lessons and workshops

I teach drums and percussion at Oberargauischen Musikschule Langenthal. Of course you can book lessons at the school if you live in the area and make use of the reduced prices such institutions offer.
For all that don't live in this small region I offer private lessons – both individually and as group sessions.

Would you like to get lessons on Riq, Tombak, Tamburello or Framedrums? Do you have questions? Do you need advice on drums?

Percussion

Beginners first have to get comfortable holding the instrument. I aim at teaching good posture and ergonomics right from the start along with the basic strokes and rhythms. Basic strokes are introduced in short exercises (most of which consist of traditional rhythms) and are soon applied to longer solo pieces and in accompainments of music.

Traditional Rhythms play an important rule in the lessons: Arab and Turkish classical music know many fixed rhythmical cycles that all consist of low and high strokes and rests ("doom", "tek" and "es"). As all of them can be played with basic strokes I use some of them already from the start to rehearse these basic sounds and for the student to get to know the most popular patterns right away. In that way students can start playing with music even if they only just sart on the instrument. This helps putting everything in a musical context even if it's just simple basics.

technical troubleshooting for advanced players

"my drum roll isn't as smooth as I'd like it to be" - "my back hurts after playing for longer periods" - "my single stroke rolls are too slow" - "my foot technique on bass drum is somewhat random"...

For drummers and percussionists that feel they are held up by limitations in their technical skills, I offer technical support, analysis and advising. We analize the playing and try to locate the actual problems and then the work begins: from a more ergonomic set up of the instrument to changes in your posture up to relearning motorical details many things can lead to more satisfactory playing. Having to modify your motorics and relearning how you play certain things of course is a time intensive and tiresome process, but the satisfaction you can gain from going through this can lead you to more freedom in expression and make you more at ease with your playing. Quite often it only takes little changes to achieve a big deal as these little things tend to get overlooked in our everyday musical work. Such a technical support is not a therapy. I provide this service not as a therapist but based on my experiences as a teacher and my own studies in playing ergonomics.