Researcher

The basis for Matt's doctoral research focused on uncovering elements of motivation and engagement at work within avocational music programs. The findings from this research have aided an approach to program and pedagogical development as well as supported educators looking for strategies to engage a broader population of music learners. His continued research projects focus on practice- and research-based initiatives aimed at supporting students in a broader scope of music performance.

Current research includes how to maximize flow in a music classroom, composition as a required component to music in liberal arts, maximizing peer-to-peer work for collective growth, comparative studies on teacher-as-participant versus teacher-as-director relationships, ways in which an avocational program can infuse other disciplines – arts or otherwise – into the learning and performing process, and how jazz learning operates in terms of heterogeneous classroom strategies.