No, but if you’re a very unfulfilled person you might have a tendency to turn to crime. I’ve never noticed a tendency toward criminality. Either that, or I would probably be in jail. I always loved music, so I would probably either be in a band with another group of people, or an arranger, a producer, a musicologist, a music history guy, something to do with music. I didn’t graduate high school, so I never got a teacher’s education, I’m mostly self-read, self-taught. What would you be doing if you didn’t have this job? But I picked a good job, that’s for sure. The first mistake was signing contracts without a lawyer. So I thought, well, maybe I can help somebody, too. But my chorus teacher in high school said, “you’ve got what it takes to be a really good professional musician, you should consider it.” That was an epiphany for me. Most people you’d tell “I’m gonna be a musician,” they’d say, “you’re crazy, you’re gonna starve, you’re gonna be poor, a drug addict, go to jail, you’ll never make it, there’s too much competition, it’s a terrible business,” etc. That changed my life, I’d never heard that from an adult. It was actually a teacher in my high school that first told me that I should consider being a professional musician. I liked history, and good teachers made an impact on me. I always wanted to try to be a teacher even before I was in the music business. But I promised myself if I ever get to a point where I can help somebody that’s trying to learn how to do this, that I would try to do that. When I first started I didn’t know a lot about the job, so I kinda had to figure it out by wire, ya know? It was hit and miss, I made mistakes, and fortunately I was able to recover from most of ’em. I’m curious why you would do those engagements, because there are so many arenas and stadiums that would like to take advantage of your visit to a particular market, for presumably a much nicer payday. Your great response, as I recall, was, ‘and that’s how you get to be a horn player in New York City,’ responding to an earlier question. People come up, sometimes they’re good, sometimes they’re not so good. I’ve been doing these, jeez, for over 30 years now, those Master Classes. Well, that happened to be one of the times where something like that happens. I was shocked, first that you invited him to come on up in the first place, and secondly that he could play so well. (Joel is referring to Vandy student Michael Pollack being invited to the stage to accompany Joel on “New York State of Mind,” a moment that made national news.)Īs you said, the kid had some chops, huh? Joel spoke with Billboard in a wide-ranging interview that covers everything from the enduring nature of his catalog, to what he’s been writing lately, and breaking the Beethoven code.īillboard: The last time I saw you was in Nashville at Vanderbilt University as part of your Questions & Answers lecture series.īilly Joel: Oh, yeah, that ended up going all viral.
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