During the football season, a torn rotator cuff didn’t stop starting center Bryan Morgan from taking the field. Tonight, though, it leaves him on the sidelines.
When the Duke University Wind Symphony performs at 8 p.m. tonight in Baldwin Auditorium, it will play—among others—a piece composed by the burly offensive lineman. Although the Symphony’s director pondered having him conduct it in front of everybody, his injury leaves him unable to comfortably go through the necessary arm motions. Instead, he will sit back and relish the sight of his composition being performed.
“Initially we talked about that because he was in a wind literature class that taught some conducting,” Wind Symphony director Verena Mösenbichler-Bryant said. “Now it’s a good chance for him to sit in the audience and actually experience his piece, and not have to focus on conducting it.”
The piece Morgan composed is titled “Aaron’s Fanfare” and runs approximately 11 minutes in length. And while he began composing it over the summer, its roots stretch far deeper into his life.
The title is a tribute to Morgan’s close friend Aaron Truitt, with whom he first began composing music when they were 12 years old. The two were neighbors, football and basketball teammates, and members of the jazz band together. While Truitt is unable to attend the concert this evening, he will be able to watch it online via Duke’s UStream channel. Morgan has kept the piece’s title and meaning secret from his friend in order to surprise him.
“This piece has my personality in it—it is very pleasing to the public ear,” Morgan said. “I just took little snippets of compositions that either I made, Aaron made, or we made together and expanded on them and made it into one melodic line.”
This process of growing those snippets into a full-on composition was easy at points and hard at others, but ultimately consumed a significant portion of his summer. For much of that time, mornings were spent at football workouts, with the rest of the day spent on writing.
When he began creating the piece, however, he did not know it would be performed on a large scale. Yet, he saw a call for undergraduate compositions and after working with members of the music department, he finished a first draft by the end of winter break. He completed the final edition about a month ago.
Throughout his time in the wind symphony—this is Morgan’s third semester in the band—it has been surprisingly easy for him to balance his commitment to music with his dedication to football. Because the football team practices in the morning and the symphony rehearses at night, the two rarely overlap.
The only time they did was during the season when team meetings were held on Thursday evenings to prepare for Saturday’s game. In those situations, the orchestra always took precedence. Cutcliffe and the team treated the symphony rehearsals as a class.
“We are extremely proud of Bryan and what he accomplished on the field, and it is even more fun to be proud of Bryan for what he does off the field,” head coach David Cutcliffe said.
While it would be easy to imagine the two commitments potentially detracting from one another due to the intensive amount of time each requires, that appears to be far from the case. In fact, many of the skills that aided Morgan throughout his Duke career in anchoring the Blue Devils’ offensive line translate to the concert hall. For previous performances, he was the concertmaster, a role traditionally assigned to the first clarinet player in a wind symphony.
“He is so committed to music and football, but he has been at every rehearsal, and he’s usually one of the first members there warming up,” Mösenbichler-Bryant said. “He’s in such a key position in football—I think that definitely translates into music.”
Although April’s NFL Draft is rapidly approaching, it is unlikely that Morgan will be selected. Yet, while his days of competitive football may be over, his days with the clarinet and music are only beginning.
In addition to being a music major, Morgan will graduate in May with a certificate in Early Childhood Studies. He will have a year to figure out exactly what he wants to do after college while spending next year earning his teaching license. He said he can imagine himself being a music teacher for kids, in addition to working as a conductor and composer.
“I just want to show children... something they can hold onto forever,” Morgan said. “You can [only] go to school and play sports for so long, but music will always be with you.”
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