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Matt Brown was born on September 8, 1984, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Matt
has lived in West Chester for all his life. He has attended Westtown School
since first grade and currently is a 10th grade student in the Upper School.
In addition to playing the violin, Matt is an avid reader of music history,
theory, and jazz. Matt also enjoys following all sorts of sports and loves
to play tennis. Besides reading and sports, Matt spends most of the rest of
his time listening to jazz, classical, Old-Time, and North Indian classical
music, both at live concerts and from recordings.
Musical Background
Classical
Matt started Suzuki violin on his fourth
birthday and has been playing ever since. For the last three years
(1998-2000) he was a member of the Chester County Youth Orchestra and spent
his last year there as the associate principal violinist. Matt currently is
in the Delaware County Youth Orchestra as a second violin. He recently began
studying with Rich Amoroso, a first violinist with The Philadelphia
Orchestra. Matt also studies Solfege and musicianship from Dr. James McVoy,
the head of the Theory and Composition Department at West Chester
University. Matt's favorite composer is Bach and is going to be playing the
first violin part of Bach's Concerto for Two Violins in D minor with
orchestra accompianment in December.
Old-Time
Matt has been exposed to Southern Appalachian
Music (a.k.a. Old-Time) since before he was born. Since his early years,
Matt was force fed Major Contay and the Canebrake Rattlers, Charlie Poole,
and many others. Soon after starting the violin, he casually began to pick
out fiddle tunes on his violin with the encouragement of his father, Tim
Brown, a banjo player. He started performing Old-Time when he was about
seven, sitting in with bands at local and regional festivals. When he was
younger, he and his father attended Brandywine Mountain Music Convention,
which was a highlight of Matt's summer vacations.
Another tradition in Matt's family is to
attend the Indian Neck Folk Festival. Matt has performed at Indian Neck a
number of times, most recently as the fiddler in a pickup band formed with
his dad and Bruce Hutton (the band is known as "The New Lost Aristocratic
Pigs").
The Fiddlin' Bear festival in the Poconos has
become another Brown family tradition. A weekend of playing and relaxing
without the usual contests and activities that are often found at festivals
is a welcome delight.
Over the past three years, Matt has become
serious about Old-Time music. In the summer of '99 he attended Old-Time week
at the Swannanoa Gathering in Asheville, North Carolina. Matt earned a full
scholarship to the camp, which was awarded to a promising young fiddler in
honor of the 80th birthday of master fiddler Ralph Blizzard. He
enjoyed meeting and playing with Brad Leftwich, Tom Sauber, John Herrmann,
Rayna Gellert, Kirk Sutphin, Bruce Greene, Paul Brown, Meredith McIntosh,
Ginny Hawker & Tracy Schwarz, and many others.
A few short weeks later, he attended The
Appalachian String Band Music Festival (a.k.a. "Clifftop"). Matt and his
family had attended the festival early in its history but hadn't been there
for a few years. It was definitely the highlight of his summer. There,
between long sessions with many friends, Matt won the Third Place ribbon for
the Youth Category in the fiddle contest. His favorite part of the festival,
though, was the countless hours of jamming in which he participated.
This past year, Matt attended Swannanoa
again, this time as an assistant teacher (affectionately known as a "fiddle
slave"). While there, Matt continued his tradition of making good friends by
getting to know and play with the likes of Dirk Powell and Mike Seeger. Matt
also attended Clifftop and once again placed third in the Youth Division in
the fiddle contest. Matt finished off his summer by attended Southern Week
at Ashokan Fiddle and Dance where he got to know Jay Unger & Molly Mason,
Alice Gerrard, Garry Harrison, Randy Marmouze, Sharon Leahy & Rick Good, and
others.
Matt is planning on recording a cd in March
with Brad Leftwich and Beverly Smith. More definite information will follow
as it is determined.
Jazz
Over the past four years Matt has also
developed a passionate interest in jazz. Thanks to a jazz class taught by
Bill Kronenburg of Third Coast String Quartet at the Colorado Suzuki
Institute Matt was exposed to music that he had pretty much ignored
throughout his early youth. Soon he was purchasing recordings of Stephane
Grappelli, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, McCoy
Tyner, and countless others. In the summer of 1999, Matt attended Mark
O'Conner's fiddle camp in Nashville, Tennessee, where he studied with Darol
Anger. Darol has become yet another inspiration for Matt. Matt's main
musical model is jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. Miles' understated and
emotional playing has drawn Matt to him like no other musician has. Matt
takes courage from Miles' strength of will and respect for all types of
music. Matt has been studying jazz with Skip Wilkins of Emmaus, PA
since January 2000. With Skip, Matt explores jazz violin and piano and
incorporates many aspects of Western music history and theory. Working with
Skip has been a tremendous pleasure and extrodinarily helpful. Matt looks
forward to continuing many years of study with Skip! |