Personal Statement

When Dante Agostini pioneered the modernization of drum notation in Paris in the 1970s, he published over 25 volumes. This was the chance for many European Drummers to rediscover side reading and drumming.

When I met Dante at the international music fair in Frankfurt in February 1980, he was unfortunately already in poor health and died shortly afterwards in April of the same year. Motivated by studying his drum volumes, I then took lessions from Peter Giger and Charly Antolini. The former was an incredibly innovated and creative modern drummerat the time and Antolini, as the opposite pole, was a technically brilliant power drummer and a veteran of the jazz and swing era. Besides of these two, I was strongly influenced by fusion drummers like Billy Copham, Tony Williams, Alphonse Mouzon, and jazz legends like Buddy Rich and Elvin Jones. I was also very inspired by the European avant-garde such as Pierre Favre and Baby Sommer.

At the end of the 80s, Terry Bozzio, the former Frank Zappa drummer, gave new impulses through his solo drumming and expanded the independence of Hand & Feet. Since then, independence, polyrhythms and double playing have become an integral of my playing and my teaching.

At the beginning of the 90s I had the opportunity to take lessions with Dom Famularo, Jim Chapin and Dave Weckl. Through this I learned about the loose grip, the Moeller technique, the full stroke and later the push & pull technique. These technical foundations are closely linked to drummers Murray Spivak, Sanford E. Moeller, Lawrence Stone and Billy Gladstone.

During and before this time, I have always been fascinated by percussion and the various hand drums. Over the years I have learned about African, Cuban, Brazilian, Oriental, and Indian playing styles and their instruments from various master drummers.

Basically, as I discovered, there are two different camps among drummers and musicians. Some who see themselves more as musical service providers and others who are more towards the artistic side. I think that both sides have their place  and that there should be no rigid ideological guidelines in music and art.

The future of drumming will increasingly lie in the creative and artistic aspect. Independence and polyrhythms are essential components for this.

You can find out more about my drumming via my links and my blog.