Today we’d like to introduce you to Joanna Wallfisch.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Joanna. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
I am a full-time musician, namely a vocalist, songwriter, and music educator. I was born in London, UK, to a family of classical musicians, and there was never any question that I too would someday walk in the footsteps of my parents, grandparents and siblings alike, and pursue a life of creative and joyful instability.
I moved to New York City in 2010 after I graduated from a masters in Jazz, and once there I had the opportunity to work alongside those I had studied at school… all of a sudden they were my colleagues: Wynton Marsalis, Fred Hersch, and so many more. In the seven years, I lived in New York I recorded and released four albums, toured the world and started to understand the true grind and ups and downs of living this musician’s life. I gained a new respect and understanding of what my parents did to make sure there was always food on the table for us.
In 2016, I was invited to volunteer with an incredible UK based charity “Songbound,” who brings music education to impoverished children in India. I flew to Mumbai and worked for ten days with 300+ children, working with their slums, schools, cancer units, and rescue shelters in the red light district of Mumbai. It was a life-changing experience and opened my eyes to the vast importance of music beyond entertainment and ‘success.’
Since then, I have followed similar opportunities that enable me to give what I can, using my skills as a musician and as an empathetic human. Now that I reside in Los Angeles I spend much of my time working in Skid Row with a non-profit called Urban Voices Project, who bring music education and singing to the community experiencing homelessness. With them I am piloting a program named Family Sing that brings music to mothers and their infants (in the first four years of life), not only as a way of teaching songs, but more so to provide tools to communicate with their children outside of crisis and trauma mode, and navigate the intense stress of their situation in a more loving and calm way.
I am also an adventurer at heart, and two years ago I released my third record, “Gardens In My Mind,” and decided to tour the album down the west coast, by bicycle. I called this 2000mile concert tour The Great Song Cycle. I have since written a book and full-length stage music production based on the experiences I gathered on the road. The album is out this year… Every other moment is spent writing songs, booking tours, recording albums and playing shows. It’s a good life!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Of course, there have been struggles, but for me, it is the trials that inspire me. I once did a show in New York after a number of painful life events, and I asked the audience “what do you do with feelings that overwhelm you if you’re not an artist?” The unanimous answer, accompanied by chuckles, was “we drink.” I felt lucky that I have created a vessel which I can fill with song and music. I have always used my heart breaks, loneliness, brokenness, ups and down, in my music.
I write from experience, and when things are smooth, I embrace the beauty and write from that perspective. But to give some anecdote of the realities: when I first moved to New York I was, as most people are, hopeful, enthusiastic and broke. In the early days, my gas was shut off because I forgot/couldn’t pay, so instead of worrying I cooked out of my coffee percolator (electricity was included in the rent) by heating the water and making couscous or fresh pasta.
When my bag and computer was stolen friends and strangers gathered to help, and suddenly I realized how open and friendly such a harsh city could me. I could go on with examples of the yin yang of my own life and struggles… but the biggest take away I have had is that there is always a silver lining, and over the years when times are really hard, I know that soon there will be the release.
We’d love to hear more about what you do.
My business is music. I specialize in songwriting and the voice. I have a masters degree in music, I teach college level, specializing in session singing and sight reading, as well as performing and writing original music.
As an educator, I teach voice, songwriting, music theory, and early childhood music. As an artist, I am what some have said to be a master in the art of live vocal looping. I play the ukulele, piano, flute and, well, most any instrument you give me I will happily learn and incorporate into my sound world.
I am a deft sigh-reader and adore working in recording studios, whether it is singing session vocals for a movie or commercial soundtracks, to making my own albums. I am an arranger and write for strings, woodwinds, rock, pop, jazz bands. I know more a 100 jazz standards and have recorded five albums of my own original music.
What am I most proud of? Figuring out how to balance life and work, and being a happy human in a world that has a way of crushing us if we are not careful. I am proud that audiences around the world listen and love the music I put out there, and that my music has a positive effect on people, whether from those who’ve just enjoyed a concert or children who live in slums who, through the music I’ve brought them, can now find laughter in their lives.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck… I like to call it serendipity. Luck and chance have played a massive role in my life and business. I would draw it back two generations to my grandmother, Anita Lasker Wallfisch who, through sheer luck survived the Holocaust. She was a young Jewish woman growing up in Breslau, Germany, who fell in love with the cello at an early age.
When the war broke out her family was torn apart, and she and her sister were sent to Auschwitz. When my grandmother was being processed – stripped, shaved, tattooed – the guard happened to ask her “what did you do before?” She said, “I played the cello.”
The guard said, “wait here, you will be saved!” and handed my grandmother a toothbrush. She was then introduced to Alma Rose, the conductor of the women’s orchestra in the camp. They were in need of a cellist. My grandmother joined the orchestra and thus survived and avoided the gas chambers. She is alive to this day.
This history of my family has not been forced upon me in any way of pressuring me to become a musician, however, I feel in my soul the incredible importance music plays throughout life, and how it can invite such amazing luck. Music has a way of opening people and bringing out the best in them.
Over the years, when I have had amazing strokes of luck come my way, I think back to my grandmother and feel thankful that her blood runs through me. She has taught me a lot, indirectly, about being prepared at all times for when luck strikes. As far as particular stories of luck for me, where do I begin? 🙂
Pricing:
- LIVE CONCERTS: $600 – $1500
- Vocal lessons: $85 per hour
- Songwriting lessons: $85 per hour
Contact Info:
- Website: www.joannawallfisch.com
- Instagram: @joannawallfisch
Image Credit:
Rolf Dombrowski, David Price, Jeremy Sailing
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
