In “Soul,” the middle school music teacher who becomes a soul is Joe Gardner.
Joe is a pianist and part-time music teacher in New York City who dreams of performing jazz professionally. When he learns that saxophonist Dorothea Williams has an opening in her quartet, he auditions successfully. While heading home in celebration, Joe falls into an open manhole and dies, beginning the film’s supernatural journey.
Joe’s soul tries to escape the Great Beyond but is transported to the Great Before, where new souls develop personalities and prepare for life on Earth. There he becomes involved with 22, a cynical soul who has not yet found a reason to live.
Paul is Joe’s neighborhood frenemy, Dorothea is the jazz musician who hires him, and 22 is another soul—not Joe’s identity. Joe’s teaching career is important because it reveals that purpose can exist in everyday relationships, not only in achieving a lifelong artistic ambition.