Here’s the video of one of the performances we did at Hoergang last Saturday.

Thanks to all you fine people, who came out to see us play. You whish to stay up to date about the development of the piece, sign up to my newsletter!

Related show

• Artist: Hacklwurf – Reiter & Griebel Duo
• Date: Wednesday, January 25th 2012
• City: Hacklwurf – Reiter & Griebel Duo in Munich
• Venue: Teamtheater Comedy
• Address: Am Einlaß 4a
• Country: Germany
• Add to Google Calendar | Download iCal

• Artist: Hacklwurf – Reiter & Griebel Duo
• Date: Thursday, February 2nd 2012
• City: Hacklwurf – Reiter & Griebel Duo in Munich
• Venue: Rationaltheater
• Address: Hesseloherstr.18
• Country: Germany
• Cancelled
• Add to Google Calendar | Download iCal

I’ll be playing at a Festival called Hoergang in Munich on 8 October 2011.

It is actually a reading.  The event is spread out over one borough of the city, artists and audience will wander from location to location. Performances are 15 minutes, with 15 minutes interludes for the new audience members to settle in. There are 18 locations total and 88 performances! Locations both mainstream and off the beaten track, some really off…(like the sewer canal we’ll be performing in)

For the event I teamed up with Munich poet Christopher Griebel, with whom I’m working on a bavarian crime story of quite bloody dealings in a small bavarian village.

The choice of locations for our blood thirsty knife throwing protagonists:

2x 15 minutes at a Sewer Canal (U-Bahn-Station “Alte Heide”/Einstieg gegenüber “Nahkauf-Markt” (Ungererstr. 130))

1 x 15 minutes at Heppel & Ettlich Theater (Feilitzschstr.12)

1 x 15 minutes at an old warehouse (Herzogstrasse 22)

Tickets are €10.- plus every guest receives a Wintermaerchen Audiobook from my label.

You’ll find the exact schedule and play times here.

The thing I like most about playing live is that there are no rules. Of course, there are a million rules, but rule number one is always: Whatever happens on stage IS the show. And therefore I say, there are no rules.

Whatever you want your show to be, that’s what it can be.

In the words of Derek Sivers, “Build your own Utopia”. He refered to building a business such as CD Baby. He did it his way, with his personality poured into the company 100%.  His thank you email has become famous.

With that in mind,  go ahead and build your own Utopia, your own show. It’s your music, your show, you are the performer, so please don’t just do what you think is right, but instead create something so over the edge that people will start talking about it.

Build your own Utopia. Am I repeating myself?

Well, I guess it’s time to stop typing this blogpost and start building something.

Act reflect, act reflect.

Pause in the rush of work and have a meeting with yourself.

I designed a videobased practicing helper, Musicians Mirror, that’s all about that. Work (using my laptops full screen as a mirror), reflect (videotaping myself and analyse to ID my best performances to build musicianship based on my strengths).

If you ask yourself: What is this thing I do all about? What do I want to achieve.

Are you on the right track? Do you need to redirect your efforts?

I think videotaping yourself is the best way to gain forward progress and the right momentum to keep your practicing on track and fun.

I’ve been working with my little helper for almost a year now and I’ve developed things in my playing and performance that wouldn’t have been possible with just practicing a routine.

In fact, it’s so much fun, that I’ll offer it as a sservice starting on September 1st 2011.

Ver excited about it.

Today a little quest:

What would happen if you identified a fellow musician who is widely regarded as on the edge in his playing and then tried to outdo him?

Quest #1:

Find any player relevant to you who you beleive is on the edge.
What makes him “on the edge”? his technique, tone, time feel, etc? Write it down.
Now, try to outdo him on that edge.

Quest #2:

Take that same player and ID where he’s not on the edge. Can you make that gap your edge?

Quest #3:

Find a player in a genre other than yours and copy what he’s doing. Add that to your genre.

Quest #4:

Find a player who doesn’t play your instrument. Copy him on your instrument and add that style to your instrument.

Quest #5:

What is your edge? What edge are you known for? If you’re not sure, video tape yourself, analyse it and develop an edge.

Playing safe is risky, being on the edge is safe.

Today a little quest:

What would happen if you identified a fellow musician who is widely regarded as on the edge in his playing and then tried to outdo him?

Quest #1:

Find any player relevant to you who you beleive is on the edge.
What makes him “on the edge”? His technique, tone, time feel, etc? Write it down.
Now, try to outdo him on that edge.

Quest #2:

Take that same player and ID where he’s not on the edge. Can you make that gap your edge?

Quest #3:

Find a player in a genre other than yours and copy what he’s doing. Add that to your genre.

Quest #4:

Find a player who doesn’t play your instrument. Copy him on your instrument and add that style to your instrument.

Quest #5:

What is your edge? What edge are you known for? If you’re not sure, video tape yourself, analyse it and develop an edge.

Playing safe is risky, being on the edge is safe.

A little trick screenwriters use is to start at the finish. They work out the climax first and then work backwards from there.

You can develop the same habit when you practice. First you figure out where you want to be, then you work backwards.

How can you do it?

Most times it’s easy because the Finish is given to you by external circumstances. It’s either a gig, audition, rehearsal, or music lesson.

Put the date of the gig into your calendar, then work backwards and determine what you have to practice to get there. To get there and play your best performance.

Determine what experience you want your audience (fans, teacher, jury, etc) to have when they hear you play that day.

If you have trouble to figure it out, or to maintain your practicing efforts to fulfill that goal, I’ll soon release the tool I’ve been developing and using for the last 8 months to stay on track. For me it works like a charm.

What experience do you want your audience to have when they see/hear you play. That’s the Finish.

Take your audience where you want them to be.

What would happen if you played your next show at an unusual location instead of a regular club?

If you you’re looking for gigs, instead of booking any gig at a club and trying to bring a lot of people to the club, why not choose a “weird” location and let the choice of location create word of mouth?

Do it once and people will notice. Make it a habit and people will talk about you.

Be remarkable. Stand out.