PSU music professor calls Grammy nomination ‘an opportunity like no other’
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A lot of buzz is in the air ahead of the 2024 Grammy Awards, especially in Portland where a local educator has been nominated.
Coty Raven Morris is the 35-year-old Grammy nominee who is one of only 10 finalists up for the music educator award for her work at Portland State University.
Morris was clearly beside herself with the news, yet still humble about it, telling KOIN 6 News she’d been singing since before she could talk. She went from growing up in foster care and sleeping in her car while earning her degree to conducting choirs across the states and now being a Grammy nominee. She says music has been there every step of the way and now it’s her mission to bring the power of song to others.
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“It is my life’s purpose to touch as many lives through the vehicle of music and that’s what I’m striving to do,” said Morris, who is a PSU Hinckley assistant professor of choir, music education and social justice
While she’s only been in the Rose City for three years, she’s found her rhythm. Her innovative teaching methods have already piqued the interest of the Recording Academy as she was one of only 10 finalists out of the nearly 2,000 educators nominated.
“I don’t have the words for what this experience has been. I remember when I got the call that I made the top 10 and I just stood on the phone and cried,” Morris said. “To have not only myself and my students, my institution, be amplified and to have my work and my mission of what music education can do being amplified on a large platform — it’s an opportunity like no other.”
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Born in Louisiana and raised in Texas, Morris said she didn’t know where Portland was when she took the job in 2021. Still, she’s clearly developed a bond with her students.
“Oh they’re elated. Their reaction, every time I see them in a hallway — it’s not ‘Professor Morris,’ it’s ‘is that they Grammy nominated Professor Coty Raven Morris?’”
In addition to teaching Morris founded Being Human Together or BHT, which aims to use music to help connect communities and further conversations about mental health, systemic oppression and other challenging topics.
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“Here at Portland State, Being Human Together has three branches: community, neighbors, and youth. It’s with our neighbors initiative that we are working on a houseless choir, in collaboration with Street Roots, working on an open house and our houseless services here at Portland State.”
The compassion for homeless issues comes from a place of experience as Morris said she earned the first half of her undergraduate degree while sleeping in her car. She said she knows the potential power music has to help heal vulnerable communities.
“And one of my favorite tunes is, ‘when you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.’ We’ve been singing since we were born and people just need to return to that,” Morris said.
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Her work also helped organize BHT’s first youth summit last spring. That included offering local high school students a day of musical learning and community building and using song to address the issues important to them. Morris said the second youth summit is scheduled for next May with nearly five times the number of students seen last year.
She said win or lose her family in Portland and across the globe will celebrate this accolade with her every step of the way
“We don’t celebrate to block out darkness, we celebrate so that we will remember what joy feels like, especially in darkness. Because the weeds of the garden want to choke all the roses, and this is the Rose City, so we must be gardeners of our emotions, gardeners of this community together. So I said win or lose, we’re having a party. We’re doing downs, we’re doing tuxes, we’re hanging out and these are the people who I’m celebrating with no matter what.”
The winner of the music educator award will get $10,000 and a matching grant for their music program. The Grammys will air on KOIN 6 on Sunday, Feb. 4, at 5 p.m.
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