Friends and well-wishers lined up outside Pottle Auditorium’s backstage door to congratulate an up-and-coming musician for a performance well done.
On Tuesday, Oct. 29th, Harry Morter Jr., a senior with an instrumental music concentration, performed his junior recital on trumpet, accompanied by Irina Cunev on piano.
Morter is a third-generation musician and grew up in an environment where he was surrounded by music which influenced him to choose the career of a musician.
“My father and my grandfather were musicians,” said Morter. “They were sax players, but I kind of went with a different route. I started playing trumpet, and I guess it just was always in my family. I was always around musicians, so I kind of just went into it like everyone else in my family.”
Morter has tutored people in music theory in addition to giving trumpet lessons to junior high school and college students.
There was no deep meaning behind Morter’s decision to play the trumpet over the saxophone or other instruments, he simply liked the way it sounded. He decided to learn how to play the instrument after hearing examples from one of his junior high teachers that showed him how each instrument sounded. Morter has been playing the trumpet since the fifth grade, and the path to becoming a musician is not an easy one, according to Morter.
“There’s always something that I find is more challenging each and every day that I pick up the horn,” said Morter. “And, you know, I might sound good one day, and the next day, I’m just like ‘Man, I sound horrible.’  So each day has its own challenges, whether it’s the way I sound, I can’t play the passage in this piece, things like that.”
In order to combat the challenges of playing the horn and improve his skills, Morter practices the trumpet religiously.
“I wake up at 5:30 every morning, get into the practice room at six, practice until my first class, and I practice for about four to six hours a day. It’s like a sport. Football players get up and train, I get up and practice my horn.”
While the music industry may be perceived as a highly competitive one, Morter prefers not to view his fellow musicians as competition and helps them whenever the opportunity arises.
“We’re all friends in music,” said Morter. “There are some people who aren’t as inclined, I guess you’d say, as other people, but I try to help everyone as much as I can, whether I like them or not. I don’t like to think that I have competition with someone. I like to think more that I have musical companionship with someone.”
Morter is currently in a multi-genre band with some of his fellow musicians. They play rhythm & blues, jazz and funk music around Southern Louisiana. He is hoping that the band becomes popular enough to support his lifestyle.
“Right now I’m in a band that’s off campus called Tyler Kinchen and the Right Pieces. I play trumpet and flugelhorn, and I sing back-up vocals,” said Morter. “We’re getting pretty popular around the area. We have a studio on iTunes and hopefully that takes off and I don’t have to go grad school. But, if that doesn’t take off, I’m probably going to go to grad school, not sure where, and do jazz studies-really try to understand jazz and play jazz professionally, and, hopefully, teach college kids.”
Also in Tyler Kinchen and the Right Pieces are Tyler and Caleb Kinchen, Zakk Garner, Wes Mannino, David Gambino and Eric Hendrix. The band currently has two albums released called Indeed and Here It Is. You can find more information about them at their website, www.tkandtherightpieces.com or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
Morter encourages everyone to get involved with music.
“If you don’t know an instrument or you don’t know how to sing, pick up an instrument, or learn a song, and just go with it,” said Morter.