My Story - Part 1: The Beginning

Every time I watched one of my uncle’s or great cousin’s gigs, I had the same thought running through my head:
“I want to be up there. I want to play music for all these people.”

Music was everywhere in my childhood. It ran through the bloodlines on both sides of my family like a river — wild and alive. My grandfather played drums and keyboard. His father had a harmonica always nearby. One of my uncles could switch between tenor sax, alto sax, clarinet, guitar, piano — you name it. Another uncle played trumpet, the list goes on...

My dad? He started as a piano builder and tuner and played organ, accordion and was a singer in two bands. Though he eventually left music to become a physiotherapist, the music never left him. My mother played mandolin and guitar as a teenager.

So, it felt only natural that I started playing piano at five. I grew up in a small town called Nassau — one of those places where everyone knows everyone, and probably their pets too. My parents found a private teacher who specialised in early childhood music education. She became my first mentor. Later, I joined a regional public music school and continued studying classical piano.

But I wanted more. After every family gig, I’d run to the piano and try to replay what I had just heard. This was the pre-internet era — no YouTube, no CDs, just vinyl, cassette tapes, and the radio. Learning songs meant waiting by the radio for hours with your finger on the record (& play button ;-) button, hoping the DJ would finally play that tune. That was our version of streaming. Vinyls? Sure, but my dad’s collection was sacred. You didn’t touch it unless you were given express permission... which was rare. So I learned to play by ear. And I loved it.

As I got older, the world changed — or maybe I just did. Bands like Nirvana, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against The Machine exploded onto the scene. Suddenly, the piano didn’t seem Rock’n’Roll enough. I wanted distortion. I wanted solos. I wanted to be a rock star.

At a summer camp, where I initially played German Punk-Rock songs on the accordion, a girl showed me a few chords on her guitar. That was it. I was hooked. I didn’t have my own guitar, so I borrowed my uncle’s and started learning more chords.

...to be continued...