THE INTERVIEW.....

Roddy,

Here are my responses to your questions:

I don't have a web-site yet, but as soon as I get a solo CD together I will look into one.

I do come from a musical family, although my father and I are the only ones who went into music professionally. He was a band director as well as a jazz musician, playing both the clarinet and sax. He started me out on french horn because he thought I had a good ear, but most likely it was because of the difficulty of getting anyone interested in playing french horn in a junior high school band. Needless to say, the trumpet players were having a heck of a lot more fun at that level...and were getting the girls too! I switched a year later and never looked back, but occasionally I hear a great horn solo and wonder if I chose the wrong instrument! My fathers interest in jazz had a big influence on me and I have always had a feel and love for that style of music.

The trumpet appealed to me early on because of its prominence as a melody instrument...at least in most junior high arrangements. Then, I wanted the attention that instrument commanded. Now, I'm not always so sure! At any rate, I loved the sound of the trumpet. My dad had some old Doc Severinsen records around the house and it was those recordings that really inspired me. The power, brilliance and beauty of his sound left such a lasting impression and to this day he remains one of my favorite players. Doc grew up in the state of Oregon, about fifty miles up the Columbia river from where I did and my dad used to play behind him in the band at the Happy Canyon in Pendleton, which is a big annual rodeo event. So I heard alot about Doc from my dad and I definitely checked out those recordings! One of the highlights of my career was playing a little jazz duet with Doc on a Boston Pops concert, that had been arranged for him and Adolph Herseth.

I started playing the trumpet at the age of 13, but became a "serious" student of it at the age of 17. That's when I hooked up with Fred Sautter, the Principal Trumpet of the Oregon Symphony and started down the road to "classical" trumpet playing. Two years later I graduated form high school and ended up at the New England Conservatory, where I studied with Armando Ghitalla and Roger Voisin.

I've been very lucky in the music business since graduating from college. I took my first job in Mexico, about 6 months after graduating. It was an orchestra in Toluca Mexico and it was actually a very good orchestra! It was comprised of 50% Americans, which made up all of the wind and brass sections, about 20-30% East Europeans and Guatemalans and the rest were actually Mexican! It was a great way to get some experience, see another part of the world and make some money. A year and a half later, I joined the Boston Symphony and spent the next 4 years as an acting 2nd player(actually having auditioned for a 4th vacancy) I left the orchestra in 1984 and moved to LA, but returned to Boston after only a year and a half to play with the Empire Brass, which I did for 2 years, after which I again joined the Boston Symphony, this time as an associate principal in the symphony and principal of the Pops. It was as a principal player in the Boston Pops that John Williams(then music director)really took notice of me as a musician. It was during that time that he asked me to play for the soundtrack of the movie Born on the 4th of July and I have since worked for him on many other pictures and continue to enjoy an ongoing working relationship with him.

You asked if I had any theatre experience and I really haven't. Somehow that whole world went by me and although I wouldn't want to be married to a show for months or years at a time, I would like to experience it sometime, but that isn't likely to happen.
Big band playing is another area that I haven't had much opportunity in. I love big band playing and jazz in general and can play in those styles, but there are way too many great players that do that all of the time, so it isn't likely that I would ever be called for that kind of work. I have gotten pigeonholed as a "classical" player and that is what I have spent most of my career doing.

As far as any recordings are concerned, I don't, to date, have my own solo CD out yet, but I hope to have one soon. I did a recording with the Boston Pops called "Music for Stage and Screen" on which I played Quiet City and excerpts from Born on the 4th of July. Many of the Pops recordings done between 1987 and 1997 have some trumpet features, whether it be an actual featured solo or just solo passages within a tune. The Pops recording of Summon the Heros has the solo in the piece by the same title and although I am not terribly happy with how I played it and how it was recorded, it is a great solo and one I am asked to play often. I also did some solo work for the filmscores of JFK, Apollo 13, Amistad, Nixon, Saving Private Ryan and The Patriot.

As a chamber musician, my 2 years as a member of the Empire Brass were the pinnacle of that kind of playing. It was a great group and those 2 years taught me more about playing than any other single experience. Playing next to a musician like Rolf Smedvig was a real education for me...and all of us, really. He set the standard for that group and he just sounded incredible! He taught me so much about the lyric line and about time. He is a real artist and a committed musician.

As far as any personal projects are concerned, as I mentioned earlier, I am currently in the process of putting together a recording of music I simply love and want to record. It will have a nice mixture of ethnic music and even some jazz and nothing that was originally written for the trumpet. As I mentioned earlier, I feel a great affinity for jazz music and although I am, by no stretch, an accomplished improviser, I do play in those styles and enjoy doing it. The record will have a strong lyric element overall. I'm hoping it will come together real soon.

It don't think I can pick 4 favorite albums. It's a little too broad of a topic to narrow it down to 4 favorites. As far as movies are concerned, three that I really liked and that touched me deeply, were "Memento" "Paris, Texas" and "Gladiator."

In the food category, I get cravings for sushi and I love pasta and hamburgers. I guess the hamburger thing has gained momentum since having kids and moving to LA, "the hamburger capitol of the world"

I really don't have any passionate hobbies, per se. I enjoy swimming and occasional biking, hiking or tennis, but I feel music is both a profession and a hobby for me. I would also like to do more conducting in the years to come. I have had a go at it and I found it very rewarding. Other than that, I get into whatever my kids are doing. My 10 year old son is an avid skateboarder and I enjoy sharing that world with him.

My three tips are 1) devolop a free and easy tone production 2) become a well oiled time machine 3) learn to sing and phrase the music you play

Thanks for the opportunity to share my musical life and experiences with you. I hope we can talk in person someday.

Regards,

Tim Morrison

After I received the interview from Mr.Morrison I asked him to comment on the
AIR POCKET technique which he uses.
Here is what he wrote….

AIR POCKETS

Roddy,

Air pockets are an important feature of my embouchure setup. It's a little confusing to many I work with and a real salvation to others...including myself! I won't get into it too deeply here, but I feel it is important to let air occupy the chamber between the upper lip and the gums. To restrict this only serves to add tension to the area around the lips which causes a sense of limitation in the elasticity and flexibility of the embochure. It also causes a "tight sound" with limited upper notes and an incomplete low register. The low register should sound trombone-like in its production and the high notes should sound clear, vibrant and resonant all the while with air behind the upper lip. It's always there in my setup. Even more so for low register playing. This will give you 50% more sound in the low register and a sense of limitless volume with a big free open sound. As you ascend, a natural pivot occurs and the facial muscles will firm up as you play higher, but again all of this happens with the presence of air under the top lip.

As far as the high register is concerned, there is more facial and corner flex as you ascend, but the air pocket is always present...over the corners, in particular. There should be a sense of flex as you ascend, but it is in response to the added air pressure as you play higher and you should try to avoid too much lip tension to achieve this. If the lips are flexed and pressed down against the gums and teeth, this will create a very stressed result, not to mention uncomfortable and inflexible feel.

Allowing this air pocket will create a much different "feel" of response of the lips to the airstream. You will feel that the notes, if played real softly, come gently out of nowhere, rather than appearing too abruptly and audibly and once you start a note, you will have the relaxation in production that enables you to add volume without the unpleasant characteristics of sound resulting from a tight setup.

That's about the long and short of it, Roddy.

I hope someone will find it helpful!


Keep in touch,

Tim