LC Meridian

Issue date: 2/1/07 Section: Student Life

Media Credit: Osjua Newton Motheo Matlala practices his keystrokes on one of the pianos in the Music Building.

Twenty-two year-old Motheo Matlala received his first music lesson from his mother, who taught him how to read and sing music in Zulu.

Matlala was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, a city know as the "place of gold" and the capital of the wealthy Gauteng Province. He used to sing a-capella with his family at religious and social events in South Africa until he moved to the United States in December 1998.

Matlala arrived in New York with his parents and three sisters, leaving their extend family behind. Before moving to the U.S. his parents had visited three times and Matlala had visited New York once. His parents decided to move to the United States because they felt school was more affordable. With the help of a high school teacher in the Bronx, Matlala discovered the piano music of Frédéric Chopin. He began taking formal piano lessons and performing in recitals.

Matlala says he took a year off after graduating from high school to think about what he wanted to do.

"I didn't really want to go too far away from home, so I decided to come to Lehman because it was the closest," said Matlala, now a Lehman senior. "But also during my time off I became very interested in Lehman because I heard that John Corigliano teaches here."

The senior entered Lehman as a music major in 2003. Since then he has dedicated himself to music, particularly composition and orchestration. His minor is Mass Communication because he says he loves to write and to learn about television production.

"I like to know about the medium [television] and the dynamics and how everything works in general," said Matlala. "Initially, I wanted to be an English major to write or in mass communication to learn about TV, but music pulled me a little more."

Matlala says he would like to use his talent to write reviews on music concerts. But for right now he is focused in composing music. He admits that he does not play music as often since he started taking composition courses with Professor John Corigliano, who has won several awards including a Grammy and an Academy Award.

"Everyone knows [Corigliano] as a very great person," said Matlala. "He is patient, he is a great teacher and he embraces [different music styles]. Many composers of today tend to extend one side and forget all other styles, but he embraces everything and I like that."

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