I offer private lessons for drums. See here for details.
Thomas Leisner
About Beauty and Bright IdeasI recently had the great pleasure to play with my good friend and saxophone player Kai Mader to check out a new way of recording in my studio. We improvised a little and got some fine results.
The Three-Axis-Model of Hand Position shows the spectrum of possibilities of holding sticks in your hands when playing the drums. There are three essential factors to consider, each one moving on an axis between two extreme points.
This second day we met was probably the most creative and productive of my meetings with Abelha Supersonica. The result is a solid piece of improvised drum and bass, which I split into five tracks afterwards.
The good news is: There will be a new Stoppok studio release coming soon! We just met for a weekend at his house near Bremen, where we played and experimented a little together.
In wintertime it’s good to remember the last summer sometimes. I specifically remember my sessions with Abelha Supersonica, a vocalectro live act from Berlin. With just her voice and a few little boxes she creates a superbly flowing performance.
Already ten years ago my brother Markus finished a book that has been available only electronically since. It now has come to a real life as a printed book, and you can get the printed as well as the electronic version right here.
I just finished the production of a CD for folk-singers “Lydia und Claudia”. It’s their first album and it’s got a rough and fresh attitude to it, which I like very much.
During summer I played with the Polkaholix. I was asked by the band’s drummer to replace him for some shows this summer. The last concert for me at the end of a little touring throughout Germany was at the Radio Eins Parkfest in Berlin.
When asked for writing music for a stage show I developed this theme and produced a rough layout demonstrating it’s application in three different styles.
The show was intended to have an atmosphere between naivety and darkness. The theme I came up with therefore sounds a bit like a melancholic children’s song. It’s simplicity helps adapting it to different styles of music while still offering some possibilities.
From 2008 to 2010 I played keyboards with Ewa Firsowicz, a singer born in Poland and living in Berlin. I joined the band that was formed to present the studio productions live on stage.
The attached file is for TouchOSC, the touchscreen control surface app for your mobile device. It emulates the functionality of the famous “Oxygen 8″ keyboard when used together with Ableton Live.
TouchOSC comes with a selection of useful controller layouts to choose from. They are pre-installed and can be used immediately. After modding the two big controllers for Ableton Live and Apple Logic, I also changed the colours for the various other basic controller layouts.
TouchOSC is an app for mobile touchscreen devices that offers onscreen controller elements to interact with your computer via OSC and MIDI. You may build your own controller layouts or choose from a list of existing layouts.
With Strange Fluid we had a good time performing at Berlin’s Magnet Club last week, as you can see, or better hear, from this little quick and dirty bootleg video compilation.
With my band Strange Fluid I play a hybrid drumkit for more than ten years now, as the mixture of electronic and acoustic sounds belongs to the concept of this band. The symmetry of this drumkit is based on my personal preferences.
Our next show will be at Berlin’s Magnet Club, upcoming Wednsday, August 22nd, 2012.
A view back into my past. For twelve intense years I have been touring Europe with the hungarian speed folk band Transsylvanians.
