Keeping fingers in lots of pies...

Currently Matt is writing percussion books for several shows for the St Francis de Sales marching band. It basically consists of taking the full score that has already been laid out for the show, researching the music that is being used for the theme and then writing awesome percussion parts for it.  It sounds pretty straightforward, but it takes time and concentration, so it is good that he is clearing this responsibility from his plate as his summer opportunities fast approach.

He has also contacted two of his colleagues from UT to form a performance group for the purpose of supporting the creation and getting exposure for what has become his passion: electro-acoustic music, somewhat in the fashion of the group Big Robot , from Purdue.  His goal is to work with these colleagues to build a portfolio of works that he can then publish and perform at "new music" -type events. Heady stuff, it seems to me, but if it is out there to be done, I know that Matt is the guy to make it happen!

Here is a link to a sample of the work of Big Robot on Vimeo. Enjoy!

Additional footage and more inspiration in strange places...

A new bit of video to work with for the Masters project, taken at an abandoned public school building -- here's the scoop and the link from Matt:

"The trailer for my current project HUMAN/NATURE/MACHINE, a program of an eclectic mix of acoustic and electroacoustic works for solo percussion, accompanied by video produced by myself. Includes works by John Cage, Stuart Saunders Smith, Eric Ewazen, Christos Hatzis, Jeffery Peyton, Nathan Davis and more."

 See the video now on Facebook

Pushing toward the goal...

And with the goal firmly in our sights, here's one more thing to offer you to spur you to a lot of donation action.  As you can see below, we have a limited number of these very awesome glow-in-the-dark silicone wristbands (adult size only) with a special message to you from Matt and me.  You can get one of these little beauties sent directly to you for the paltry donation of only $5.00 or more.  For your effort, you will receive one super-cool wristband and the gratitude of a musician driving hard to reach his goals. 

Progress being made on content for final Masters recital

from Matt:

"This is the accompanying video with click track that I created for the project I am currently working on entitled HUMAN/NATURE/MACHINE. The piece is In The Fire of Conflict by Christos Hastiz, for Marimba, Crotales and Tape."

Watch Now on Facebook