Mission impossible

Classical music didn’t come naturally to me. The first time my parents sent me to learn the piano, I was seven years old. I hated practicing and going to lessons and I stopped after a couple of months. An uncle of mine lent me an old trumpet and a book with easy tunes and exercises. I played around with the trumpet for half a year or so.

When I was ten, I started to play the violin. Shortly after that, I got introduced to a piano teacher, whom I respected a lot. He taught me how to sight-read and significantly improved my technique.

The piano became my instrument. I loved romantic piano music and had a go at Chopin Ballades, Rachmaninov Piano Concertos, Ravel’s “Jeux d’eau”.

My playing was not very precise. I made many mistakes and my musical approach to the pieces was more intuitive than profound. But I was enthusiastic about the piano. More and more people asked me to be their chamber music partner.

My first orchestra

Toward the end of my school career, my music teacher at school asked me whether I was interested in conducting a youth band. Of course, I said yes and from then on conducted weekly rehearsals in a tiny Swabian village.

With a group that consisted of one oboe, two trumpets, eight clarinets, and a bass drum, I conducted “Jurassic Park” medleys, “Mission impossible” and — on special occasions — “Hello Dolly”.

The idea to become a conductor got me excited. I loved the vision of uniting individuals and achieving something beautiful together. I decided to apply for the conducting class at Stuttgart music conservatory.

A remarkable feedback

“You conduct too much with your ass!” This was the feedback I got after my audition. Hard to guess I wasn’t accepted into the conservatory.

At the time, my technique was a mess. Proud to have made it to the final audition round, I faced the challenge to conduct a symphony orchestra for the first time in my life. I was completely overwhelmed. Unable to show my musical intentions, I managed to make the orchestra constantly fall apart.

Finding a conducting teacher

After digesting the rather harsh feedback, I wanted to find a good teacher. But long before “playwithapro” that wasn’t so easy.

I eventually found a conductor, who was based in Southern Germany and accepted to teach me. He introduced me to the concept of keeping a tempo, beating a clear one, and showed me how to conduct a fermata.

A year later, I tried again to get into music conservatories. This time, I passed the auditions in Weimar and Berlin. I decided to take up studies at the Berlin University of the Arts, excited about the new adventure ahead of me...

This article is followed by "Becoming a conductor"