Bill Kaiser's Musical Life

I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, where I attended public schools from kindergarten through 12th grade. Music education was strong in our school system during those years.

My mother played the marimba, and my father played baritone horn in community bands until he was 90 years old. My grandmother played the organ.

I started taking piano lessons at the age of 9 or 10, both privately and at the Cleveland Music School Settlement.  

I was a mediocre pianist—I never got the "play more than one note at a time" thing down.

At age 12, I made my stage debut as the lead in the production "Mr. Quarter Note." This was the peak of my singing and dancing career.

At our church, my dad sang in the choir, and I would often sit with him and also sing, until the church organist, a famous musician named Walter Blodgett, recruited me to turn pages for him while he played because I could read music.

I was terrified of Walter, who vaguely looked like Beethoven to me. During one performance, I turned the page and the unbound score flew off the music stand on the organ. Walter stopped asking me to turn pages for him.

At age 11, I started playing the baritone horn, because my father played it. I was very good at it, but I quickly realized that playing the euphonium would limit which musical groups I could be part of in school, so I added trombone and later tuba and sousaphone to my repertoire.

Around this time, I also became obsessed with jazz. I think I was probably the only 11 year old in Cleveland with a subscription to Downbeat magazine.  I have strong memories of going to see Buddy Rich, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, and Maynard Ferguson, who played at our high school.

In junior high and high school, I was in the concert band, jazz band, marching band, orchestra, and pit orchestra, and I briefly sang in the choir. I was making music for hours each school day, and I loved every minute of it.

I was also a proud member of the Good Time Five (Plus One), which was a jazz combo my friends and I formed. We mostly played at fashion shows at Sears stores, plus a few parties and events.

In 1972, as a high school junior, our jazz band took a school bus to Boston and competed in the Berklee High School Jazz Band Festival. We finished second in the country. We got robbed. 

Once I saw Boston, I knew I wanted to go to school there. I have always loved math, and was accepted at MIT, where I ultimately majored in electrical engineering and computer science. During college, I played in the MIT jazz bands, which were directed by Berklee professors Herb Pomeroy and Everett Longstreth, who were amazing teachers.

I lived at 28 The Fenway, right next to a Boston Conservatory dorm, and I walked by BCM and Berklee every day, multiple times a day, and was friends with many students at both institutions.

After college, I played briefly in some Boston-area community bands, but my career and life events caused me to stop playing in my 30s.

I have been to more concerts than I can possibly remember, from Emerson, Lake, and Palmer at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, to Yo Yo Ma and the BSO at Tanglewood, to Snarky Puppy at the Umbria Jazz Festival.

Just this summer, we went to the BSO Gala, the Jacob's Pillow Gala, the Tanglewood BSO Gala, and saw Modest Mouse, Cat Power, and the Pixies at MASS MoCA.

I have taken a Berklee Online course in recording engineering and a MOOC where I tried to learn to play bass guitar.

My wife Kelly is a trained concert violinist and pianist.  

One of my daughters sang in a band that was signed to a recording contract when she was 16,   Another daughter plays bass in a heavy metal band. She and I went to Victor Wooten’s Bass and Nature Camp in 2008.

My stepson graduated from Berklee as an EPD major in 2023. His girlfriend graduated from Boston Conservatory in 2022 as a dance major.  

My stepdaughters are musicians and very fine dancers.

We have a recording studio and a stage in our home that supports a 9-foot Bösendorfer grand piano.

So music is, and always has been, an extremely important part of my life.  

It has made me laugh, weep, dance, and fall in love.

I first served on the Berklee board of trustees from 2012 to 2021, and then I rejoined the board in 2022. My first Berklee board meeting in 2012 was in Valencia.

I have chaired the Berklee Online advisory committee for several years, and also serve on the committee on membership. I previously served on the audit and risk committee. I’m a member of the executive committee.

My wife and I have supported and enjoyed many Berklee and Boston Conservatory galas over the years. We have financially supported numerous scholarships and facilities as well.

We have been to dozens of commencement concerts, BPC performances, shows in the Boston Conservatory Theater, the David Friend Recital Hall, and even a few caf shows!

I try to always go to commencement and have enjoyed watching thousands of Berklee students receive their diplomas.

Berklee is an institution that means a great deal to me personally.  

I care deeply about it and want to do whatever I can to help it thrive in the future.  

I believe that Berklee plays an important, perhaps unique role in the world.  

I’m honored to be part of it.