ARTIST PROFILE: Joey Wallerstein
Name and Year: Joey Wallerstein, C’13
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Major: Anthropology
YouTube Link:
Street: When did you discover your passion for music?
Joey Wallerstein: I realized I liked singing when I participated in my middle school’s mandatory chorus. We sang all sorts of trendy things, like “Jabberwocky” set to music and the classic Civil War tune “Goober Peas.” Here are some actual lines from the second one: “peas peas peas peas/eating goober peas/goodness how delicious/eating goober peas.” In high school, I was cast as the Scarecrow in a production of “The Wiz,” which was my breakthrough performance. I loved the thrill of singing for people, so I auditioned for my school’s a cappella group, and I got in. I knew I wanted to continue singing in college.
Street: Who are your favorite musicians? Do you have any idols?
JW: John Legend, James Morrison, Jonny Lang, Daniel Merriweather, Allen Stone and Jarle Bernhoft are some of the most inspiring to me-—they’re all soulful and funky in different ways. It would be cool to be all of them rolled into one person. I love singers whose voices are bigger than and totally different from what you’d expect to come out of their mouths. Jamie Lidell, Amy Winehouse and Cee Lo Green are some other favorites.
Street: How do you arrange the music of a song to make it ready for a cappella?
JW: Different people have their own arranging styles, but the general process is the same for most people. You listen to the song, and as you go, you compose a version of it in some sort of composition/notation program (Sibelius, noteflight.com, etc.). Or you can do it by hand if you are from the 1980s-—just joshing. There are lots of creative choices to make: you might make up some stuff if a section of the song sounds empty, or you can change up some rhythms to make the song more interesting. You’re often sick of a song after you finish, because you’ve just listened to it so many times. And then you get to sing it eight million times.
Street: What’s it like when you get on the stage?
JW: It’s like you’re suddenly standing in front of a bunch of simultaneously terrifying and encouraging people, and all you want to do is entertain, impress and charm them. There’s a rush of energy, and then, you just go for it. If you get anxious onstage, you can try to eliminate some nerves by reminding yourself that everyone is there to support you—they all want you to succeed. If you trip over a speaker, you trip over a speaker…we’ve all done it. Right?
Street: What’s your favorite part about being involved in theater?
JW: People bounce around from company to company, and it’s really cool to get to know so many performers that way. I’ve met several of my closest and most talented/creative friends through theater at Penn. By the way, I hear that the best theater company on campus is Quadramics.
Street: How do you balance your performing arts activities with the rest of your life?
JW: Once you’ve been involved in performing arts for a while you sort of naturally figure out how to balance everything. It’s not so different from most other extracurricular activities. The rehearsals, meetings and emails don’t feel like chores if you really enjoy what you’re doing, and I love Counterparts, Quadramics and PAC. It helps to just go with the flow, to be open to making time for things when they pop up and to rearrange your schedule sometimes. It also helps if you don’t do your schoolwork. Just kidding. Maybe.
Street: What’s your fondest performance memory at Penn?
JW: A couple of years ago Counterparts was waiting to perform at Baccalaureate, and we were sitting in a row of chairs on top of some risers. We all had to stand up for something, and when we sat back down, one of our members pushed her chair back too far and fell off the risers and produced the loudest crash you could’ve imagined. Immediately several stagehands pulled her back behind the curtain like she was being kidnapped. President Gutmann turned around and looked concerned. I don’t know if that counts as a performance memory, but it’s fond.
Street: Do you see yourself continuing signing in the future?
JW: I definitely want to keep singing. I’m not sure yet in what capacity, but I’ll figure it out when the time comes. I think there’s a devoted fan base out there somewhere (aka my parents) waiting for me to start a YouTube channel.
