eCREATIVE
composes his own music "Jazz is the my
favorite genre,” he said. “I just like the
way it sounds."
He practices music for hours each day
after homework and dinner and which
instrument he chooses first often
depends on how he feels when he gets
home from school. “If I’m a little angry,
I’ll start with the drums first,” he noted.
Photo: Joseph Gray
“We try to make
sure Matthew
gets the support
he needs so he
can continue to
live out his
dream.”
Above: Matthew with his
mother, May, and his father,
Moses.
“In the beginning it was such a joy to
watch him doing something he really
enjoyed,” said May Whitaker. “We try to
balance everything to make sure he gets
what he needs today so he can continue
to live out his dream.”
Matthew is also now a student at New
York City’s prestigious Manhattan
School of Music, and his parents say he
finds music even in the speed and
sounds of the Big Apple. As the subways
rumble beneath him, he taps his cane on
the ground to recreate the noise. “New
York City is a circle of sounds,” Matthew
said in a recent interview. “There is
music everywhere.”
His parents know all too well the
challenges their family has faced to help
Matthew reach this point in his life and
his music. They help him manage the
demands of his school work and the
logistics of his performance schedule.
“They make sure that I get to my classes