About Matt

Here's a little more about me if you're curious. To get to know me even better, contact me at matt@matthmusic.com!

I was mostly self-taught growing up taking a year of piano lessons before exploring piano and digital composition (read as epically cheesy electronic music) on my own for many years. I then went to study at Bennington College where I focused on composition and piano and earned scholarships as a top music student. I was really pulled out of my world of mostly pop music at this point and fully thrown into the possibilities of blending classical, folk, jazz, indie, world, and other genres in with my own sensibilities I had previously developed. This was also the time I first picked up and found a passion for acoustic guitar.

After graduating, I moved to the Boston area where I've performed in rock clubs, other musical venues, weddings, art galleries, community events, and more both in different ensembles and solo. After years of heavy screen-based composition (including a project of writing 50 songs in 52 weeks), I've leaned into a purely acoustic way of writing using only my piano and guitar. I feel a deeper connection to the music and feel that my music lives in me more. Many of my earlier pieces I had to play a recording to people to convey the piece properly. I now enjoy that I can sit at an instrument and share the music directly from me.

I've composed over 24 hours worth of instrumental music in my 20+ years of writing. This includes my current solo piano and guitar music, but I've written for pop rock bands, indie folk bands, many different chamber classical configurations, a little jazz, and decades worth of electro-acoustic blended music. All of these have blended to form my current style.

I also love one-on-one conversations which has lead me to various different projects related to music. The most obvious one is teaching lessons where I can impart the musical knowledge I've gathered over the years, but also just talk people through their own musical journey. Rather than being someone just spouting their expertise, I much more enjoy the part where people discover as much as possible on their own with guidance. 

I've also done podcasting where I've gathered stories from creatives and from members of the community I'm in. Sometimes these conversations have even led to projects of writing music based on the conversations. I love people's stories and the process of their thinking.

Lastly, maybe I'll throw in that I'm not just a musician. Among other interests, I've done the information architecture for a company's database of tens of thousands of products, I've won online card game design contests, and been a stay-at-home dad. But again, connecting with people is at the heart of everything I do, so reach out to me at matt@matthmusic.com if you've got something interesting to talk to me about!