MATHEUS ROCHA

My music life started when I was eleven years-old. I found a CD of Vladimir Horowitz playing some Beethoven Sonatas and after listening to it several times I asked my father if I could take piano classes. It took two years, but when I was thirteen he finally found someone to teach me. I did not have a piano, but soon my parents gave me a keyboard where I could practice.

 

When I was fifteen my professor said that it would be better if I went to a School of Music, so I practiced a lot, learned some music theory and did the application. I finished this program in three years, with a 9.37/10 GPA, the best among all the students who graduated that year (I got a medal and a certificate). When I was 18 I applied for a BMus at a federal university where I lived. I had the best result among the ones who were applying to music, and then I studied Piano (and music theory) for four years until I finally graduated, last year (again, best GPA: 9.52/10). I had a one-year exchange experience in Canada 2012/2013 that was really amazing. I could study music in a great university, where I got A+ in composition (and at least A- in all the other courses). I also played with other people, attended several concerts and even had the opportunity to go to the USA for a week (and visit the Juilliard School, Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Opera…). Well, basically I’ve listened to great music and I’ve known amazing musicians.

 

During these eleven years I also played with several choirs, a rock band, an orchestra, a string quartet… And I’ve composed the soundtrack for a game (Global Game Jam 2014), a video-poem (Mar e Pulso), an Interactive Program (QuimTech) and several small pieces. I’ve worked at a Piano Pedagogy Research Laboratory and I also gave piano classes to children in a voluntary project. The main factors that have influenced my education were my amazing professors, both in Brazil and Canada. The region where I live in Brazil has a very strong and unique musical culture, based on harmonies, melodies and rhythms somewhat different from what we are so used to listen in American movies and games.

 

I’ve always been involved with technology, and I’ve recently built my own home studio, that I use to record, compose, practice, and edit scores. When I was living in Canada, I had the opportunity to write an Essay about something that changed the world for my ‘Workshop in Essay Writing’ Class. I wrote an essay about Game Audio, which is part of what we know as Interactive Audio. It’s very interesting, and you can find it in the Dropbox folder. I also have a lot of experience with Music Score Editors (six years with Finale, and two years with Sibelius), and some experience with DAWs (I use Cubase 7).