With a Skype username of “guitardreams123” and a guitar in almost every Facebook picture, Matt Rosenthal eats, breathes, and dreams guitar. He’s been playing for 11 years, and he has been classically trained for three years, though he dabbles in jazz, rock, and metal as well. He is currently studying Classical Guitar Performance with Laris Franson at Brooklyn College, and he is part of a band called Intrinsic Blue.
Matt’s involvement in music really started with his interest in metal. His love of classical music, however, was sparked by a mutual friend of ours, Josh Butcher. The two boys were friends in middle school and would bond over video games and the like. One day, Josh told Matt about the music school that he attended- Mannes Conservatory, Preparatory Division. Josh encouraged Matt to enroll, and upon passing his audition and getting in, Matt realized he had a passion for the music. He had a musical background of 8 years of guitar experience. “Learning classical technique was like learning anything else.” His sister had also influenced him to learn to read and analyze music.
Intrinsic Blues has only been together for about two years. They aren’t very active in the rock scene; they mainly do recordings. They haven’t had a chance to do many live shows, simply because they all live so far away. The band was founded in Brooklyn, NYC, but many of the band members went away to college, putting them on a bit of a hiatus. Thanks to this, he only practices about 3 hours a week for Intrinsic Blue.
Three to seven hours a day are devoted to classical guitar, depending on Matt’s schoolwork. Matt teaches guitar for a living, which brings in a considerable amount of income—one thing he says that is great about being a classical musician in New York City. Parents always want their kids to learn to play an instrument. He also thinks that there are many opportunities for classical guitarists in terms of performances. He calls up libraries and churches to see if they’d like him to perform, and they almost always agree. Thanks to the diversity of NYC, there is such a big outlet for classical musicians. The one difficult thing, he says, is getting paid for gigs.
He loves performing, though it is nerve-wracking, he says. He describes that New York is a great place to perform in. “The audiences are great; they’re always willing to listen to what you’re playing. I see New York as the musical hub of America. People aren’t always just interested in the popular stuff. They’re open to whatever you have to offer.”
He’s also a part of the NYCCGS (New York City Classical Guitar Society). He has a student membership, in which he has access to member events, such as various performances, master classes, and talks. Being a member is a great way to network as well as keep in touch with what has been happening in the NYC classical guitar scene.
EG: “Do you think that the reason New York is so accepting is that it’s so diverse that you could literally find anything here, audience and performers both?”
MR: “Sure. Definitely. If you’re walking down any street—Coney Island Avenue, let’s say, you can find a section of Jewish people, a section of Muslim people, amongst others, and these groups of people often have parades that include all types of different music from all over the world, and I think things like that really show the diversity of the city and all of the things you can be exposed to just by walking and looking around.”
Interesting how people cobble together income from music, with some getting paid little to nothing for gigs, but doing well financially by giving lessons. Back when I was DJing, I used to feel badly for my jazz friends who would get paid less than I did (gotta split the take with other band members), even though they were far superior musicians and had worked much harder at their craft. (Not that I felt badly enough to give them some of my DJing proceeds.)
Thank you Eve!