With a new year comes new teachers, merging a medley of interests and pastimes with a new school year. In the case of Godwin’s newest staff member, Matthew Henderson’s, he arranges songs and plays at night venues as a DJ when not at school grading papers and grading math tests.
With his passion for music sparking as a child, Henderson would obsess over every small noise he heard, broadening his ears and imagination to new heights.
Henderson recounted, “I used to get in a bit of trouble when I was in elementary school because I would never stop whistling or humming when we were supposed to be quiet.”
Now he’s able to make a night job out of his passion, committing approximately five to six hours a week to his music production.
For Henderson, this music creation process typically consists of finding songs with similar beats to align them with one another, creating smooth transitions, and more songs to play for audiences.
Then, to add the finishing touch, he “add[s] in effects like echos and flangers to spice the songs up and raise the energy in the room.”
After repeating this process, gaining him a collection of over 48,000 music tracks, Henderson compiles all of these tunes into one big mashup to perform in front of a crowd and keep them immersed throughout the night.
To uphold his high standard to make his performances entertaining and memorable, he occasionally collaborates with other local, respected artists to assist with social media promotion and audio system installments.
“I am always playing music with my friends and learning techniques or finding new songs from them,” said Henderson.
And all his hard work is paying off, marking the peak of his career of opening for some bigger venues, such as Ember Music Hall, Kabana Rooftop, and the Looking Glass located in Charlottesville.
Despite the age requirement of 18, it is an experience that all Godwin students can look forward to when they graduate.
To make the experience equally fun for him, he plays music that he enjoys playing, including versatile genres, such as house, bass, and techno.
