While Josh was growing up in Longmeadow, MA he began to develop a passion for music that has been passed to him from previous generations of his immediate family. At age five, Josh began taking piano lessons and by age six shocked his parents as well as his piano teacher when he performed an arrangement of Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy'. which he memorized and perfectly played in front of an audience of several hundred people. He continued to flourish on piano until age eleven when he decided to focus on percussion. It was a very easy transition for him since he had such a rich understanding of piano and the gift of reading music flawlessly. At age 14 he was selected as a freshman to the high school Wind Ensemble which is very rare for a student so young to make such a high level performance group. This ensemble included a percussion section that consisted of six high school seniors and one shy freshman named Joshua Tariff. Josh continued to expand his musical abilities and got to live the dream that every professional musician dreams of achieving...twice! Josh received the honor to perform in Carnegie Hall for the National Band Festival in 1998 and again in the National Orchestra Festival in 2000. Josh continued his musical success in the state of Massachusetts by being selected multiple times for the all district and as well as all state in percussion. He was a member of the Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble at the New England Conservatory in 2001 and in May of 2001, Josh received the Western Massachusetts Youth Orchestra award for top senior musician.

Josh received a four year music scholarship to attend the University of Akron where he studied under Dr. Larry Snider and Mr. Matthew Dudack.While at the University of Akron, Josh got to learn about world percussion. Josh was a member of the steel drum band, the African Drumming Ensemble,and the Latin Jazz Ensemble. While Josh was there, he got to learn from some of the most famous percussionists in the world such as Michael Spiro, Bernard Woma, Cliff Alexis, Liam Teague, Tom Miller and many others. Josh and the other percussion students at U.A. even got to perform in one of the largest percussion ensemble pieces ever written along with members of the Oberlin Percussion Ensemble and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music at the 2004 Percussive Arts Society International Convention. Josh graduated University of Akron in 2005.

In 2005, Josh moved to Valencia California where he began graduate school at the California Institute of the Arts. While he was there, he learned and performed with great percussionists such as John Bergamo, David Johnson, Randy Gloss, Amy Knoles and others. Josh completed his M.F.A. in Multi Focus Percussion in the Spring of 2007.

Josh has premiered over thirty works for band, orchestra, percussion ensemble and solo percussion. He has also performed in fourteen states and Canada.Josh specializes in Steel Drum, Djembe and Orchestral Percussion. If you are interested in booking Josh for a gig, or if you are interested in having Josh give you percussion lessons, simply email Josh at joshtariff@yahoo.com.