Designing a classical pathway for young blacks

Ever look at a symphony orchestra and wonder, "Where are all the black players?"

The Seattle Symphony is pretty typical of orchestras around the country. Ever since last season, when bass player Bruce Lawrence retired, there is one African-American musician in the orchestra: timpanist Michael Crusoe, the wizard of the kettledrums. That's it.

Quinton Morris has wondered about this issue, too, and as an African-American concert violinist — one of the rare black musicians who make a living in classical music — he has some strong ideas on the subject. A Renton High School graduate who now heads up a highly successful African-American string octet called The Young Eight, Morris is back in town this week for two activities dear to his heart.

One is an in-school residency at T.T. Minor Elementary School and two middle schools, Washington and Meany, this week, and for another week next April. That second residency coincides with a Young Eight performance on the International Chamber Series at Meany Theater (8 p.m. April 18; 206-543-4880).

This week's residency dovetails with a free public forum Thursday, taking place in the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center and presented by the UW World Series and Seattle's Ladies Musical Club. The topic: "Silent Strings: Where are the Black Youth in Classical Music?" Morris will join several music-community leaders, including Marcus Tsutakawa (Garfield High School), Carlene Brown (Seattle Pacific University) and Bruce Lawrence, with radio personality and musician Dave Beck as moderator. They're serving refreshments, along with the ideas, suggestions and home truths.

"I came up with the idea of the forum," Morris said last week in a phone chat from the cafeteria at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is working for his doctorate between Young Eight engagements.

"In high school, in college and now in graduate school, I was always the only African American, or the only African-American male. That's hard. It's hard."

Morris knows the reason why there are so few musicians like him: a lack of mentors. He has heard young black students tell him over and over that they wish they'd stuck with their instruments and kept going. But they didn't have mentors — someone they could turn to for advice and motivation. They often didn't have private lessons on their instruments, and their families weren't connected to all the information about how to find teachers; lessons also were difficult to afford.

"People get discouraged and quit," Morris said.

"There's peer pressure, and no encouragement at school. A young black child needs to see people he can relate to. Somebody has to step up to the plate and say 'I'll do that; I'll be a mentor for this child.' "

Much as Morris loves bringing his Young Eight into the schools and getting kids excited about music, he knows that isn't enough. A one-shot jolt of good string playing is no substitute for an ongoing effort to encourage and develop these students. Teachers don't always see the warning signs that kids are losing their motivation or encountering problems with their musical development, Morris believes.

He can relate to these problems because he encountered them too. His parents were divorced, and his mother didn't know that private teachers were needed. Lessons didn't start until the 10th grade, and Morris says the family picked the wrong teacher: "She wasn't good. I didn't learn much from her all through high school."

Nonetheless, Morris was good enough to be principal second violin of the Seattle Youth Symphony. He still felt he wasn't in "that whole circle of who's studying with this teacher and who's playing this concerto or that concerto."

Along with his devotion to the violin and the Young Eight, Morris is determined to make the path forward a little easier for those who come behind him. Thus the school residencies, the forums, and the upcoming tour of several black colleges where Morris and his group are addressing music students. They will give seminars on how to get into graduate school, and how to take auditions. "Just what I wish I'd had then, and what I needed to hear."

Morris hopes there'll be a good turnout for the Seattle forum, and he is a firm believer in the possibility of change.

"If we can get together with schools and notable musicians in town, we can come up with solutions to help and encourage our children. We know the talent is there. They just need a way to go forward."

Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com