Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Silverberg.
Matt, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
From a young age, I was exposed to music. I grew up in New York City where both of my parents were professional musicians and were in the musical theatre scene. I played video games, and even at a young age, I was in awe of the music. Games like Banjo-Kazooie and Super Mario 64 have stuck with me my entire life, largely because of the soundtrack. When I was 15, my parents decided they had enough of the big city and moved us to Green Bay, Wisconsin. Even though I was surrounded by music my entire life, it was my high school band director Mr. Hill that really developed my love for music. He gave me my first pair of mallets and lovingly forced me to play a marimba solo. Eventually, I went on to college at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and grad school at the University of Minnesota to study music. I’ve been in Minnesota ever since.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Asking a musician if their career has had challenges is like asking if water is wet. There are so many struggles. There is always the struggle to find paid gigs. This is heightened when you play the marimba (a much larger and much cooler sounding xylophone, for those that don’t know). It’s not exactly a common instrument and it’s harder to market to people. It’s also gigantic so transporting it takes more effort than a guitar or a flute. Then there is always the issue of “getting your name out there”. The internet is great because you can easily share videos on social media, but it’s also more difficult now because everybody has access to the same resources you do so everyone just floods the market and it’s harder to get noticed. Finding the right connections is difficult, especially being a young musician but once you find and develop those relationships more, they will start to open up to you.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I specialize in marimba. I’ve created my own little niche in the marimba world by arranging video game music for it. For many of these arrangements, I utilize backing tracks consisting of both live and synthetic instruments. This helps keep the listener more engaged. Some of the tunes I’ve arranged have been from The Legend of Zelda, Skyrim, Star Wars and Metroid. I also compose original music and am currently working on an album that will have both instrumental marimba tunes in style similar to video game music and will also have more traditional pop tunes with vocals that will heavily feature the marimba. You can check out my EP of ElectroPopRock Marimba Music on my website.
I’ve performed at a lot of video game conventions like 2D Con and VGM Con and I’ve also performed at breweries and restaurants. I’ve reached a lot of people by doing this, many of whom weren’t familiar with the marimba and/or did not expect to hear video game music on it!
I also play the steel pan just to change things up a little bit.
I don’t only play video game music though. I have toured with the Heartland Marimba Ensemble a couple of times and also perform with professional orchestras like the La Crosse and Dubuque Symphony. I’ve also performed at amusement parks and have had other gigs with various groups.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
I stream on Twitch occasionally! I’ve been not consistent in the past with it but I’m aiming to be more consistent in the near future. I not only stream video game content but I’ve also streamed little concerts! https://www.twitch.tv/marimbamatt913
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mattsilverbergmusic.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marimbamatt913/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/marimbamatt913
- Other: https://www.twitch.tv/marimbamatt913
Image Credits
Skettiodin
ROK Eatery
Mark Jackson
JMMD Entertainment
