Gary Morris
Bass and Acoustic Guitar. Trumpet. Mandolin. Pennywhistle. Banjo. Recorder. Accordion. Concertina. Piano. Flathead Valley Community College Music Instructor Gary Morris can play them all.
Born and raised in the Los Angeles area, Morris, of Kalispell, has been playing music all of his life. He started playing cello when he eight years old. Two years later, he switched to playing the trumpet. But it wasn’t until after he graduated college when he discovered his love for playing guitar.
“At that time, all of my friends were playing in rock-n-roll bands,” Morris said. “It was a lot more fun than sitting in a park playing the trumpet by myself.”
While in California, he attended California State University, Long Beach, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in geography.
“Back then, I would ask myself, ‘What am I ever going to do with a music degree,’ so I chose geography,” said Morris. “Ironically, music is all I’ve been doing ever since.”
Morris found his way to the Flathead when he came for a visit in the late 1970s to see friends who had started a band in Kalispell. He never left the Flathead and has been here since.
In addition to teaching Beginning and Intermediate Guitar at FVCC, he teaches music classes to children in kindergarten through eighth grade at Kila Elementary School as well as private music classes at Jones Musical Education Center in Kalispell. You can find him almost every Friday night at the Pizza Factory in Kalispell jamming in the local band, The Stringlers, or playing all over the Valley and throughout the northwest region of the United States for the Celtic Band Tra Le Gael and pre-bluegrass band Grin and Bear It.
But his wide spectrum of the musical talent does not stop there. He also sings, has performed in a couple of musicals, has played in pit bands for various play productions and fills in for various bands when members get sick.
But when asked what his favorite aspect of music is, his answer was playing the guitar.
“I love to play all instruments. They are all fun. But if I was stranded on a deserted island, I would want to have a guitar with me,” he said.