By Rob Hochschild
Berklee.edu Editor
April 2001

	Photo by Liz Linder
	Jason's Audio • "Givin' Your Life Away" (J. Joseph) Listen: slow | fast

In the winter of 1999, Jason Joseph had a lot to be thankful for. He had a degree in computer engineering from the University of Florida and a good job in his field. But as his days of database development and web design piled up, he began to grow antsy.

"It was the grind, man, the monotony of the thing," Joseph says.

But there was more to Joseph's frustration than the withering challenges of building Internet applications and debugging code. It was the absence of music in the center of his life that was really bothering him.

On a break one day, Joseph, a vocalist and keyboardist, called the Berklee admissions office to find out if a scholarship the college had offered him previously was still valid. When admissions officer Dana Acker informed him that the offer was not only still good but would be higher than he originally thought, Joseph began making plans to change his life.

"It wasn't a difficult decision but it was scary," Joseph says. "When you're working a steady job, it's easy to be seduced by the regular paycheck. You do what you want and you live how you want. People thought I was crazy leaving the whole boom of the dot-com era. I knew I was doing the right thing but I had no idea how it would all pan out."

So, eight months after Joseph's computer engineering career began, it was over, and he was on his way from Florida to Boston to begin his official music studies. His timing was perfect. The dot-com crash began about a year after he enrolled at Berklee.

It didn't take long before Joseph began scoring rapid successes in his new environment. Within days of his arrival, he earned spots in the Reverence Gospel Ensemble and its smaller, more exclusive spin-off group, Overjoyed. Joseph's singing talent also landed him places in Berklee's competitive Singers Showcase, a biannual concert featuring the college's top musicians. In his second year, Joseph was picked to sing lead on a Peabo Bryson song, "Feel the Fire."

"The cool thing is (Bryson) did this song in the late '70s and it was arranged by (Contemporary Writing and Production professor) Richard Evans," Joseph says. "When he found out I was singing lead in the show, he called me up and pitched the tune to me. He arranged the song for Peabo originally and then he offered to arrange it for me."

As unique as that opportunity was, it was one of several times Joseph has been asked to sing arrangements by faculty members on the Berklee Performance Center stage. He sang two Steely Dan songs at the 2001 Commencement Concert while honorees Donald Fagen and Walter Becker watched from the audience, and gave a similar performance at the 2002 Commencement Concert, in tribute to producer David Foster. A far cry, to say the least, from quietly banging out code in a cubicle.

Photo by Liz Linder

But as far apart as his computer career and musical dreams may seem, Joseph says their overlap provided him solace during his days in Gainesville.

"There's definitely a relationship between music and technology," Joseph says. "The whole time I was studying computers, I was getting into the whole digital aspect of music. I bought my first Korg 01w Pro (keyboard) and I had a computer sequencer."

At Berklee, Joseph found that his background in music and technology not only helped him in class but landed him a job in the Voice Department, where he is responsible for recording backing tracks for singers taking studio techniques classes.

As a Professional Music major, Joseph works with a faculty advisor to combine various Berklee disciplines into a self-designed curriculum. Joseph's course load includes classes from Music Production and Engineering, Performance, Music Business/Management, and Songwriting. He says the flexible approach allows him to pursue all of his interests and better prepare himself for a life beyond Berklee.

"I have different things that I aspire to do," Joseph said. "I love to write and I love to produce. For every musician to be successful, you need to be able to sustain yourself. Musicians who are successful aren't just great writers or great performers. They're balanced. And they have a good business sense."

Joseph's musical tastes also are wide ranging. While he has performed rock, r&b, and ballads in the BPC shows, his own recitals feature original material with roots in those styles, as well as hip-hop, folk, club/dance, and Indian pop music.

As Joseph contemplates leaving for New York or Los Angeles after graduation, he appears to be well equipped to succeed in the rapidly changing music business, which may prove even tougher than surviving in the Internet industry. But Joseph has no regrets about risking it all for a shot at a music career.

"It was the best decision I ever made," says Joseph. "Most people never get the chance to live out their dream. Even if nothing comes out of this other than the years here at Berklee, it'll be worth it."

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