Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Draper.
Hi Joshua, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I got started wanting to emulate my dad, who was a trumpet player when he was young and loved to laugh and watch shows like Whose Line Is It Anyway? with our family. I picked up the trumpet in middle school, and I was always drawn to performing — writing skits, making people laugh, and being the class clown growing up. I was also placed in gifted and talented classes, which helped develop my critical-thinking skills and set me on a path toward individuality, creativity, and innovation.
I spent eight years in Chicago studying improvisation at The Second City Conservatory, and while I loved performing and comedy, I eventually realized that something was missing from my creative life: music. Music found its way back to me through hand drums and, eventually, a new wearable MIDI controller called the Mi.Mu Gloves.
I first saw the gloves — a technology created by musician and innovator Imogen Heap — at a showcase during SXSW in 2018. I was immediately fascinated by the possibilities and knew I wanted to learn how to use them. When the pandemic hit, I had just built a small home studio, and I spent the next eight months teaching myself Ableton, music production, and audio engineering.
That period became a major turning point for me. I realized that many of the things I had spent years developing — improvisation, performance, comedy, technology, storytelling, and music — could actually exist together. That intersection is what ultimately led me to where I am today: creating experiences and music that combine technology, play, performance, and human connection.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. I’ve come to believe that sometimes in life, it’s not necessarily about what you’re pursuing, but about what’s pressuring you. In many ways, those pressures have pulled me deeper and deeper into the work — both with improvisation and with the Mi.Mu Gloves.
There have certainly been challenges. For example, when I first started making music, I knew almost nothing about audio engineering and had to teach myself from scratch. But I’ve come to realize that whenever we learn a new skill, what we’re really practicing is the art of learning itself.
We’re learning how to expand our belief in ourselves — to say, “Yes, I can do this.” We’re learning how to be patient with ourselves and love ourselves through the mistakes — to say, “I love myself for even trying this, and for coming this far.”
That mindset has helped me persevere through the difficult parts. The more I practice learning, the more comfortable I become with not knowing, making mistakes, and continuing anyway. And over time, that willingness to keep learning is what allows us to grow.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m an improv coach, musician, and innovator. I use more than 10 years of experience in improvisation, performance, and creative production to lead immersive improv workshops nationally and internationally. My work helps people reconnect with their inner goof, become more present and expressive, and remember the communal and healing power of laughter.
I’ve also spent the past several years developing myself as a musician and DJ under the name Joshua Bear. I recently completed an eight-month touring journey where I used the Mi.Mu Gloves to mix and manipulate music with my hands in real time. I focus largely on reggae fusion, dancehall, and bass-driven music, and I’m particularly interested in bringing the rhythmic language of reggae — especially its emphasis on the upbeat — into new forms of electronic music.
What sets me apart is the intersection of these worlds. I’m not interested in putting myself into just one box.
Improvisation, music, technology, comedy, and human connection all inform each other in my work. Whether I’m leading a room through an improv experience or performing on stage with the Mi.Mu Gloves, I’m ultimately interested in creating experiences that invite people to be more present, playful, expressive, and connected.
How do you define success?
Ultimately, I define success as growth. But deeper than that, I think success is measured by setting a goal or objective and then having the courage and persistence to reach it. There’s something incredibly powerful about arriving at that precipice and realizing, “I actually did it.” That feeling of triumph is one of the greatest feelings in the world.
At this stage of my life, though, I measure success less by my own accomplishments and more by the impact I’m having on other people. I look at the number of happy students in my improv classes who are not only becoming better improvisers, but becoming more present, confident, connected, and engaged people.
I also measure it by the people who reach out to me after a DJ set and tell me that the music nourished them, moved them, or simply amazed them because of what they saw the technology make possible.
For me, success is ultimately about growth that extends beyond myself — setting out to create something, following it all the way through, and knowing that what I created made someone else’s life a little better.
Pricing:
- $500 – Private improv game night called a “Play Party”
- $900 – register for a 9 week improv immersion container in Austin, TX
- $1000k – curated DJ set and gloves performance
- $40 – local, public improv jam once a month
- $100/hr – quantum music lessons on piano or hand drums
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.joshdraper.me
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truejoshuadraper/?hl=en
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-draper-836419224
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/zvFdb3xj8NaPuxy30Q
