About

My name is Matt Collins

I am a professional pianist/music teacher. I have been playing and teaching keyboards/piano for 35 years.

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Like many others, I had piano lessons from age 8 (ish). Standard stuff: scales, fingering, reading music. Some easy classical pieces. But my musical journey really began when I heard Bohemian Rhapsody.  I thought: “I want to play that !” So I sat at the piano and worked it out. That was the start of a lifetime love of the piano and keyboards. I had just enough theoretical training to read music, understand chords, arpeggios, scales run, key changes, the blues scale etc... All of which were present in Bohemian Rhapsody. So I focussed on Pop, Rock, Blues and Jazz. I was self taught from that point on. 

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I joined a band at 16 and have been in bands ever since. My learning was slow. I listened to the radio, bought music score books of pop songs and recorded anything I could find on the VHS tape recorder. There was no internet and I never had lessons in contemporary keyboards, or a mentor to point me in the right direction. I never met another keyboard player until many years later.

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So, my musical journey was a series of lucky breaks. Being in the right place at the right time and meeting lots of very talented, kind, wonderful musicians. Playing keyboards/piano has provided me with the most rewarding, sociable activity anyone can imagine. Playing with other musicians, no matter what their level, is an absolute honour. Being in a band is the greatest team activity. You practice with each other, you support each other, you’ve got each other's backs and you can create something that is unique, together.

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The main idea of ROCK SCHOOL KEYS is to enable young people to acquire the same skills and opportunities that I had - but take the element of luck out of it.