Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Matt Silverberg. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Matt, appreciate you joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
I’m incredibly happy with being a musician. It’s been a lot of hard work and it hasn’t always been fun, but I wouldn’t want to do anything else. While it would be wonderful to have stable income, the thought of working a “regular job” just doesn’t vibe with me. I love having the flexible schedule so I can continue to work on my music.
Matt, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I was raised in a musical household. Both of my parents were professional musicians. Despite that, my high school band director was the biggest influence. I told him I played piano so he gave me marimba mallets. Playing the marimba has been the biggest focal point of my career. It’s not the most well known instrument and it’s not the easiest to travel with, but it sure is cool and gets peoples attention.
I really started diving deep into the marimba when I started arranging video game music for it. I’ve arranged tunes ranging from The Legend of Zelda, Halo, Star Wars, and Skyrim just to name a few and have performed these arrangements at multiple conventions and at breweries and restaurants.
I also compose original music that is a combination of electronic music with the marimba. I’m actually working on an album of that music right now!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being a musician is to spark emotions and provide entertainment for others. Music should make you feel something. It can be anything from happiness, anger, or it makes you happy because the song you’re listening to is a total bop. If I’m able to spark an emotional response of some kind and/or provide entertainment to you that is the most rewarding thing.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
A lot of non-musicians think that because I’m a professional musician that means that I want to teach. To be clear, I do teach, and over the past 4 years I’ve enjoyed it more and more (I’ve got some great students), but that wasn’t my end goal when I was in school and it isn’t my end goal now. Composing music and performing that music is the end goal. However, that is extremely difficult to achieve without having some part time work to fall back on. Many venues that want live music don’t always pay the musicians a fair amount (some don’t even pay at all), so it makes performing full time even more difficult. On top of that I play the marimba, which is gigantic and a pain to move and harder to market then saying “I play guitar and sing songs”.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mattsilverbergmusic.com/
- Instagram: @marimbamatt913 https://www.instagram.com/marimbamatt913/
- Twitter: @marimbamatt913 https://twitter.com/MarimbaMatt913
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/marimbamatt913
- Other: TikTok @marimbamatt913 https://www.tiktok.com/@marimbamatt913
Image Credits
ROK Eatery Mark Jackson Skettiodin