I don’t believe people learn the piano so they can master technique.
I believe they learn technique so they can make music.
I started, like many piano students, with conventional classical piano lessons. There were things I loved about those early lessons. I still remember a short piece called Song from Spain from my beginner’s book—a sad melody in C minor, accompanied by a simple fifth in the left hand. Something about that music stayed with me.
But I probably would have stopped playing altogether if something hadn’t changed when I was around fourteen.
My brother was playing guitar, and one day we played Evil Ways by Santana together. We loved the music so much that we started a band, played the songs we enjoyed, and eventually began writing our own.
That was when my curiosity about music really came alive.
I wanted to understand more. That led me to jazz piano lessons, and eventually to studying both jazz and classical piano at the conservatory. I was fortunate that I could study both on piano rather than having to choose another instrument as my second subject.
Over the years, music took me in many directions. A Big Band project led me to study composition and arranging. I first experimented with the music I had written, then went back to study what I needed to bring it to life. Later, after completing my studies, I recorded the project.
Teaching became an important part of my life surprisingly early. Even alongside music, I had considered studying mathematics and sports so I could become a teacher. I realised that I loved not only making music myself, but also helping someone else discover how music works.
One of the most important influences on the way I teach was a mentor named Eckart, whom I met in Cologne. He was a classical pianist, but also a composer and an artist who wrote and drew. I loved the way he played. There was something deeply musical about it that I wanted to understand.
Eckart didn’t always explain it in a way I could put into words, so I started experimenting for myself. Over time, I began to recognise patterns and principles behind musical playing: how rhythm changes with different time signatures, how a melody can be shaped dynamically, how classical music can be given direction, and how timing creates expression in jazz.
That search for understanding still influences the way I teach today.
But some of my most important lessons have come from my students.
One day, a child told me: „I don’t want to practise piano. I want to play the piano.“
That stopped me in my tracks. Of course, practice matters. But he had reminded me of something I had temporarily forgotten during my own studies: the purpose of practice is to make music.
Another student once asked me why she should put her thumb on the keys in a particular way. It was simply how the technique had always been taught. Her question made me look again. I discovered that when the thumb is allowed to hang naturally when it isn’t needed, playing can feel much easier.
Those moments have shaped the teacher I am today.
I don’t want to teach technique simply because it is traditionally taught. I want to understand what the technique is for, and help my students use it to make the music they want to make.
Every student begins somewhere different. Some already know exactly what they want to play. Others are only just beginning to explore. Wherever you start, I’ll guide you towards solid fundamentals while leaving room for curiosity and your own musical interests.
As a professional pianist, composer, and qualified piano teacher with two music degrees and more than 30 years of teaching experience, I’ve had the privilege of guiding hundreds of children, teenagers, and adults on their musical journeys. I’m also an active performer, bringing real performance experience into my teaching.
I teach in a bright, acoustically designed studio overlooking the Eifel, with lessons taking place on a Steinway grand piano. My lessons are personalised to each student’s goals, interests, and learning style, and my teaching has earned 5-star ratings on Google from students and parents.
But those numbers are not what matter most to me.
What matters is the moment when a student suddenly hears something differently, moves differently, and realises:
„Oh… that sounded beautiful.“
Or:
„That felt completely different.“
That’s the reward.
Because making music begins long before playing perfectly.
It happens in every note you play.
And that is what I want to help you discover: a richer life through music.
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Wie du Fortschritte machst, auch wenn du nicht jeden Tag zur gleichen Zeit üben kannst
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