Young musician pursues musical dreams

Idyllwild Arts Academy (IAA) senior Joseph Davis has been a jazz piano major and songwriting minor since he started at IAA a year and a half ago.

Davis lives in Jamaica and has been attending his senior year at IAA via Zoom due to the pandemic. He was on campus before COVID-19 closed schools.

Thanks to his godmother, Davis began learning music at a young age.

Idyllwild Arts Academy (IAA) senior Joseph Davis has been a jazz piano major and songwriting minor since he started at IAA a year and a half ago.

Davis lives in Jamaica and has been attending his senior year at IAA via Zoom due to the pandemic. He was on campus before COVID-19 closed schools.

Thanks to his godmother, Davis began learning music at a young age.
At the age of 6, she bought him his own keyboard and his parents noticed his quick, self-learning talents. 

At 9 years old, Davis started taking classes, learning the euphonium and the classical piano.

“I’ve had this raw love for music. I’ve always been immersed in that environment through my family, so I didn’t really have a choice,” Davis said with a laugh.

Davis has learned how to play more than a dozen instruments: piano, bass guitar, electric/acoustic guitar, drums, vocals, melodica, djembe, euphonium, steelpan, vibraphone, marimba, mixed percussion and the triangle.

He started taking music a bit more seriously just before he started at IAA. When Davis discovered there was such a thing as a boarding arts high school, he jumped on the opportunity to apply.

In the United States, there are three boarding arts high schools: IAA, Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan and Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Massachusetts. Davis applied and was accepted to all three. 

“I decided to go to Idyllwild just based off of the fact that Idyllwild is superior in the sense that it’s a beautiful community,” Davis said. “I heard so many good things about it and it’s in the middle of nowhere, so I could have my time to myself. I really love Idyllwild.” 

Davis has discovered that IAA has been all that he hoped it would be, making him a better person and attributing IAA as the best decision he ever made. He learned how to interact with students from different cultures, embraced his artistic expression and has been able to attend a school that Jamaica couldn’t provide. There are no performing arts high schools in Jamaica, which is why he looked to the U.S. to further his education. 

“Just being able to do something that I love to do and that I am passionate about and to have it integrated into my school — in my academics and my education — is amazing,” Davis explained. 

One of his favorite teachers at IAA is Clayton Powell.

“He’s my private piano instructor,” Davis said. “He’s really like a life mentor to me. He’s really knowledgeable about music and life experience. He really inspires me.”

Davis has big plans for the fall of 2021. After applying to multiple colleges, Davis was accepted into the Berklee College of Music in Boston where he will be majoring in contemporary writing and production. He hopes to go into the production side of music after college.

Since COVID-19, Davis has also experienced the positive impacts of social media. It’s given him the opportunity to perform and create to a larger, worldwide audience.

He performed virtually at the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival earlier this month, which is the largest music festival in Jamaica.

“COVID-19 has really helped me to grow musically,” Davis said. “I hope it doesn’t get in the way of my college life because I definitely want to have that secure college education as well for when I go into the industry. Things have been looking up, and hopefully, it’ll look up more in the future.”

Davis has high hopes for his future. He is trying to keep an open mind in case his music career doesn’t pan out the way he hopes. Outside of music, Davis also enjoys photography and videography, which he plans to learn, practice and use as his backup career plan.

“Once you truly know what your passion is, go for it,” he said. “Having a proper education is really, really important. As long as you have the passion and drive to do it, you can do it.”

If you would like to learn more about his music and photography, visit
www.joedavisarts.com.