AvantART_Issue 2

What inspired you to become
an instructor/ musician?
The earliest desire to play an instrument that I remember
having was definitely the guitar. My dad had this old
electric guitar that didn’t have any strings sitting in a closet.
I was totally enamored by it and would play air guitar on
the invisible strings, but I don’t think my parents were stoked
on the idea of me playing electric guitar. So, I ended up
playing trumpet in grade school joining the school band.
Although I stayed with trumpet all the way into college
doing the jazz big band thing, in junior high school I bought
my first electric guitar from a friend for $65 and began
teaching myself to play. Freshman year in high school I
joined my first “rock band”.
We were all pretty serious for high schoolers and recorded
an album on cassette tape, played a lot of shows often
opening for regional touring punk and ska bands. It was
the mid 1990’s, so Ska & Punk music and skateboarding
was our jam. That first band during the angsty teenage
years really planted the seed for what I do today. As far
as teaching goes, I kind of stumbled into that. I needed a
job in college and started teaching private guitar lessons
at the local music store. I really enjoyed teaching and
felt I had a natural disposition for it. So, for most of my 20’s
and 30’s I was a career college student, playing in bands,
studying music, teaching music. Naturally, after all that I
found myself teaching music in college.
What’s your favorite class project?
I’d have to say my favorite class project is the group
song project in my Computer Music Applications class. It
came about in a very impulsive / chance way. I was in
front of class introducing our next song production project
and for some reason I decided it was too much like the
last assignment. I said: “what do you all think about this:
we write, produce, record and mix an original song as
a class?” They were into it! So, I helped guide the class
through writing lyrics, creating a melody from those lyrics,
and building the chord progression and settling on a song
form. After some playing around, we went into the studio
to record it. Everyone contributed something different.
The students got the raw audio tracks and produced their
own versions of the song. It was a lot of fun and now that’s
formally one of our class projects.
14 2023 | AVANTART
What about your personal musical repertoire
do students find most interesting?
So, lol…I make these short music videos of GoPro footage
from snowboarding and mountain biking trips I’ve done
with friends and post them to my social media accounts.
It’s kind of fun...silly little pet project I’ve been doing it for
years. It’s a way of working out and dialing in my creative
process muscles. I’ll bust out a 1-2 minute video edit and
compose original music in a couple hours and quickly post
it. Sometimes it’s rap, EDM, sometimes pop, or rock. It’s
often kind of weird and all over the place and sometimes
I’ll share it with my students as we listen to their song
projects and they get a kick out of it.
How do you share your entrepreneurial endeavors
with your student?
From time to time I’ll share some anecdotal stories and
things I’ve learned in my personal journey of piecing
together a living as a musician. Sometimes discussing
how to do your own taxes and accounting, starting and
running LLC’s, how to get gigs, advertising, using social
media, etc… I also try to be real about how tough it can
be to make a comfortable living off of music. Almost all
the folks I work with in bands have day jobs. They’re
weekend warriors and play on the weekends. Some gig,
run home studios, do live sound, teach on top of another
career or combined with a few other side gigs.
I don’t want to paint an unrealistic picture of how easy
it will be or that one job will be able to support them.
But, It’s a tough balance because I want to encourage
and inspire students, but also don’t want to create
un-realistic expectations. I tell them my path and their
paths are probably going to look very different. Much
like culture and technology, the music business is always
changing. The landscape of career opportunities and ways
of generating income are constantly evolving for creatives.
Some folks can make a handsome living off a successful
YouTube channel, or being an Instagram influencer, starting
a podcast, inventing some cool product, or other things
on the peripheral of music. It’s the wild west out there. Be
bold, try things and follow your dreams, but also be realistic
about how you can support yourself and sustain your ability
to do music. There’s no shame in landing a full-time job and
doing music in your free time. That’s a wrap!
Hello, my name is Matt Mosher. I am an audio engineer and owner of Blue Galaxy Audio
Productions. I am an alumni from FRCC Larimer campus. I received an AA degree in Liberal Arts
with a focus on audio production and music. I graduated in 2018, then I returned in 2019 and finished
two certificates in recording arts.
After college, I got the opportunity to work at a handful of music venues. I now am employed
at Washington’s, The Armory, The Magic Rat, Chipper’s Lanes Music Venues, The Lyric, and
Mishawaka Amphitheater. I work with touring and local musicians and bands. I’m also an audio
engineer at the Lincoln Center in Fort Collins. We host dance companies, live bands, comedians,
Broadway musicals, symphonies, and more.
also work for a handful of local production companies in Fort
I Collins. Shaped Music, Rockfan, and Harry Backline. I’m the
production manager for a local nonprofit company called Blast N
Scrap. I am the lead audio producer for Sour Sessions at Funkwreks
Brewery. We record live music performances with video and audio.
After post production, we release our content to YouTube. Check
Sour Session Online. I’m also a guitar player in a local punk rock
band called the Bad Roommates.
Matt Mosher, FRCC Graduate
WHERE are they now?
Highlighting FRCC Alumni