My name is Jay Chu. I spend my days working as an engineer but I use the rest of my time pursuing my other passion - music. I write and sing my own songs but I also play a variety of instruments, including violin, guitar, piano, and drums. Feel free to explore this website, a central gateway to consolidate my online music material in one place. Peruse at your leisure and enjoy!
MUSIC BIOGRAPHY
My mother, who was raised in a large musical family, began teaching me piano when I was three. At six, I picked up the violin, which became my main instrument while growing up. Throughout my childhood, I discovered that I loved learning new instruments - I joined the school band playing the clarinet; at Chinese school, I played the dizi (Chinese flute) and Chinese drums. In middle school, I decided to finally learn a "cool" instrument and begged my parents to get me a drum kit and allow me to take drum lessons. The lessons didn't last long, but to this day, I find nothing more satisfying than tapping out a rhythm on any percussion instrument.
After years of weekly lessons, competitions, recitals, and local orchestras, I finally called it quits with my classical violin career my senior year of high school due to some joint problems I was experiencing in my hands. Part of it was also due to my decision to pursue a higher education in engineering instead. The next year, I was off to Rutgers University, where I picked up the guitar for fun, learning on my own by utilizing all my prior music experience as a foundation. I began writing my own music and played my first public singer-songwriter performance in my sophomore year at an open mic on Valentine's Day. I formed a band called "Highlife" with some other great musicians to give my music a bigger feel, allowing me to grow more comfortable with my newfound mainstream pop rock sound. The Rutgers Musician's Guild, along with other student organizations, gave me more opportunities to perform my original music in front of an audience.
Upon graduation, I began working full-time and forgot about music for a couple years while I honed my career as an engineer. However, a youtube video I made in college began circulating at work - the response it received from my coworkers gave me the courage to get back into playing seriously again. Soon after, I made the move across the country to San Diego and promptly inserted myself into its thriving music community, where I met amazing musicians and found wonderful opportunities to further develop my craft.
This is where I am today, working hard at writing new material and performing music at local coffeehouses and bars. I don't want to be known as an engineer who also plays music. At the same time, I also don't want music to discount my integrity as an engineer. My goal is to be the best at both in each of their own regards. I truly believe that if you dream big enough and push yourself, you can achieve anything you want. What you see here is just the beginning of something bigger and better and I would love to have all of you along for the ride.
Thanks for visiting.
- Jay Chu
