The first recording — a milestone in a journey.
Or: on doubts, rain, and why it’s golden.
Or: We constantly learn while we record education and heritage

How do you begin a path you’ve never walked before?
If you are lucky — with good friends.

a non-musical lesson

It feels good to say that now. Honestly, it was a hard week back then. I was a little sick. It was raining like crazy on the highway. Ben drove the equipment to Stuttgart — a car full of gear. And we learned something important: we had booked the wrong hotel. Unfortunately, also for the young artist. A failure you never make again. Now every hotel is 3 stars minimum. You have to be in good shape and good spirits for a production like this.
I remember the first thing Ben did when he was in the hotel room after we built the set for the next day: he booked a new hotel for the other nights. Oh was I thankful — it was closer to the set and had a brilliant breakfast.

On insights and doubts

Well — in 2023, we filmed the first episode of Percussion Masters with Marta Klimasara. My teacher. Later my colleague. Now my friend.
I still adore her playing. I love how she teaches. I learned a lot from her. And recently, we checked back with one of the young artists from that shoot. Although it’s almost three years ago, he said: “It changed the way I work with a score. I understood a lot.”
If you embark on a journey like this… that is wow.
And then one remembers again — beside all the doubts — it is so worth it.
Debbie Millman says: “Anything worthwhile takes a long time.” I can confirm that. Every day.

Many miles travelled on the journey working with great artists

Since then, we have filmed seven episodes. Stuttgart, Strasbourg, Berlin, Karlsruhe, Freiburg, Trossingen — and once at 1200 meters on a mountain. We filmed with Isao Nakamura, Steven Schick, David Friedman, Emmanuel Séjourné, Marta Klimasara, Jochen Schorer, and Håkon Stene. We met inspiring people. We collected hours of material — masterclasses, conversations, stories that would otherwise be lost.

We are really looking forward to opening the archive we believe should have already existed. But we stay patient — working with care, honoring the depth of the material. The archive opens late 2026.

Until then, we keep building. We keep walking.
And we are thankful – we started — with friends.
→ percussion-masters.org

P.S:
The image shows Marta Klimasara teaching Henry, one of the young artists we invite to receive lessons — which we record for you — Rebonds B by Iannis Xenakis.