Biography
Job Title: Lecturer
Courses Taught: Folk (Harmonica)
Specialisms: Irish Traditional Music, Blues, Old-Time Music, Bluegrass, Jazz, Ska, Soul, Reggae
Mathew has been a professional musician since 1993 and since then has gained broad and varied experience, working on personally initiated projects and collaborative ventures with various professional and community-based organisations.
The work Mathew does falls into five main categories:
• Professional Practice & Performance
• Recording
• Teaching
• Representation
• Community-based workshop and project provision
Professional Practice & Performance
Mathew sings and plays the harmonica, flute, uilleann pipes, guitar and tin whistle. He is currently the bandleader for a blues duo/band and two Irish traditional groups, writing songs and instrumental pieces for these bands. Annually, Mathew plays 100+ live concerts and has toured extensively in the UK and Europe.
Mathew won the British Blues Harmonica competition in 1992 and the All-Britain Fleadh Cheoil on harmonica in 1993.
In 2008 Mathew collaborated with playwright Madani Younis of Freedom Studios, Bradford and composed the score for the play ‘Happy & Married?’ that toured in theatres across the UK.
Mathew also has a Level 4 Certificate in FE Teaching Stage 1.
Recording
Mathew has recorded and mixed fourteen albums between 2001- 2021. He also works in professional recording studios as a session musician.
Mathew composes library music and TV/Film music, most recently for Zeppotron and Moonage Pictures.
Teaching
On top of his work at Leeds Conservatoire, Mathew teaches the harmonica and the flute privately. Through various public and community outreach funded projects, Mathew has gained experience working with people of all types and ages.
Mathew planned and ran Adult education classes (harmonica, Irish traditional music, songwriting) with Manchester Adult Education Service from 2001 – 2006. These classes included adults with a range of learning abilities. Between 2006 and 2011, Mathew taught harmonica at HMP Garth, and he currently teaches beginners and advanced harmonica classes weekly at The Met, Bury.
Representation
Since 1995 Mathew has been a member of the Musicians’ Union, and from 2008 – 2010 was on the Folk Roots and Traditional Music Section Committee of the Union.
He is a member of the PRS and MCPS.
Community-based workshop and project provision
Between 2004 – 2007 Mathew organised and presented three festivals in Cumbria under the title ‘Irish Music On The Move’, providing concerts and workshops. He organised funding for this from the Arts Council.
In 1999 Mathew initiated and developed an inner-city community cohesion project, ‘In2Music’ in which he developed songwriting, performance and recording skills and recorded material with 16-20-year-olds at The Zion Centre, Hulme. The project ran every week until 2004.
