An Interview with Ruth Morris Gray

July 1, 2026| Alfred Music Official

Ruth Morris Gray is a Los Angeles-area choral composer, arranger, and high school choral director whose love of text has driven everything she has written for over two decades. A graduate of Biola University and UC Santa Barbara, she has been publishing with Alfred Music since 2004 and has spent 22 years making music with her high school students - with Andy Beck by her side as editor the entire time.

Q: How did you first discover your passion for composing?

I began writing during high school. I first began by writing poetry and short stories. The next step for me was adding music to texts. I found that I really loved creating music, and especially combining music with text.

Q: Who has shaped how you think about music?

My mentor and composition teacher in college, Dr. Edwin T. Childs, taught me so much about the craft of creating music. Since then, I have been challenged and inspired by many composers and arrangers, including Andy Beck, my fantastic editor for more than 20 years.

Q: What was the first piece you wrote that made you think, "I might actually be onto something here"?

Remember Me, published by Alfred Publishing, was the first piece I wrote for my choir when I was student teaching. I had published music for church choirs, but when I began to write for school choirs, a whole new world opened up for me.

Q: What's the hardest creative problem you've ever had to solve in your work, and how did you get through it?

I like coming up with ideas. If I hit a wall with a piece I am composing or arranging, I usually work on something else and come back to it later. Space and a new perspective work well for me. Recently, I submitted a piece for publication that was rejected. I went back and really analyzed the piece - What do I love about this piece and why? Is the form a problem and how can I fix it? I reworked the piece and submitted it to another publisher and it was accepted.

Q: How has your compositional voice changed over the years? Is there anything you used to believe about writing music that you've since changed your mind on?

I think my voice has grown and developed because of the wide variety of music I compose and arrange - from setting Japanese texts to arranging African folk songs, from writing patriotic songs to setting English poetry. I try to be true to the style and culture of the original folk song. I also strive to be true to the poet's voice when I set a text to music. I think - What would the poet want the music to sound like?

I don't think my beliefs have changed so much as that as a choral director, I am constantly learning from other composers and arrangers and from performances of my work. I want to write music that is sophisticated, yet accessible for singers. That is true whether I write a piece for elementary school singers or collegiate singers. The harmonic vocabulary and melodic techniques vary, but the underlying compositional principles are the same.

Q: Do you have a favorite piece on Alfred.com? What was the spark behind it?

I am probably most inspired by great texts. One of my favorite Alfred pieces is A Dream Within a Dream, my setting of Edgar Allen Poe's poem. The melodies and harmonies came quickly to me as I read the text aloud. It took time to craft the piece, but I felt like it flowed out of me. I had a lot of fun creating suspensions and developing polychordal harmonies. I also was inspired because I wrote the piece on vacation in San Diego and the ocean is always inspiring!

Q: If there was a soundtrack for your own life right now, what piece would it be?

You've Got A Friend - Carole King and James Taylor. Though my life is busy, I have a lot of support through family and friendships.

Q: Where are you based, and how does your environment influence your work?

I live and work in the greater Los Angeles area. LA is a melting pot of cultures and diverse music. My students inspire me to embrace music from other cultures in my work. They perform many of the pieces I write.

Q: How do you spend most of your working hours?

Most of my composing is done in summer. During the school year, my family, teaching, and performing take up my creative energy.

Q: Where did you study, and how much of what you do today traces back to your formal training versus what you figured out on your own?

I studied composition under Dr. Childs at Biola University (Bachelor of Music degree) and received my Master's Degree in Music Composition from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where I studied with Peter Fricker, Emma Lou Diemer, and Edward Applebaum. How I understand music was formed during those early years, but what works for singers, the inclusion of non Western tonalities, and the craft of text setting I learned on my own.

Q: Did you grow up in a musical household, or did music find you some other way?

I grew up singing at home and church. I studied piano growing up. Music and faith were an integral part of my upbringing.

Q: How long have you been publishing with Alfred, and how did that relationship start?

When I was student teaching in the spring of 2004, I wrote Remember Me, my setting of the Christina Rossetti poem for one of the choirs to perform. My master teacher, Todd Helm, suggested I submit the piece to Alfred Publishing, so I did. Somehow the piece found its way to Andy Beck. He contacted me and asked if I could create other voicings over the weekend. I did. I didn't realize at the time that submitting in early September was actually the end of the submission season and I was fortunate Alfred would even consider publishing the piece.

Q: Outside of composing, is there another role in music that's been just as central to who you are?

In my heart, I am a teacher. I really love to help students grow and develop into better performers and leaders. My tool for teaching is music and I have been blessed to make music with my high school students for 22 years.

Q: How has the music education publishing world changed since you started, and how has that shaped what you write?

Digital music is now a really important part of choral music publishing. Initially, I was concerned it might replace print. But I feel that digital music has actually expanded the market for my music. Alfred is doing a great job with MakeMusic!

Q: What's a type of piece or repertoire gap you think the industry still hasn't figured out yet?

There is a huge market for show choir music. Many directors hire their own writers. Even my daughter is asking me to write for her show choir when I retire.

Q: What do you want your body of work to add up to?

I want to compose and arrange pieces that bring meaning to people and help singers and choirs as a whole to develop their musicianship. Of course, I would love to have some of my work sung in one hundred years, but if singers and audiences today are inspired by my music, that is enough for me.

Q: Is there a favorite piece of yours that may not be your most popular work but resonates really strongly with you?

I composed my setting of Dies Irae during a period of terrible loss in my life. That piece reminds me of the joy that can be found even in the midst of darkness.