Q&A with Jonathan Scales, musician from Asheville

Placing the steel pans inside a progressive concept album, the latest release from Asheville’s Jonathan Scales has garnered him comparisons to banjo pioneer Béla Fleck. This week, Diversions editor Joseph Chapman asks Scales just how that music degree is working out for him.

DIVERSIONS: You started playing steel pans in 2002 as a freshman music major at Appalachian State University. What style of music did you start with in class?

JONATHAN SCALES: Steel band is like a 20-piece group that was actually started at that college in 1984. That steel pan group was playing a good mix of traditional steel pan music and also some cool pop arrangements. I was actually a saxophone player going into that school, and a composer.

Originally I wasn’t interested in being in steel band, but all my friends convinced me to do it, and I’m very glad I did.

DIVE: In retrospect, do you think your music degree was worth it?

JS: It’s based on what you want out of it, really. The paper itself is worthless. Like, my composition degree isn’t worth anything. Well — I guess it’s worth tens of thousands of dollars, but other than that, it’s not really worth anything.

It’s about your experience and what you get out of it. When I was in college, I took a lot out of my private lessons and I took a lot out of the music theory classes. I’m using that: I’m writing music and people are getting into it, and I’m trying to build my career up.

I’m very happy that I went and got that degree, even though it’s obscure.

DIVE: How did Béla Fleck influence you as a musician?

JS: Béla Fleck did a show at Appalachian State when I was there. And I saw him at a clinic earlier that day. And it was awesome — that was the first time I saw him, and I loved it.

I wasn’t going to the show that night because it was sold out. So I was like, ‘Oh, that’s too bad, I can’t go to the show.’

So, during the set break, my friend Joel called me up and said, ‘Hey man, it’s the intermission. If you want to sneak in, they’re not really checking tickets anymore.’

So I ran down from my dorm and went to the theater and got to see the whole second half of Béla Fleck and Edgar Meyer.

That performance was so astounding that, right there, I was like, ‘I want to play my own music on the steel pans and travel and tour and make albums.’

DIVE: So, in college, you told yourself you were going to make a living being a musician?

JS: Yes, I definitely planned on it. When you’re in college and you make a decision like that, sometimes it might not be seen as the most wise decision. A lot of people with my degree, they go off and get their masters and their doctorate and then they teach college music theory or college music composition. And that’s not what I wanted to do.

At first, my teacher was really concerned about how I was going to make it. ‘How are you going to eat, how are you going to pay the bills, how are you going to do this, how are you going to do that?’

DIVE: You’ve played almost 40 shows already this year. Are you satisfied with the pace of your career?

JS: It’s kind of a tricky thing. Me as an artist, I see things differently than someone who’s perceiving it. To me, a lot of times, to be honest, I don’t know that I’m going anywhere. I’m just stuck in my own world, it seems like nothing’s moving. I’ll just be sitting at home at my desk wondering if anyone is even listening to my music.

I do have times like that, but then I have to sit down and say, ‘Alright, in 2002, I started playing steel drums.’ And in 2009, I played a jazz festival in Trinidad, the birthplace of steel drums. So sometimes I have to think about it like that. I try not to get too wrapped up in where I am, I just have to keep going.

Contact the Diversions Editor at diversions@dailytarheel.com