Boogie-woogie pianist Matthew Ball has played at jazz festivals, performed at symphonies across the country and can bring energy to an entire room of elementary students. The rising star has also self-published two children's books.

It was only a matter of time before the two interests merged.

The former attorney now travels to elementary schools throughout Metro Detroit to discuss his books and to play boogie-woogie piano tunes for classrooms — as he did on a visit to Webb Elementary School in Ferndale.

"It's been a journey," said Ball, who left his law career to pursue his love for music.

The 39-year-old Clawson man didn't set out to be a boogie-woogie pianist and said he never expected it. He also didn't set out to write books.

Inspiration strikes

Ball double-majored in history and music at Oakland University in Rochester. He then earned his law degree at the University of Detroit Mercy Law School and began practicing law shortly after passing the bar examination.

Though he was earning a steady income, Ball said being a lawyer didn't make him happy.

"I was just miserable," he said. "Working 9 to 5 in an office … it just felt depressing."

Inspiration struck in an unlikely form at the 2001 Motor City Blues & Boogie-Woogie Festival.

"It was just fun; it was the kind of (music) that made the audience tap its toe and bob its head," he said. "I just knew that, through that music, I could carve out the kind of lifestyle that I couldn't with just the classical tradition."

Learning the craft

Ball tracked down boogie-woogie music artist Bob Seeley, a "living link to the blues pioneers," and started going to the Detroit restaurant where the septuagenarian played. Seeley wouldn't teach him at first, but, after a year, Ball's diligence paid off. Seeley agreed to train him.

Ball said it took him about two years to get the fundamentals down, during which time he did contract work as a law clerk and taught piano lessons. He began writing his own music, and in 2005, he reached a milestone when he headlined at the Arches Piano Stage in Cincinnati.

Ball has more recently turned his attention to inspiring children to "follow their dreams," just as he did.

"I've always written therapeutically," Ball said. "You have to stay fresh with your ideas. I was thinking, how can I turn it into something?"

The answer turned out to be The Worm and the Caterpillar and Minnie and Melvira, two rhyming children's books he and his wife, Lisa, have self-published. Melvira addresses the issue of teasing, while Caterpillar shows that you can be whatever you want to be if you believe in yourself and have the will to work for it, Ball said.

Sharing the gift

The Balls have recently started doing presentations at local elementary schools.

"We read the books to the kids, discuss the moral of the story, and then we share a little bit of music with them," Ball said. "And what an audience to play for!

"Because boogie-woogie is a fun music, and kids are so uninhibited,  they're not self-conscious at all," he said. "If they feel the music, they just get into it with the clapping and the stomping."

"It was amazing. He's wonderful!" said Renee Rathsburg, special education teacher and school assembly coordinator at Webb Elementary.

"What we liked about it most was the message to follow your dream," Rathsburg said. "He decided he wasn't happy in what he was doing, then went back to his first love. It's good for kids to know it's OK to change your mind."

When Ball plays the piano the school presentations, Lisa joins in on the snare drum, and the children play hand percussion instruments.

"Both his music and writing style reveals an old soul," Lisa Ball said of her husband. "His music entertains the heart, bringing smiles to all who listen. His writing shows someone with a deep, compassionate understanding of life, extending a guided voice to learn life lessons from."

Rathsburg agrees. "My accolades to Matthew in everything he does," she said. "He's a very talented up-and-coming entrepreneur and a very nice inspiration to the kids."

To book Matthew Ball for a school assembly or other event, contact him through his website, boogiewoogiekid.com.