Guitar, Bass, Voice, Piano
Matthew has been immersed in music since he first began piano lessons at the age of seven. Highly enthusiastic about music from an early age, he added cello lessons two years later, studying with the Suzuki method. At the age of ten Matthew and his family moved from Atlanta to Boulder, CO, where he attended Shining Mountain Waldorf School and played cello in the school orchestra for five years. After picking up the guitar in middle school, Matthew formed his very first band in high school. During this time he fell in love with the art of recording, and produced two albums with his band. Matthew was also part of his high school a cappella group, high school jazz band, and had lead roles in the school musicals (The Hot Mikado and West Side Story). He also received formal voice training and studied upper-level music theory, including four part counterpoint composition.
Matthew went on to study guitar performance and recording arts at the University of Colorado (Denver), where he received his BS degree in Music. In his private guitar instruction at UCD, Matthew focused on jazz guitar with an emphasis on improvisation as well as chord melodies. He also participated in the pop rock ensemble for three semesters, and was a member of the chamber ensemble for two. Throughout his undergraduate studies, Matthew took courses in teaching private lessons, sight singing, and music history. Outside of school he was a founding member of and the principal songwriter for the band Fluorescent Phobia, which gigged around Denver for several years. The band opened for acts including Mini Mansions, Widowspeak, and The Preatures, and released an EP titled Incandescence. During this time, he began teaching guitar and piano lessons and started his own recording studio, Sinking Tree Studios. Since graduating from UCD in 2014, Matthew has continued to teach music and enjoy helping artists capture their talents with high quality recordings.