Matthew Baker

Masters in Music

University of Southern California

New England Conservatory

A Bit About Matt

Growing up in California, Matthew has had a passion for music ever since his childhood playing in bands and taking lessons with local musicians. After receiving his bachelors from University of Southern California and then his masters from the New England Conservatory in Boston, Matthew has devoted his life to bringing his love of music to his students. Matthew plays and teaches a number of instruments such as Guitar, Ukulele, Piano, Trumpet and Trombone.

Instrumental lessons provided

Trumpet

Trombone

Guitar

Ukulele

Trumpet is my primary instrument and is the one I majored with in music school. My major focus when working with students is establishing brass fundamentals which includes lip buzzing, efficient breath creation and tone production.

Having a good trumpet teacher can speed up a student's development. There are many common problems that can be difficult to understand and self-diagnose. My experience with much of the trumpet repertoire allows me to pinpoint common problems and assign specific exercises to solve their problems.

Being a brass instrumentalist requires you to have a good ear. Trombone being a slide instrument requires you to have an excellent ear in order to played not just the right, but the right note with the correct intonation.

Biggest focus with my trombone students is tone creation, slide position and intonation. If you can accomplish these 3, you can start to play trombone well.

Guitar for me has alway been one of those fun instruments you can just pick up and start strum out your favorite rock song. Many of my students get to the level of picking their favorite music and playing the melodies, backgrounds rhythms and solos they love.

It does take some basic knowledge of chords and getting your fingers to move independently, but with practice everyone can do it. You just need to put in the time and have a clear goal on what you want.

Ukulele is a fantastic instrument for my smaller students with aspirations to one day to play guitar. We can learn much of the basic like we would on a guitar with the added benefit of lighter strings and easier to manage form factor.

Many of my kids who pick ukulele want to play songs like Lava, Riptide and Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World by Israel Kamakawiwoʻole. And if there are any other song requests, I always can accommodate.