Instruments
Drum Set
Concert & Mallet Percussion
Skills & Training
Drum Set and Percussion (beginner to professional)
Rock/Metal, Jazz, Classical, Drumline
Music Theory and Ear Training
Improvisation
Education
Bachelor of Music; Percussion Performance - Western Washington University 2024
Influences
Rush (Neil Peart), Dream Theater (Mike Portnoy), Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, Avenged Sevenfold (Jimmy Sullivan, Brooks Wackerman), Pius Cheung, Critters Buggin (Matt Chamberlain), Carbomb (Elliot Hoffman), Joe Chambers, Billy Cobham, Roy Haynes, Buddy Rich
Bio
Asa Morris (B.Mus) is an avid drummer, scholar, and adventurer. Born and based in Bellingham, he is known for his musical versatility and dynamic expression. He performs and enjoys rock, metal, jazz, classical, and theater musics. His percussive instincts certainly annoyed early teachers (they told him), but this natural motivation also compelled him since childhood to drum. Santa Claus delivered his first drum set when he was three years old. Continuing to drum through adolescence at Mount Baker High School, Asa played in the jazz and wind bands and performed with the All-Northwest and SJMEA honor bands. During the summer of 2015, he studied dance, drums, and Chinese in Exeter, New Hampshire at the Phillips Exeter Academy. Asa sang and danced in four school musicals, and outside of school, played in a hardcore punk band, Croak, which performed in Bellingham, Seattle, and Portland.
Asa studied percussion performance at Western Washington University with Dr. Patrick Roulet. He played with the WWU symphony orchestra, wind symphony, jazz bands, and percussion ensemble. In the summer of 2017, he enjoyed two weeks of music jamboree as a counselor at the Marrowstone Music Festival, performing works such as The Rite of Spring and Fountains of Rome. During these years, Asa also coached the winter musicals at his alma mater Mount Baker, helping put on the shows High School Musical and Beauty and the Beast. In 2019, he was honored to win the WWU Concerto Competition, which culminated in his performance of Robert Jager’s Concerto for Percussion accompanied by the WWU symphony orchestra. The capstone of his college experience was a tour of Spain with the WWU percussion ensemble, where he performed a world premier of The Twelve Labors of Hercules by Michael Udow in the town of Llíria.
Since graduating, Asa continues to perform in town as a member of the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra, as well as in the pit orchestra with the Bellingham Theatre Guild. He performs jazz locally with his group The Other Thing. He has recorded with the indie rock band Apology Wars and progressive metal group Thoughts for the Builders. Outside of music, he enjoys rockhounding the Nooksack River and playing games of Halo.
Discography
“Towers” Thoughts for the Builders (2021) - drums
“The Best I Can Do Is Ruin a Party” Apology Wars (2019) - drums
“Woburn Demos” Bird & Shooter (2019) - percussion
“Ocean Without a Shore” Croak (2015) - drums