Matthew Wolfgang Garstka

MATTHEW WOLFGANG GARSTKA

AGE: 16

EQUIPMENT Ludwig drums, Zildjian cymbals, Vater sticks, Evans heads

What’s the dang deal with all these child prodigies coming out of the woodwork, ripping licks that we old timers have been trying to parse for the past few decades? Okay, so life ain’t fair. Back to Matthew Wolfgang Garstka, who in 16 short years on Earth appears to have been doing everything right, studying with greats like Bob Gullotti and performing with established figures such a bassist Jo Sallins. It all began at the age of eight when Matthew sat down behind a set of drums at his father’s music store – Performance Music in Westfield, Massachusetts – and immediately took to the tubs. So much for his bio, now close your eyes and listen to Garstka’s rendition of Chick Corea’s “Got A Match?” recorded live with Two Man Trio, featuring Sallins playing bass and keys at once.The beat displacement, metric modulations, melodic fills, perfect time, and sheer dexterity simply don’t synch with the photo that came with the package of that skinny kid wearing a tie. It’s insane! Now if he could just learn to respect his elders…

- DRUM! Magazine July 2006

Drummer Found Beat Early

By GEORGE GRAHAM
Staff writer

WESTFIELD- Percussionist Matthew W. Garstka was exposed to music at an early age.
Make that very early.
The 13 year-old middle school student’s father, Gregory F. Garstka, said that when his wife, Sunshine, was pregnant with Matthew, he would place a speaker against her belly and play different kinds of music.
“Mozart and Van Halen and little bit of Bob Marley,” Garstka said.
Something apparently took hold during those early sessions for Matthew, an eighth-grader at Powdermill Middle School in Southwick, has been interested in music ever since.
The elder Garstka, owner of Performance Music, started Matthew with piano lessons at age 5 and the boy tried his hand at guitar.
“But it wasn’t loud enough,” said Matthew, who turns 14 later this month.
One day, when Matthew was about eight, he sat at a drum kit in his father’s store, pounded out a few beats, and a drummer was born.
“He really showed a lot of coordination and inclination to playing the instrument,” Garstka said.
Matthew said he likes drumming because he gets to throw his whole body into the making of music.
“It came to me easy,” Matthew said.
By all accounts Matthew is a natural and he has even begun to make a name for himself performing locally with Springfield bassist Jo Sallins.
“He has excellent timing,” Sallins said. “He has the ability to do fills and then come back on the beat. It’s amazing for someone that young.”
“It’s a God-given gift,” the elder Garstka said.
Matthew is now in a study program with Sallins and appears on Sallins’ latest CD, “Jo Sallins Experience Studio Live.”
“Right now Jo has me working on Latin grooves,” Matthew said.
Earlier this year, Matthew performed with Sallins during a clinic at Powdermill designed to expose students to music.
“He is incredible,” Sallins said. “He definitely has what it takes to be a professional musician.”
Matthew has also performed locally with his father’s band, “Wolfgang” and plays in a band of his own called “The Trip,” which has yet to perform publicly.
Matthew said funk and rock are his favorite kinds of music. He is quick to add that he enjoys rap and engaging in so-called “free-style battles” with his friends in which they compete to see who can come up with the best raps.
“I am really into the rap now,” Matthew said.
Matthew said he aspires to be a chiropractor by day and a drummer by night.
“I really like the fact that music is one of the most popular things in the world,” Matthew said.
Matthew has a sister, Amber Lynn, 15, and a brother, 23 year-old Shannon, who is with the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry, Second Brigade in Iraq as a gunner on a Bradley tank.
Matthew plans to attend the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter High School in Hadley next fall.
- Springfield Republican Newspaper