Hi! I’m Matt, and I love playing, writing, teaching, and nerding out about music. My music journey began when I was 8 years old with piano lessons, and grew to include percussion, drum set, guitar, and composing by the end of high school. After high school, I continued to learn more about music and these instruments in different ways.
I earned a bachelor’s degree in music composition from Baylor University and a master’s in percussion from the University of Alabama. This time helped me develop a much deeper understanding of music theory and history, compose lots of music, and play percussion in many different settings, including symphonies, wind ensembles, small ensembles, and as a soloist. Some favorite memories from my college years are winning the Baylor Symphony composition contest as a freshman, performing at the Livestrong 15th Anniversary Gala, and getting the chance to collaborate with artists from other disciplines to create multimedia pieces. I was able to teach myself guitar thanks to my amazing teachers who taught me the fundamentals of music, how to practice effectively, and the importance of working both hard and smart towards goals. I started playing electric guitar trying to imitate my first music hero, Joe Satriani.
Over the years, I continued to focus on electric guitar, and recently began learning classical guitar. I love variety, so between rock and metal on electric guitar and traditional and contemporary classical music on classical guitar, guitar has become one of my favorite instruments to play. For piano, I took lessons from 3rd grade to 11th grade, and then took a few semesters of piano lessons in college. Piano has always been the easiest instrument for me to express my musical ideas on, so I always come back to it. Currently, I’m pushing myself to learn piano music outside my comfort zone to play flute/piano duets with my wife Anne-Marie.
In addition to music, I’m passionate about education, and combining both of these to teach people of all ages and skill levels one-on-one is among my favorite things to do. One of my most influential teachers would always say that he was inspired by his students. I didn’t understand that when I was a student, but I certainly do as a teacher. Seeing the joy, excitement, and satisfaction achieving goals brings to my students inspires me to always work hard to become a better teacher and musician. To facilitate these successes, I use an approach that includes all the necessities while leaving room for students to regularly choose projects to undertake. I’ve found that students who have a say in lessons enjoy the experience much more and ultimately become better musicians.
After years of teaching and a lifetime of learning, I understand that any pursuit becomes difficult eventually. Whether it’s a school subject, musical instrument, or sport, developing progressively greater mastery of something will become very challenging even if it was easy at first. My teaching philosophy is to create a space for students to encounter and acknowledge this fact, and to facilitate experiences where students prove to themselves that with genuine motivation, a clear plan, and intentional effort they can overcome any challenge, musical or otherwise.
