By William Smith
Matt Landon and Emma Reynolds know music.
So do most musicians. But the couple, who just moved to Burlington in August of last year, understand it at a high academic level. They have the graduate degrees to prove it.
Now, they’re sharing that knowledge with local children and adults who want to get better at their instruments and want to understand how. Right now, they’re teaching out of their home, but they would love to open their own music school someday.
They’re already tutoring and playing local gigs in downtown Burlington and other venues.
“We want to build our studio as quickly and robustly as possible. Once we have a stronger client base, we’ll have the financial footing to rent a space that’s not our home,” Reynolds said.
Landon grew up in Burlington. After graduating from Burlington High School, he moved to Kalamazoo, Mich.
“I went to school for music. Guitar, specifically,” he said. “Then I took three years off bumming around and doing gigs. I did some cruise ship work and went all over the world. Alaska, South America, Mexico, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Caribbean.”
Landon rediscovered his love for music.
“In some ways, I had a very negative experience in music school. I was just kind of stifled, creatively,” he said.
He tutored as a side gig, but he got a whole lot more out of the experience than a few extra bucks. He found a new passion.
“I realized that I really like teaching,” he said.
He ended up teaching at Western Michigan University, where he got his undergraduate degree, for five years. He still teaches there remotely while performing with Reynolds locally.
“Honestly, I play everything except death metal. But, yeah, I’d say I’m mostly focused in jazz, bluegrass, singer-songwriter, folk, a little bit of country, blues, rock, hip-hop,” he said.
Emma Reynolds
Reynolds grew up in Mount Shasta, Calif., in the northern part of the state. Iowa residents sometimes assume she’s a big-city girl who moved to the small town of Burlington. But Mount Shasta has a population of just over 3,300 people.
Though she’s new to Burlington, she’s already fallen for the grand old city. For Landon, it’s a long overdue homecoming.
“When we moved here, we both realized that our stress and anxiety were pretty high when we lived in Michigan. We just weren’t happy there,” Reynolds said.
“It seemed like all the time, we kind of had our shoulders hunched. Even our dog seemed more relaxed.”
Reynolds attended California State University, Long Beach, to study vocal performance, spent more time at a junior college, and worked gigs around Los Angeles and the Orange County area.
She went on to teach music at a few K-12 schools — private and public — and then got her master’s degree in music instruction. She wanted to teach at a community college.
“My dad was an English professor at a community college for the majority of my life. So I just understood the value that community colleges have and wanted to be a part of it,” she said.
Reynolds and Landon want to teach music to everyone willing to learn. They don’t want that instruction held behind walls of high-end academic degrees.
Music is music, and it’s for everyone. That’s how they envision their school – instruction for all.
“We’re at the grassroots level of it right now,” Reynolds said. “We’re still teaching out of our house. But we’re hoping in the next year or so to get a space and branch out.”
To find out more about tutoring options or for a schedule of upcoming performances by Matt and Emma, visit “Emma Reynolds Music” on Facebook.
