Joel Spiegelman was born in Buffalo, New York on January 23, 1933, to Jenny Simon Spiegelman (b. Brailov, Ukraine, 1906) and Dr. Harry Spiegelman (b. Zhitomir, Ukraine, 1905). Both were immigrants from the Russian Empire, arriving in the United States as small children during the early years of the 20th century.

His mother, Jenny Simon Spiegelman, was the chief influence on his early musical development. Herself a pianist, she steered him to her piano teacher, Otto Hager. Professor Hager had studied in Germany with the renowned teacher Lechititski who studied with the composer, pianist Franz Liszt who himself studied with Beethoven’s student Carl Czerny. And Beethoven was a student of Joseph Hayden.