Masterpeace by Joseph Akins

About this time, Joseph gained an interest in academia and attended college from ages 19 until 27 earning two Bachelor degrees and a Master’s degree in music. During these years, his involvement in rock bands was replaced by a new passion for jazz. He committed to practicing piano no less than four hours a day and performed with many notary jazz musicians such as Jerry Coker. During these years, Joseph acquired another new interest; teaching in higher education. “I found I enjoyed the campus environment and helping others to achieve their musical goals,” says Joseph.

After those college years, life brought a sudden change. Almost simultaneously, his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and Joseph was stricken with a health problem that challenged his ongoing music career. These events changed Joseph’s perspective on life and music. “More than ever”, Joseph says, “I wanted to help people.”

Joseph was quickly able to return to his creative passion and released a CD of original music dedicated to the life of his father, titled Keys to the Heart (1997). Featuring Joseph on piano and keyboards, a fresh new sound emerged that was an eclectic blend of spirited music that could only have come from the heart.

Following Keys to the Heart, Joseph worked with Herb Ernst (Dreamflight Trilogy) to co-produce Through the Veils (1998) featuring Unita, a singer-songwriter who had became Joseph’s life partner.

In 2000, Joseph turned to teaching higher education full-time with an invitation from the prestigious Department of Recording Industry at Middle Tennessee State University, the largest recording program in the world. Subsequently, Joseph composed for short film and video, and achieved a doctorate in education. Today, Joseph is an award winning educator teaching musicianship and electronic music at MTSU and is promoting his most recent acoustic solo piano CD of original compositions, Masterpeace.

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