From Connecticut to Los Angeles, composer Joseph S. Greenier has traced a musical trajectory that — like the career trajectory of any young artist — has included some seemingly unlikely but beneficial stopovers. For Greenier, leading technology solutions provider TicketNetwork was one such stopover, offering the young artist financial support and a friendly environment while he planned his next career moves.
“That job was the perfect way to get here,” Greenier told TicketNews from Los Angeles.
Greenier’s journey began early on. The L.A.-based composer from South Windsor, CT got bit by the music bug in middle school, when his grandfather taught him how to play guitar. From there, Greenier moved to drums to keyboard and then to computers, where he could generate any instrument on a keyboard using sample libraries to produce full scores.
“I knew I didn’t want to be a front man and deal with all that stuff that goes along with that,” Greenier said. “Composing was a way to do my own thing. It’s a challenge that’s interesting. The more I did it, the more I loved doing it.”
Greenier scored films for a close friend and decided that he enjoyed it enough to make a career out of it. He enrolled at the University of Connecticut where he briefly studied computer science and music before transferring to Boston’s Berklee College of Music in 2002. Greenier graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in film scoring.
In his last semester at Berklee, Greenier began looking for a job that would support him while he wrote his music. “I knew the best job would be in the computer field,” he said, “it was the only thing outside music that I liked doing.” He answered a Monster.com listing that led to a job with TicketNetwork, first in the customer service department and then with the IT department. “I met a lot of great people there,” Greenier said. “If I hadn’t worked there, I don’t know that I would have been able to get out here as fast as I did. I was able to save a lot of money and have a good experience working there.”
In early 2007, Greenier moved to L.A. and began focusing solely on his music career. He now works as a composer for Vanacore Music, a leading music production house that composes music for television shows such as “The Apprentice” and “Survivor.” Recently, Greenier composed music for the Animal Planet series “Whale Wars.” In addition, he’s composed music for independent films like “The Roper,” a film by Mike Chase. A score for a horror film set for release early next year is also in the pipeline.
Looking towards the future, Greenier would like to compose solely for films, with an eye towards one day composing music that could stand on its own. Until then, he continues to forge ahead in his music career.