Matthew Giobbi is a musician, educator, and psychologist with a rich background in classical, jazz, and experimental music. Raised in Wind Gap, Pennsylvania, he studied piano and trombone under esteemed mentors, performing with the Pennsylvania Youth Honors Concert Band and Moravian College ensembles. He continued his education at Moravian College before transferring to The Mannes School of Music in New York City, where he studied under Per Brevig and received coaching from Joe Alessi and David Finlayson of the New York Philharmonic.

As the principal trombonist of the New York Youth Symphony, Matthew performed six concerts at Carnegie Hall, sharing the stage with renowned soloists such as Joshua Bell and Skitch Henderson. He also toured internationally with the Long Island Youth Orchestra, performing in China, Indonesia, India, and Europe. In 1996, he played with the Orquesta Filarmonica de Lima in Peru, performing under South American conductors, including a concert for former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori.

Matthew furthered his studies at The Royal Conservatory of Brussels in Belgium and explored jazz performance with Irish pianist Paul Harrington. Returning to the U.S. in 1998, he pursued a career as a singer-songwriter, releasing Collected Songs and touring coffeehouses and festivals. He later earned degrees in clinical psychology (B.S., East Stroudsburg University; M.A., The New School for Social Research) and philosophy (Ph.D., The European Graduate School). Since 2004, he has been a faculty member in the Psychology Department at Rutgers University in Newark.

For the past decade, Matthew has focused on improvisational and jazz music, playing with Denny Carrig’s jazz combo, The Pretty Boys, in Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania. He has recorded numerous singles and albums of original music and specializes in teaching students of all ages, focusing on college audition preparation, learning disabilities, performance anxiety, and music education for elderly students with dementia or Alzheimer’s. He also writes the Mindfulness & Music blog for Psychology Today.