Alumni Spotlight: Scott Harrison
Music alum Scott Harrison (M.M. '04) details how his Meadows experience has informed his work at the Cleveland Institute of Music and beyond.
Scott Harrison (M.M. ’04) is this week’s featured alum in our new Alumni Spotlight series for the This Week at Meadows e-newsletter. Each week, a different Meadows alum will be highlighted for their accomplishments post-graduation.
Giving students room to explore, grow, and even fail, can oftentimes be just as important as giving them the technical tools and skills necessary to excel at their craft. Bassoonist Scott Harrison experienced this firsthand during his master’s program at Meadows, where he was constantly encouraged to be adventurous and felt comfortable doing so because of the nurturing atmosphere.
“Meadows was such a creative and collaborative environment,” says Harrison, who believes the Division of Music was ahead of its time. “Being surrounded by and in dialogue with artists from other genres and disciplines encouraged me to think more broadly about what music, musicians and music organizations could be.”
Harrison experienced a pivotal moment during a guest lecture in spring semester of my second year in O'Donnell Hall by Bill Lively, where he recalls having a moment where everything “clicked,” and he left that room knowing that he’d found his true path in music and the arts.
He now utilizes everything he learned at Meadows in his role as the Executive Vice President and Provost at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), where he is ultimately responsible for ensuring the integrity of the learning experience and providing oversight for all the individuals who make up that world – from students to faculty and staff.
“My time in the Meadows music program, particularly my work with my studio teacher Will Roberts, provided me with technical tools and a disciplined approach to musical phrasing that made me more mindful and organized when my career ambitions shifted to arts administration,” explains Harrison. “I benefitted from regular insights and training from so many members of the instrumental music faculty and those skills clearly helped me with the path I pursued.”
Throughout his career, these tools led Harrison to seek opportunities to form partnerships and explore new possibilities that push him and his organizations into uncharted territory. In doing so, he is able to work to ensure that CIM’s programs live up to the ideals of their mission and that their students achieve the outcomes they are seeking in pursuit of the CIM Standard.
In addition to his role at CIM, Harrison is also a Board Chair for BLUME Haiti, an organization that harnesses the transformative power of music education to help Haitians strengthen their communities. BLUME’s programs, which are developed in close collaboration with Haitian leaders on the ground, thousands of young musicians and their families.
“This time of year we send financial support to dozens of summer music camps countrywide that are centers of musical training, social cohesion, and youth development,” Harrison says of the work he does with BLUME Haiti. “Being a part of this intentional, inspiring, impactful organization as a donor and now its Board Chair is one of the great joys of my life.”
Like Harrison experienced the larger Meadows community being there for him, he has been able to pay it forward with not only his nonprofit work with BLUME Haiti but also in working to create a similar environment for his own students at CIM. And whether graduates pursue performance careers or arts administration work like Harrison, it is clear that the creative and versatile learning environment Meadows provides its students can result in impressive careers.