Nick Scales has served as Associate Professor of Double Bass in the School of Music at West Texas A&M University and Principal Bassist of the Amarillo Symphony since 2005. He is also Principal Bassist of the Utah Festival Opera Orchestra and Musical Theater Company as well as bassist for Polk Street Jazz and The Martinis in Amarillo. Scales is an accomplished, versatile performer who is comfortable in solo, orchestral, jazz and chamber music explorations. Performance credits include eleven years as core section bass in the Dallas Opera orchestra as well as numerous regional orchestral positions such as substitute performing with the San Antonio, Fort Worth, Tulsa and Shreveport Symphonies. (He has also performed numerous solo, chamber recitals and guest performances and presented many pedagogical clinics throughout his career.) In 2012, Scales was invited to perform as a faculty bassist at the Orfeo Music Festival in Vipiteno, Italy.
His teaching experience includes adjunct appointments at Texas Christian University and the University of North Texas. Scales maintains a successful private studio and is highly regarded as a clinician and adjudicator. Academic administrative experience includes positions as Assistant to the Director, Director of Summer Music Institute and Coordinator for String Preparatory programs for the TCU School of Music, and serving as Director for the WTAMU Chamber Music Strings Camp since 2010.
Academic Degrees:
West Texas State University, BM (1989)
University of North Texas, MM (1993)
Texas Tech University, DMA (2010)
