We had the good fortune of connecting with Joanie Calem and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joanie, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
Truthfully, I am not very good at work-life balance, since my work is my art. It is hard to regulate artistic impulses to any particular schedule. So when I was first starting out as an independent musician, I tended to take every job that came my way. As I have gotten older and more “known”, I am definitely saying no to requests for my music that don’t feel reasonable. And I am realizing, now that I am plain old, that the frantic running around through much of my career didn’t actually contribute to my artistry. Maybe it contributed to my income, which is of course worthwhile, but it didn’t help my artistry, which I wish I would have spent more time on.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I suppose what sets me apart as a songwriter is that musically I am not bound by one particular listening style. Because I have lived in different parts of the world, I have also been influenced by very different types of music that are not often listened to in the US. My musical settings reflect a lot of different musical modalities, and I break a lot of “rules” of American songwriting. I actually do know the rules: I studied music theory for years through my piano lessons and then I went to a music high school in Jerusalem, Israel, that really solidified my understanding of harmony. So I know that I am breaking classical rules, but I mostly follow the musical muse where it leads, and that muse seems to love breaking rules.

I would say that I got to where I am professionally by viewing everything as networking, but hopefully not in an obnoxious way. I am genuinely interested in people, genuinely enjoy meeting new people, and genuinely rejoice in letting those connections develop. Most of my connections have nothing to do with music, but one thing leads to another. Some of my favorite jobs are singing with people who have a history of trauma and being unhoused, and that is definitely a job that came my way through a friend of a friend. Another favorite job of mine is leading sing along hours with the elderly, who are often already struggling to speak and converse, but can sing every word of the songs that they grew up hearing from the 20s-30s-40s-50s. And I definitely love singing with kids and families. And I love the opportunities to sing my own “grown-up” original songs, that are a little more thought-provoking/contemplative/biting/cynical than I would sing with children or the elderly. And I love teaching music…being able to get jobs and earn money from every single one of these hats that I wear musically is something that developed out of someone who knew someone.

Has it been easy? Well no, but is anything easy? Another “hat” that I wear is presenting workshops on Sensory Processing Disorder and trauma. That is a deep passion of mine as the parent of an adult with autism. And, as a music educator for many years, I have had countless students over the years who have SPD but not autism, and are not getting any support. I started offering these workshops after I finished an album of original songs about parenting someone with autism. My initial plan/hope was to lead parent evenings with these songs. That never really panned out, but in a random conversation with a parent one evening, someone said, “I so wish you could teach teachers through your songs. They are the ones who do not know how to teach our kids who are suffering with SPD.” That lit up a light, and a whole new direction. And changed the nature of the workshop, so that it includes much more direct academic information, and just a little bit of music. It certainly was disappointing that the door that I had wanted to open didn’t really open, but the little it did open led to another door opening, so that was also a result of networking.

I would say my brand is that I am interested in singing to help bring healing first and foremost. I want my music to both make people think and help them have hope. I want to sing songs that will help both people’s minds and their souls. Sometimes, that means singing my own songs, sometimes it means singing cover songs, often it means writing songs that have an audience participation part that helps folks sing with me, rather than me singing AT them.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We would walk around German Village and the Short North, go to CMOA, hike through some of the Metro Parks, ride bikes through downtown along the river. For dining, there is Ranchero Kitchen, Dosa Corner, and Portia’s in Clintonville. Amazing restaurants all over downtown. If it was during the summer we would go to as many outdoor festivals as we could and walk through one of the suburban downtown areas that might have a fun outdoor festival happening.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Of course there isn’t just one person. Though my parents definitely would never have encouraged me to become a professional musician, they did agree to moving a piano into the house when I bought one at age 7 for $5 at an auction (after I had been begging for piano lessons for 2 years.) They also paid for years of piano lessons, including finding me a new teacher when the local, neighborhood piano teacher turned out to (literally) be a Nazi. So while they didn’t intentionally plant the seed, they definitely watered it and recognized my passion.

My 4th grade teacher, Miss Thompson, used to end every day of school playing the guitar with us kids sitting around the carpet singing the peace songs of the 60s. She was also someone who was very kind to me throughout that year when my family was having a really rough time. The combination of her kindness, seeing me, and the singing at the end of the day left a powerful imprint. There was never any doubt that I needed to move from playing piano to guitar at some point.

And my husband and life partner Doug is the very biggest shoutout – I am acutely aware of how preoccupied I was for years when I was fretting about how to find my way as an independent musician and music teacher. He often would suggest that I go work on a song when it seemed I was particularly distracted, knowing that when songs were bubbling up inside, they would be calling me! And quite honestly, his 9-5 job has also offered me a little financial space to take risks professionally.

Website: https://www.joaniecalem.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanie-calem-34242936/

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-31444593

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joanie.calem; https://www.facebook.com/JoanieCalemMusicforKids

Youtube: youtube.com/@joaniecalem; youtube.com/@joaniecalemforkids

Other: Bandcamp:
http://joaniecalem.bandcamp.com/music

Spotify:

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutOhio is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.