JUST THE FACTS: Age - 29; Hometown - Washington, DC; Education - studied classical percussion at Dartmouth in New Hampshire; Employ - joined EliasArts, LA in 2003 as an intern. Began composing in June 2006.

Sticks and scales: While neither of Morgan's parents were particularly musical, they did want to expose their children to the arts. Morgan began piano lessons in the second grade before moving to the more riveting drums in middle school. "I taught piano and drum for a while and the motivation between kids who take either is amazing. Parents aren't often encouraging their kids to take drum lessons," he says.

Hitting the timpani on the head: So what does a classical percussion major entail? "Everything from timpani to marimba," says Morgan. "I did the orchestra thing as well as solo work, which was more like mallet and weird, avant garde stuff. That was the cool thing about the school - there was a masters program in electro-acoustic music, which was the more cutting edge, so there were classes I could take. There was a lot of weird stuff like body percussion. And not many people do it so it helps you stand out a bit, which is nice."

Trial by Elias: Morgan may have started as an intern, but he was quickly brought into the fold when Jonathan Elias recruited him to be his engineer in late 2005, first for commercials and then for features. "Jonathan worked me into the ground. What I gained in opportunity I lost in sleep and years off my life," he says, jokingly. When the features finished, Morgan says, "all of a sudden we had nothing to do, so they just had me start writing."

Best work: Morgan has had the opportunity to work on some high-profile projects, which incidentally draw on his percussion and piano pedigree. Flamenco guitar and spirited hand claps drive the playful action in Xbox's "Cops and Robbers". "We could have written this very cinematic, action-type score, but instead they wanted this direction, which made it cool and quirky," says Morgan. Meanwhile, he channeled minimalist composer Steve Reich for a rhythmic piano score for Nike "B-Clutch", featuring Carmelo Anthony. "It almost seems like a percussive piece to me in the way it's written. From there, it was just adding that urban flavor to it," he says.

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