Math & the Music Man

Ask Roberto Matthews, Christ the King’s musical director, what he’s thinking during mass, and he’ll probably tell you he’s solving an equation. But more on that later. 

He didn’t come from a musical family. In fact, his Cuban grandmother, who raised him, forbade him from pursuing music. “In Cuba, music is like a handshake; anyone can play, but you don't get paid for giving handshakes,” Roberto says. She imagined a penniless life for him and instead encouraged him to pursue math and technology.

But Roberto loved music, even at six years old, when he got his first instrument: a ukulele with no strings. He would spend hours with the broken instrument in his hands, pretending to play.

Years later, at Loyola University, where he was studying math, he would pass by a baby grand in the cafeteria, feeling the urge to hear music come from the idle piano. At first, when no one was looking, he would press just one key. The next day, another. And then another. “I would walk past it and press a note. And I was hooked,” he says. 

Roberto followed his heart and enrolled in music classes. That’s where the Roberto we know today began to flourish (covertly, of course, without letting his grandmother know).

During those years, he spent his nights cramming for math exams while also practicing piano and singing hymns. His voice filled the practice rooms and began drawing students in. Many hadn’t heard some of those songs since elementary school. He touched them through music, and from there, his gift only grew.

That love for music eventually became a ministry. He began playing at Sacred Heart of Jesus in Mid-City,  just a few chords here and there, but it was the start of something much bigger.

In 2001, Roberto became Director of Music at CTK, and this year he celebrates 25 years serving the community he loves. He is a musician for everyone in our parish. He directs music for the Spanish Masses and is even studying the Vietnamese liturgy and hymns to better serve more members of our parish.

His love of music shines with every note he sings, especially during the meditation hymn after Communion. 

The meditation hymn isn’t planned beforehand. Instead, Roberto listens closely to Father Nam’s or the deacon’s homily. He picks out a word or phrase and runs through ALL the possibilities in his mind, matching the homily's theme with the perfect hymn.

While parishioners receive Communion, he sings the hymn, mentally searching for the next song he should play.

In a way, he’s flipping through both a music catalog and a spreadsheet in his mind. Over the years, He has categorized every song he has sung, whether about humility, love, grace, or redemption; it’s all carefully tracked. Whatever the theme, he has the perfect hymn ready.

Roberto brings life and joy to the church, and his mathematical mind contributes to the beauty of the liturgy. Have you ever wondered how the Communion hymn ends perfectly just as Father Nam places the Eucharist in the tabernacle?

It’s math.

“So that's where the math comes in. I have to extrapolate how long it takes Father to take those steps to the tabernacle, how long it will take him to bow and kneel, and have that note ready. I have to estimate,” Roberto says. The calculation ends on the final note of the hymn at exactly the right moment.

In the end, Roberto’s grandmother saw the spirit he brought to the church and the gift he had been given with pride. “Before she passed, she was able to see that I actually could feed my family with music. She acted like it was all her idea,” he says with a smile.

Roberto is a blessing to Christ the King, and we thank him for 25 years of service and for helping make every Mass a beautiful celebration of the Lord.