How Composer Jeff Beal Manages MS

The MS Experience

December 16, 2024

Mike Knight

An older, white man with glasses sits at a grand piano. — Jeff Beal has written music for television, film and concerts.

In spring 2021, Jeff and Joan Beal moved from California to New York be closer to Joan’s aging mother. They moved into a new home not far from Manhattan’s Riverside Park, which runs along the Hudson River on the city’s west side.A 5-time Emmy award-winning composer and musician, Jeff has written scores for television, film and concerts, including “House of Cards,” Oliver Stone’s “JFK Revisited,” “Pollock,” “Ugly Betty,” “Monk,” “Carnivàle” and many others. In 2024, he released “New York Études,” an album of contemplative piano music that, according to Jeff, “focuses on the connection between making music and mindfulness.”Ten songs in all and written “as a little bit of a diary,” Jeff says the first cut, “Riverside Revelations,” is his reflection on the waning pandemic, among other topics. “I remember walking in Riverside Park with Joan and just seeing random human faces again and how magical and beautiful that was and how hopeful it made me feel,” Jeff says. “And it’s sort of about that sense of something that maybe you took for granted before but that it’s really precious now.”In a larger way, his album, whose song titles also include “Corridors of Calm,” “Elation,” “Invocation (for Joan)” and “Gratitude,” could serve as a reflection of sorts on his approach to living life to its fullest despite having multiple sclerosis. Diagnosed with MS in 2007, Jeff has continued to thrive by practicing a purposeful mixture of gratitude and mindfulness, a disease-modifying treatment (DMT), exercise, diet and social interaction. He also maintains a focus on neural plasticity (the brain’s ability to continue growing and evolving through life’s experiences), music and “the love of his life,” his wife and fellow musician, Joan.

Songs in the Key of Life

The middle of 3 children, Jeff was born in San Francisco in 1963, gravitating toward music early on, developing skills first with a trumpet, then piano, then as a composer and eventually, writing scores and music for television shows, ads and films.“At that time in California, we had great music programs, and I started playing trumpet around third or fourth grade,” he says. “During middle school, when I started playing in the jazz band, I started to improvise. Something really got unlocked for me there musically. I found a real love of spontaneous creativity, and that sort of led to composing.”Jeff taught himself how to play piano along the way and was writing jazz and big-band compositions by the time he was in high school. He was also developing an interest in visual storytelling, a skill he learned was a family affair.“There are a lot of painters in my family,” he says. “I think the idea of visual storytelling is baked into the family DNA in a lot of ways. My dad, when he retired, became a wonderful oil painter. Both my grandmothers were fine painters, and both were pianists. So, I think there’s a big connection between visual art and music.”By the time Jeff graduated from high school, he had been accepted by the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. “I spent 4 years at Eastman, which were really, really important formative years for all aspects of my musicianship, performing and composing,” he says. “The seeds of all that I still do now were planted there.”

Jeff Beal plays a trumpet at the front of an orchestra. — Beal says performing helps with his motor skills and cognition.

A Letter-Perfect Meet Cute

Jeff began his freshman year at Eastman in 1981. The summer before classes started, he received a letter from Joan Sapiro, a fellow student at Eastman. One year his senior, she was also a trumpet player (later switching to classical voice). “I was on the orientation committee for Eastman,” Joan says. “I was assigned a handful of students, and Jeff was one of them. We wrote letters to each other over the summer before he came to school.“We started out as good friends, and then I heard him play jazz trumpet,” she continues. “And of course, being a trumpet player myself, I was floored. He was phenomenal. We started dating, and we got married in college in 1984.”That same year, Jeff was introduced to 2 would-be filmmakers in the area who had just written their first movie. “They were interested in having me do some music,” he says. “Of course, it took them a couple years to raise money and make the movie, but eventually they did. And that became my first little film score, a film called ‘Cheap Shots.’”He continued playing trumpet, making jazz records in his 20s and 30s, slowly realizing how playing jazz informed scoring films. “When you play jazz, it’s all about listening to other people and responding in real time,” he says. “You’re part of a larger team. In the same way, I love the fact that when I write a film score, it’s a collaboration with the actor, the director and the cinematographer.”Jeff scored several smaller films through the 1990s before landing “Pollock,” a biopic about painter Jackson Pollock, directed by and starring actor Ed Harris in 2000. “Pollock” was nominated for 3 Academy Awards, including Best Actor. Jeff’s score played a prominent role in memorable scenes, which led to the beginning of his relationship with HBO. “That was another really important springboard,” he says.

Jeff Beal poses with his wife. — Jeff with his wife, Joan.

Playing His Cards Right

Following “Pollock,” Jeff worked on a Super Bowl commercial with David Fincher, director of such movies as “Se7en,” “Zodiac,” “Gone Girl” and “The Social Network.” “I just loved working with him,” Jeff says. When he later read that Fincher was involved in a new series, Jeff approached Fincher, asking if the director would like to hear some unsolicited music for the show.“He said sure, so I sent him some music,” Jeff says. “And that was the beginning. I feel very lucky to have been part of something that sort of broke new ground in terms of the genre.” The show — “House of Cards” — premiered on Netflix in 2013 and ran for 6 seasons.By the time he’d begun work on “House of Cards,” Jeff was 6 years past his MS diagnosis. “I was in the middle of my very busy, active career in Los Angeles. I was doing a lot of projects at once, which is very typical of my career,” he says. “I had a film premiere in Austin. I remember walking around there, and the whole side of my body was starting to feel numb and limp. It was very, very strange.”“He called me,” Joan says, “and said, ‘Honey, I can barely walk.’” They went to their family doctor, who recommended that Jeff have an MRI.Joan recalls what the doctor told them: “Looks to me like MS. I’m not going to give you a diagnosis before we know more, but I want you to take this seriously.”The MRI led to a lumbar puncture, followed by confirmation that Jeff had MS. “We entered a whole new landscape, not knowing anything, really, about the disease,” Joan says.

But Wait, There's More

The Beals received a multitude of pamphlets about the disease. “One of them talked about the gift of MS,” Joan says. “And I remember Jeff looking at me and saying, ‘Can I give it back?’”Both try to have a sense of humor about the disease, she says, while acknowledging her husband’s positive attitude. “He actually said to me, ‘You know, I’ve been so blessed. So many good things have happened in my life, my career, you, our son (Henry, a professional bass player). How can I say why me? I mean, I didn’t say why me when the good stuff was happening, I can’t say why me when the bad stuff’s happening.’”Joan, who has sung with the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Opera Company — as well as recording on hundreds of film and television scores, themes and commercials — threw herself into learning more about her husband’s disease.Jeff has followed a diet emphasizing lean fish, fruits, vegetables and whole grains for 17 years. He says his DMT, Copaxone, and his ability to work from home and control his schedule and environment also help him manage the disease. “I find when I’m out of the house, you have less control over the tempo of things and when you can take a rest,” he says. “Or maybe it’s just the energy that being in a social situation takes that affects me.”

Live From New York

Besides walking in Riverside Park and around New York City, Jeff rides his bicycle for exercise and believes performing is especially well-suited to both coordination and neural plasticity because it requires the brain and body to perform and work simultaneously. “All those skills harness the discipline of motor and mind together, which I think has been really important,” he says.In fact, Jeff says “part of the joy” of “New York Études” has been performing it live. “Around the time the record came out, I gave a couple of performances of these [songs] at a wonderful venue in New York City, the Power Station, which is a recording studio,” he says, adding he also does a lot of filming there.In April 2024, Jeff teamed up with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to perform “New York Études” at the studio, which was streamed live via the Society’s Facebook page. Jeff calls the event, which also included a post-performance discussion with MS specialist Dr. Nilay Shah, a “wellness raiser or awareness raiser,” and estimates it has been streamed between 10,000 to 20,000 times so far.

Jeff Beal stands by a grand piano in a recording studio, in front of a small audience. — Beal teamed up with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to perform “New York Études” at the studio, which was streamed live via the Society’s Facebook page.

Saying he doesn’t want to become “stagnant as an artist,” Jeff wants to do more concert music. Plus, write an opera, finish the 10 new études he’s working on and then write the score for “Metropolis,” a 1927 German expressionist silent movie.While he admits “certain days are just really tough,” he feels fortunate the course of his disease hasn’t been more severe. “There’s such a combination of factors, one of them being luck and I don’t want to try to take credit for everything that I’m doing,” he says. “There’s a randomness to the way the disease can manifest itself. I didn’t want to feel like this was defined in my life, but I realized I can’t change the fact that I have this. The only thing I control is how I choose to respond to it. The last 20 years [has been] just trying to compose my life in a way that feels like it’s an active, positive, hopeful response to the disease.”

Mike Knight

Mike Knight is a writer in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was diagnosed with MS in 2013.

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Composer Mixes Music, Mindfulness, Diet and Exercise to Manage MS

Songs in the Key of Life

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Playing His Cards Right

But Wait, There's More

Live From New York

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