I learned piano and guitar from the age of 6. Later, clarinet and saxophone were added to the continued intensive piano playing. Taking lessons with lessons with David A. Gray of the Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra I got a solid introduction into the world of classical music. Taking lessons with Martin Trostel  and with Peter Hudec I got to know jazz with all its peculiarities better and better, and started preparing to become a professional musician after graduating from high school.

During my studies I took lessons with various highly respected teachers. With Arno Haas I mostly learned a lot about breathing technique and the saxophone embochure. Olaf Schönborn brought me forward particularly well in the area of jazz improvisation. With Paul Schwarz I learned a lot about arranging music pieces. With Dizzy Krisch I worked a lot on two handed piano voicings. Patrick Bebelaar tinkered with me on the subtleties of the groove and also showed me jazz playing styles that are off the main stream. Helmut Müller taught me in particular how to master the saxophone sound.

It was very enlightening to learn with Brett Youens, he taught me the learning and teaching methods of the Academy of Networked Thinking in Music , which are based on the findings of modern brain research, and were recently tested in the Swiss TV show Einstein lernt Klavier . Besides from helping me making very good progress in my own playing, this approach also rised my interest in brain research and in various teaching methods, which also created interesting insights helpful for my pedagogical studies. From this time on, I have been constantly engaged with evaluating diverse teaching approaches, and keeping with new findings of current brain research.

Since the age of 16 until today I have continuously played in quite diverse bands and ensembles. The first group I played in was a reggae band with 7 members. In the course of time, bands and projects from the following styles were added: Jazz (with various subgroups like Swing, Bebop, etc.) Soul, Funk, Independent, Tango, Chamber Orchestra, Klezmer, Hiphop, Dub, Electro... in all possible ensemble sizes (from Duo to BigBand). I had my first full-length performance with a jazz piano solo program at the age of 26.

In 1998 I worked as a workshop leader and lecturer for guided free improvisation at the conference Kind und Kunst at the Landesakademie Bad Boll. Since graduating from university at the end of 1999, I have been working as an instructor at various music schools in southern Germany, and cooperated with various public schools (see references download with detailed work references below). At the end of 2008 I moved to Berlin, since then I have been teaching privately, and also until 2010 for the music school Musikschule Allegro in Brandenburg, and the International Music School Berlin.