"As someone who moves at a million miles per hour, choir -- music -- is the one thing that does make time stop for me. I knew that I needed to be in the arts. I have to be a teacher, I have to be a conductor, so that I can live in this endless moment that is quite finite but feels like infinity. I want to live in this forever."
Coty Raven Morris is a proud alumnus of Texas State University- San Marcos where she studied with Drs. Lynn Brinckmeyer, Jonathan Bacock, and Joey Martin. She received her Masters of Music in Choral Conducting from Michigan State University in the Spring of 2020 under Drs. David Rayl, Jonathan Reed, and Sandra Snow.
She is currently the Visiting Assistant Professor of Choir, Music Education, and Social Justice at Portland State University. Prior to this, she was the Director of Choirs at Crosby High School in the Houston area and has served as the Outreach Choir Director at the MSU Community Music School and Music Director at Grand Ledge United Methodist Church. Her choirs received consistent Sweepstakes & Division I ratings at UIL and choral festivals.
Morris was the recipient of the Hays CISD Linebarger Academic Recognition Award for 2013 & Galena Park ISD's Dazzling Diamond Award in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018 for outstanding mentorship and leadership in her field. She is the Northwest Choral representative for the National Association for Music Education as well as the Community Choir Chair for Northwest region of the American Choral Directors Association.
A newly published author and composer, Morris is a sought after clinician and speaker across the country. She has recently served as the Clinician and Headliner for Florida ACDA, Washington MEA, and Minnesota ACDA as well as the Keynote speaker for the city of Lake Oswego’s Juneteenth festival.
Her future engagements include the Alaska All State Treble Choir and the Oregon Middle School Tenor Bass Choir. Morris has been a choir member of the South Texas Vocal Artists and Mirabai and has devoted over a decade of summers to working as a camp director at the Texas State, Northeastern and Lamar University summer camps.
Coty Raven Morris the Founder of Being Human Together, a budding community rooted in music education striving to normalize difficult topics in our field through conversation and connection. BHT seeks to discuss traditionally taboo topics like mental health, systemic oppression, diversity, and inclusivity.
To get in touch with Coty, you can visit her website, https://cotyravenmorris.com or find her on Instagram and Tiktok: @cotyraven.
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