December 20, 2012
Matthew Heap in Oklahoma! (July 2004)
Encore was lucky enough to catch up with the Musical Director of Honk, Jr. Matt Heap. Matt has performed on stage and worked on production staff for countless years with Encore. The cast and crew of Honk, Jr. are in very good hands!
Encore: So you have spent time performing in musicals, writing music, lecturing about music, and teaching voice. What is truly your favorite thing to do out of the four?
Matt: There is something about performing that beats everything out – the thrill of live theater. I think that’s why I like teaching at American so much – it’s like a mini-performance each time I give a lecture. I’ve danced, sung, played the piano…all sorts of things in the hopes of entertaining (and educating) these undergrads. So I’m going to go with simply “performing.” Although writing music is awesome too…
Encore: You are now lecturing at American University in the music department. What is it that you are teaching and how is it being on the other side of things?
Matt: I teach musicianship (which is basically ear training/sight singing), theory, and a course called Understanding Music. I’m not sure about that last one – it seems an awfully big goal for just one semester of college. I’m not sure that after 26 years or so of playing music that I truly understand all of it…that’s what’s fascinating. What I also didn’t understand is that professors do a lot (A LOT) of work outside the classroom. I don’t teach any classes on Wednesday, but I spend at least 7 hours grading, preparing lesson materials, meeting with students…that sort of thing. It’s an immense challenge to balance that with my creative work. I’ll figure it out, though!
Matthew Heap at rehearsal for Disney's High School Musical (July 2007) with Ellen Chapin & Jimmy Mavrikes
Encore: So by day you are teaching collegiate level courses and by night teaching our young people music. Do you find it a challenge to switch gears in terms of your audience?
Matt: I’m not sure that there’s that much of a difference between a 9-year old and an undergrad (I’m just kidding! The 9-year old pays more attention (just kidding again!)). Seriously, though, I’ve never really thought of treating children any differently than I treat adults. I’ve always felt that if you treat someone as if they have a certain level of maturity, then they more often than not rise to that level. I expect a lot of the kids in Honk Jr., and so far, I haven’t been disappointed.
Encore: A lot of music/piano teachers insist on teaching theory as a part of their lessons. What do you believe is one of the most important things to understand as someone begins to learn and understand music?
Matt: In music? I think it’s important to realize that nothing we do in music exists in a vacuum. Any time you play a Chopin piece on the piano, you have to understand what he was doing and thinking about (including the larger social and historical contexts) which he was writing to be able to figure out why he wrote what he did. And anything he did was based in the musical traditions that have gone back to the Ancient Greeks (give or take a millennium). Singing a musical theater piece is the same – if you can figure out why the composer wrote it the way they did, you’ll have a better foundation on which to base your performance. That’s what music theory is all about – figuring out the whys rather than just the whats.
Encore: You did you undergraduate and graduate degrees in Pittsburgh, PA at Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh. Do you feel that Pittsburgh has a strong appreciation for the arts and music?
Matt: Absolutely – there’s a lot more going on, especially in the music arena, in Pittsburgh than there is in DC (which is surprising to me). While I didn’t get to do much theater performing in my second tenure there, I worked with several new music groups to put on new pieces, and had an orchestra piece read by the Pittsburgh Symphony. For a city that was looked down on for a long time, it has a really thriving arts scene.
With Erin Driscoll in My Fair Lady (July 2001)
Encore: What is your all time favorite Encore show that you were involved with over the years – performing or instructing?
Matt: I can’t limit it to just one…I’m going to name a few. I have a soft spot for My Fair Lady, which was a lot of fun, and had, among other things, a really cool set design. I’m also proud of the Alice in Wonderland that I directed which was really…really weird. But hopefully in a good way. Finally, there was Twelve Dancing Princesses, which I wrote and choreographed that had a lot of my favorite actors from that generation of Encore and some of the best fight choreography I’ve ever done. And a big modern tango/ballet mix-up dance number. I need to find that DVD…
Encore: Everyone is really excited for Honk, Jr to open – how would you describe the style of music for this show?
Matt: The music for Honk is pretty eclectic. There are jazz-standard type pieces for the cat, musical theatre ballads (post-Sondheim type), neat ensemble pieces, and a really cool homage to Dambusters. Truly something for everyone. Be sure to listen to the lyrics – they’re full of cleverness, puns, and cool images. This is definitely a show with a lot of appeal for adults as well as children.
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Photos Courtesy of Larry McClemons