Springfield Sunday Republican
Springfield Republican Newspaper
Drummer Found Beat Early

By GEORGE GRAHAM Staff Writer Drummer Found Beat Early 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.