Most children sit down to a piano for the first time and bang away at the keys nearly breaking the strings.
... Most children sit down to a piano for the first time and bang away at the keys nearly breaking the strings.
When Matt was almost four he sat down at the upright piano in his living room. Realizing that he didn’t bang on the keys but, rather tried to play them, his parents decided to enroll him in piano lessons.
Starting with the Yamaha method, Matt picked up the basics of piano. However, a more in-depth study of piano and music would ensue. When Matt was six, his parents enrolled him under the tutelage of Shelley Stack, his piano teacher until his graduation from high school. Under her guidance, Beilis competed in many competitions and passed exams from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music in the UK. He won a ten year award from the New Jersey Music Teachers Association as well as one from the Shore Music Educators Association for receiving honors and high honors in their annual auditions. He passed grade three in Theory of Music from the Associated Board and grade five in piano performance.
He didn’t, however, write original songs until his senior year of high school.
Mainly inspired by the piano playing and writing of Elton John, Beilis set out to write music based around the piano as the lead instrument. In doing so, Matt attracted the attention of producer Chris Keup, with whom he created his debut EP, Too Far Away. The EP was recorded with the help of the musicians from Jason Mraz's album, Waiting For My Rocket to Come.
Gigs will start in the spring of 2005 in NYC. Check the tour dates on this site to find out where and when he’ll be performing.
