about me
As the principal timpanist of the Bochum Symphony Orchestra my career started in 1995. I studied at the music academies in Stuttgart and Hanover and at the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Academy. Furthermore I have worked as a timpanist and percussionist with orchestras such as the SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hessian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Frankfurt, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to my every day work as an orchestral musician, I have been persistently occupied with the development of methodical literature for the timpani even since the time of my studies. Understanding and researching timpani playing in increasing detail is an objective that I have been pursuing ever since. My numerous exercise books have found international distribution and are widely considered standard literature for timpani.
When preparing new publications, not only do I make use of my expertise as a solo timpanist. My experience and knowledge gained over many years as a semi-professional tango teacher, interest in Aikido, Iaido, Dispokinesis, Alexander Technique and the Franklin Method also flow directly or indirectly into my pedagogical work. I also utilize my musical experience as an amateur French Horn player.
For me, the focus is always on musical performance, be it in the development of practice literature, or in individual lessons or seminars or group work. In my opinion, playing technique has the essential task of supporting artistic expression in the best possible way and with an optimum of nuanced playing. Thus I believe that the perceptions of movement-sequence and coordination-process play a key role in performance, which is clearly reflected in my teaching concepts.