Jonah Wei-Haas
CIW’s Local Look invites local entrepreneurs, social pioneers and artists to share their projects and insights. This week, we talked to Jonah Wei-Haas, a professional musician, producer and teacher who composes and produces electronic music and performs with many local Chicago musicians. Many of the original compositions and covers he posts to his YouTube channel have garnered upwards of one million views.
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| Photo courtesy of Jonah Wei-Haas. |
Why did you choose Chicago?
I grew up in Tulsa, OK and always dreamt of living in a big city. Attending school in Boston on scholarship at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, I got a taste of the city life. After graduating with dual degrees in Piano Performance and Electronic Production & Design, I made the decision to move to Chicago in 2013, and it has proven to be a great decision for both personal growth and my music career. Since moving here, I have formed incredible friendships and networked with many other musicians and artists within the city. I have had the honor of performing, recording and working with some of Chicago’s best musicians and art collectives, including Jess Godwin, Briar Rabbit, Trentino, April Henry, The Covelo Experiment, Gatz and Goods and Them People.
If you could go back in time before you started this project and share one piece of advice with yourself, what would you tell yourself?
You could say that this project truly began when I first started playing piano 16 years ago. However, I only recently started seriously posting videos and original music to my YouTube channel less than a year ago. If there was anything that I could tell a past version of myself relating to my music career, it would be to dedicate more of my time to practicing and perfecting my craft.
What are your next steps?
My main plan is to stay the course. I have some very exciting collaborations with fellow YouTubers and Chicago musicians in the works. I have also been working on a brand new electronic project with incredible Chicago singer, writer and teacher Jess Godwin. Our debut track was featured on dubstep.net—a very popular blog that has over 410,000 listeners. I am also currently scoring the music for the upcoming gaming documentary Die Noobs, a inspiring project that has gotten huge support from gamers, rock stars, athletes, models, celebrities and many more. In addition to writing and performing, I have booked several successful Midwest tours with my own jazz trio including headlining performances at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame. On top of all of this, I continue to compose and teach piano lessons to students of all ages in the greater Chicago area.
We want to be in the know! Name one person, place or thing that you think is one of Chicago’s best-kept secrets—a secret until now, of course.
There are so many hidden gems in this city that it’s difficult to pick just one. However, when I’m not locking myself in my studio to practice piano or work on a new track, one of my favorite spots that I find myself coming back to is First Slice, on Ravenswood. The food is excellent and it provides an overall good environment for local artists to showcase work and just hang out in general.
