Teacher Profile: Matthew Kennedy
About Matthew Kennedy
Matthew Kennedy is a pianist and songwriter from Southern California. He started playing piano in 2012 at 7 years old, and he fell in love with the instrument. He dedicated hours upon hours of his early childhood learning the intricacies of the piano, and he enjoyed playing both classical and modern pieces. He studied through the Certificate of Merit program for 7 years, graduating from it with Honors in 2019. After that he studied privately with a music professor at Saddleback College, specializing in classical piano and music theory. He has loved music since a young age, and he has written sheet music and popular songs for piano since 2018. Matthew loves to play music for the enjoyment of the people around him, and has spent time volunteering as a pianist for his local church, and has played multiple recitals at retirement communities for senior citizens.
Matthew has performed in numerous piano competitions and has a 1st place medal from the Southwestern Youth Music Festival. He has also played for hundreds of people in State Honors Recitals for his high-achieving performance in Certificate of Merit. In 2022, Matthew took a songwriting class at Collin College, wherein he performed songs he wrote for piano and voice. He had the pleasure of performing his pieces for his friends and family, as well as public livestreams. He has a passion for music and a particular drive for piano, and he loves sharing that passion with others. However, Matthew's passion extends beyond piano, and he enjoys playing other instruments like Guitar and Bass Guitar. He took lessons for Bass Guitar for two years from 2020-2022, and he enjoyed learning jazz and funk songs.
His interests outside of piano include writing songs on piano and electronically, golf, chess, collecting vinyl records, and video games. He has written music that were added to his brother's video games, as well as songs for the Lawyerly podcast. Matthew has a love for music, and his goal is to share it with others through performance and teaching. He fondly remembers his piano teachers and the incredible difference they made in his life, and he hopes to make that difference for his students.