior high. I didn’t know what I was doing but I had to do it and I knew I needed to understand more. I started a rock band, joined every music class and ensemble I could, and composed as much as my time would allow. My dad and I still joke about how he used to wake up in the middle of the night to noise to find me out of bed writing down a musical idea I just had. After a while, he just gave up coming in to tell me to go to bed.
I pursued music into college and finally settled into Music Education as my career path mainly (at first) because I had heard it was the hardest music major on campus and I wanted to be challenged as much as possible. When I finally had the chance to teach, I found the combination of music, helping people, and problem-solving to be irresistible. Once again in college, I joined every class and ensemble that would have me, I played with as many bands as I could, taught, and found every opportunity I could to compose. I graduated, got married, and moved with my wife and friends to Nashville for a year then got called to come back to Ohio to go to Grad School. The trend continued there…I played, learned, taught, and composed as much as I could. After that, my wife and I were ready to head back to Nashville where we have been ever since.
While waiting for my teaching license to transfer from Ohio to Tennessee I taught privately, led drum circles, led group music classes, refurbished drums, and played with whoever I could and my day job was installing home theaters and driving all over Middle TN. I used to drive past this building near downtown Nashville and think…Wow, you probably have to be so amazing to teach at a music school like that here in Music City! After months of self-doubt, I finally looked it up and found that W.O. Smith Music School serves students from low-income households through volunteer music teachers! I read the mission and it immediately resonated with me.
I started volunteering and not too long after they started hiring me to teach at their music camps, having me teach classes and lessons. At the time, I was teaching at Whites Creek HS and Donelson Middle as well as picking up the odd gigs, sessions, and teaching lessons. A job opened up at W.O. Smith and I leapt at the chance to be more involved. I got the job as Program Coordinator and since have been promoted to Music Education Director. Now I continue to teach group classes like Audio Production, Jazz Band, Steel Drum Ensemble…etc. but I also get to work with all of our volunteer teachers to help their students progress. Through W.O. Smith, I have been able to work alongside some of the finest musicians, hardest workers, and kindest people I have had the pleasure of meeting. I have always been drawn to being creative, anything technical/process-oriented, developing quality, and any sort of creative problem-solving. I am very blessed that my “day job” allows me to do all those things and much more.
Today, I spend most of my free time with my wife and daughter. I continue to study music, play as much as possible, teach, and compose as much as my time allows. Most of my professional music endeavors these days center around Composing, Arranging, Education, Remote Recording Sessions, and whatever other opportunities arise.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I don’t think too many musicians have had a straight path to where they are. Mine has been fairly winding but I have had it easier than many people I know. I have always been willing to work hard, especially for things I care about or think are worthy causes.
Sometimes the timeline in my mind didn’t align with the timeline life dealt me and during those times I did what most people would do…work to pay the bills. Over the years, I have worked lots of different overlapping jobs to make ends meet. Car detailing, computer repair, retail, lawn mowing, gas station attendant, sound engineer for hire, theater maintenance, foreclosed home inspection, media services, home theater installation, warehouse picker, and healthcare billing are some past jobs that come to mind. The important part for me was that all along the way I have had friends and family who care about me and constant musical irons in the fire. I was always playing, composing, teaching, researching, learning…etc. Most of those jobs were not glamorous by any means but they allowed me to continue down my musical path with a roof over my head.
Many people in my life have been naysayers when it came to me continuing to do what I cared about. Most of the time when I got to know them better, I would realize they were either jealous that I was still willing to try, angry with how their life was going at the moment, or didn’t understand what it was that they were insulting. Those people may have slowed me down temporarily but it only ever served to sharpen my focus. I feel for them and hope they can move past what they have going on.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’ve been an overly practical problem solver for a long time. That alongside my desire for quality and willingness to work hard has led me to where I am today. I love streamlining things by knocking down hurdles to productivity or creativity. I think my specialization is being able to conceptualize large projects, plan the details, dig into the process, and see it through to the finish.
Identify the problem, make a plan, implement the plan, check to see if it works to address the problem, and adjust. On a small scale, this could be a student who struggles to find time to practice. We have a meeting, make an actionable plan to fix the issue, implement it, and then circle back to see the progress then readjust accordingly. This formula works for me more often than not. In recent years I’ve used it for everything from producing a video series to supplement a class curriculum to building an instrument storage room to overhauling our assessment process to remodeling my bathroom. Most recently I used it to finish composing and publishing a book of 40 Short Steel Drum solos.
I get the most joy from these projects when I get to see them actively helping someone else. The hours spent prepping for and recording audition videos for a student are made worthwhile by the look on their face when they get into the college they want. The hours building a swing set/playhouse are all made worthwhile by seeing my daughter enjoying it even for 20 minutes. You learn to love the process because it is therapeutic and because it is in service to something bigger.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I’m not a risky person when it comes to things like finances or investments. My “risks” normally come in the form of time and commitment. I invest my time and efforts into lots of things that I care about and find worthwhile but sometimes you cannot be sure if there will be a reward for those efforts. I never really think of those things as risks though.
I met a man named Josh Quillen of So Percussion who told the group I was a part of that (this is paraphrased) you should always take a gig if it meets 2 out of 3 requirements…1) Good Music 2) Good People 3) Good Money…with that in mind you can choose fairly easily whether something musical is worthwhile. If it’s got good people and good music then the money isn’t as important. If it’s good people and good money then you don’t have to love the music to still make it worthwhile…etc. If you find a gig that meets all 3 requirements then you better hold on to it as long as possible!
I’ve modified this idea to be a bit broader. Commit yourself and your time to something if it meets 2 out of 3 requirements…1) Is it enjoyable for you? 2) Will it make someone else’s life better? 3) Will it make your life better?
If you enjoy it and it makes someone else’s life better then it is worth doing even if it ultimately doesn’t help you directly. If it makes your life and someone else’s life better then you don’t need to enjoy it for it to be worthwhile. Lastly, if you enjoy it and it makes your life better but doesn’t help anyone else it is still worth doing for your own sake.
If it meets all 3 then of course you should do it! Of course, you can still say yes to things that only meet 1 but they just require more thought to decide. Admittedly, I end up going in circles a bit on this formula (whenever I overthink it) because more often than not my life is made better by helping to make someone else’s life better. Again, I’ve learned to love the process because it is in service to something bigger.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jordan.morrison.music
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-morrison-886a2b66
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jordanmorrisonmusicpage
Image Credits
Chrysa Kovach, Jared Wickerham, Nathaniel Clayton, and Zach Wolfe
