Testimonials from past students

Mark Dancigers

Matthew's teaching set me on the path to a seemingly impossible dream — a successful career as a composer. He cuts through the noise and connects students with their strengths, their openness, and their courage. Matthew is that rare mentor who brings his own deep experience as a composer and artist fully into his teaching, with the result that students become more themselves. He helped me find "my" music. I know that I wouldn't have composed for the New York City Ballet, scored documentaries, or started my own ensemble without his transformative encouragement. I am thrilled that he is now bringing these gifts to a larger audience. Take this opportunity. www.dancigers.com

Kate Marvin

Matthew Suttor has been a powerful mentor, teacher, and inspirational force in unlocking my creative process and potential. I was a student in Yale School of Drama’s Sound Design program from 2013-2016; during these years, in both one-on-one sessions and group class settings, I came to understand Matthew’s deep investment in each student’s creative voice. Through mind-expanding generative exercises, Matthew encouraged me to break free from the box I had put myself in and helped me accomplish bold, surprising, and thrilling creative feats. Matthew’s lessons will forever inform my life and work. www.katemarvin.com

Hannah Wasileski

I had the privilege of studying with Matthew during my time at the Yale School or Drama as a projection design student. As a student who was interested in the intersection between music and visual design, Matthew generously took my under his wing and shepherded me throughout my three years on the MFA program. I took his Gallery + Drama class which provided a rich opportunity to create a multidisciplinary piece at the Yale University Art Gallery, which was a formative collaboration and an exciting side-step from the theatrical stage. My most formative time with Matthew however was during the year of one-on-one composition classes I took with him. I was an outsider to the sound department where he teaches, and he had plenty of students in his own department to mentor, and yet he welcomed me and made the time to explore my interest in music, composition, and the fertile grounds where sound and visuals meet. He mentored me for my thesis and helped connect me with Yale School of Music students to collaborate with. His creative teaching knows no boundaries; my being a visual design student in a separate department was of no consequence to him, and his support was always wholeheartedly engaged and unwavering. His lessons and mentorship were some of the most impactful and memorable experiences during my entire time at Yale, I am enormously grateful for his attention, insight and influential guidance that I carry with me to this day. www.hannahwasileski.com

Fred Kennedy

Studying with Dr. Suttor had a dramatic impact on my own work and musical output. My early studies had followed a strict, hierarchical, classical conservatory model of music education, and while I learned a great deal from that and am grateful to have that training to fall back on as a foundation, I hadn’t been aware of how much my baggage from that old master/student model was holding me back. Utilizing exercises both subtle and concrete Matthew helped me to unlock a well of previously restricted creativity, giving me permission to experiment boldly. Matthew’s great genius as a teacher is in meeting each student where they are, at whatever level, and reminding them of the joy to be had in just playing. I’ve seen him work wonders with his students, and I count myself lucky to have been one. www.fredkennedy.org

Matt Otto

Matthew is a fantastic and kind teacher. My classes with him made me into a true composer allowing me to create moving and meaningful pieces that span all genres of music. He also trained my ear to be able to mentally deconstruct any piece of music allowing to focus on specific instruments and sections showing me how they all contribute to the work. www.mattotto.co

Dakota Stipp

Matthew is one of the most generous, kind, and considerate thought-leaders that I have had the privilege of knowing. His approaches to teaching creativity on both an individual level and in collaborative frameworks transformed my ways of thinking as an artist, entrepreneur, software developer, and lifelong learner. Matthew has a keen sensitivity to the complexities of the creative process, especially in interdisciplinary contexts, and to the nuance of the individual’s relationship to creative and technical expression. He does not simply equip students with the necessary tools for making — though he does this exceptionally well — he inspires the careful pursuit of good and truth in every facet of meaningful living. www.dakotastipp.com

Michael Costagliola

Matthew was my instructor for three years in both one-on-one and small group settings. I found that he had an uncanny ability to meet me where I was in my process and offer just the right measure of insight, encouragement, or even tough love, depending on what I or my work needed most. He is the rare kind of teacher who can impart both a vast amount of technical knowhow for the nitty-gritty details of a project and an illuminating big picture perspective should you find yourself lost in the weeds. His seemingly inexhaustible knowledge of music and art of just about every tradition combined with his wide-ranging past experience means that he can offer guidance on a small-scale art installation in one breath and a large-scale orchestral composition in another, all while never losing sight of the humans behind the work and their needs. Every class with Matthew held a new revelation for my practice. www.michaelcostagliola.com

Tyler Kieffer

Matthew is an extraordinary educator and mentor whose methods in and outside the classroom fosters an environment ripe with creativity and insights. While taking composition lessons with Matthew, it was never about moulding me into a certain type of composer, but instead he engaged in how I approach composition to help me better understand and utilize my own strengths and style. In our time together, Matthew challenged me with a range of exercises and projects. It’s incredible how much you can learn about a subject by working with others, and in environments adjacent to what you might be used to. For instance in one class we were tasked with creating sound installations in the Yale Art Gallery. Working with museum curators and in concert with incredible works of art the project challenged me to think differently about how and what I could design for the stage. On my journey through Sound Design, mentors which have impacted me most don't always have the answer I’m searching for, but they often ask the most intriguing questions. Matthew Suttor asks his students great questions. www.tylerkieffer.com

Palmer Hefferan

When I began studying composition with Dr. Suttor I had no prior educational experience in music. He took time to learn how my brain approached music and creativity, tailoring our lessons to concepts that piqued my interest. Dr. Suttor’s vast knowledge of art and music introduced me to creators and genres that cracked open my musicality and created the foundation of who I am as a professional sound designer and composer. www.palmerhefferan.com

Tye Hunt Fitzgerald

Matthew Suttor was a professor of mine while attending The Yale School of Drama. Although most of my time with Matthew was suppose to spent working on compositions I found myself constantly returning to class ready to learn how to think, feel, and speak about ideas. To stop impeding oneself and allowing a good idea to flourish. Against all odds Matthew did teach me a thing or two about composing, but my greatest lessons from him where how to set yourself to be creative, how to use the tools around you to expand that creativity, and how your decision making ability effects your creativity on a daily basis. www.tyehuntfitzgerald.com

Andrew Rovner

Working with Matthew helped me understand that creativity is not some innate gift possessed only by an elite few, but actually a cultivatibe attitude and approach to thinking. I used to believe that creativity was the ability to generate novel ideas out of thin air—and would regularly feel discouraged that I was unable to do so. Dr. Suttor's teaching has equipped me with both the inquisitive perspective and an array of tools to approach my sound design and compositional work as an investigative process instead of merely awaiting divine inspiration. His approach to teaching has helped me silence the critic in my own head, given me strategies to source inspiration and push through writer's blocks, and allowed me to joyously explore the potential of a new composition. Thanks to his guidance, my creative pursuits (in music and beyond) are no longer characterized by anxiety of self-doubt, but rather the joy of discovery which has afforded me a more constructive and fulfilling creative practice. www.andrewrovner.com

Daniel Baker

Dr. Matthew Suttor is one of the most influential teachers I have encountered on my journey as a sound designer and content creator. There are myriad ways in which he contributed to my development as person, but his training in Creativity is something that I use daily in my work. My job is to create aural worlds that elucidate stories told in a given medium, be that a three dimensional stage (theater), a two dimensional screen (film) or a wholly aural environment (audio dramas). This can be an intimating task. Dr. Suttor helped me access and develop my abilities to create these worlds through private lessons, class projects and real life productions. www.danielbakersounddesign.com

Lainie Fefferman

Matthew Suttor was exactly the teacher I needed to push me comfortably beyond my comfort zone. He worked with me to uncover what I really wanted to do and make with my music, and helped me expand my vocabulary of ideas and techniques to help me get there. With humor and support, he offered me criticism and advice with a sense of collaboration and dialogue. Twenty years later, his voice is still in my head when I've musicked myself into a tight spot, and it helps me get myself out with a smile. www.lainiefefferman.com

Matt Harrson

Without hesitation, I can easily say that Dr. Matthew Suttor is the best compositional mentor I have ever encountered. Our work together yielded my first octavo publication (Pavane, distributed by Hal Leonard) and a National Park Service Artist-in-Residency appointment at Glacier National Park in Montana, US (the first choral-centric residency in NPS history). As a consummate teaching artist, Dr. Suttor is detail-oriented, highly collaborative; and always strives to amplify my unique compositional voice.