Lunis was one of my piano students, and while he did play classical pieces too, what he loved most was modern material — pop music, the things you hear on the radio. With students like that I can bring my two worlds together as a teacher: the one as a music producer and the one as a piano teacher. And every so often a moment comes out of it that simply stays unforgettable for a child. With Lunis that was very much the case.
A worldwide hit on the programme
Lunis's father plays in a band, Tisch 7 NullZwo, and they had a big performance planned, on a stage, in front of an audience. The special part: Lunis was to play along. At the piano, in the middle of the band, the intro and the central passages of Narcotic.
In case you do not have the song in your ear straight away: Narcotic is one of the biggest hits ever to come out of Germany. Although it is sung in English, at the end of the nineties it sat at the top of the charts for weeks — in Austria even at number one — and sold millions of copies worldwide. One of those songs everyone has heard at some point, whether they wanted to or not. And musically, the piano at the beginning is no easy ride; the rhythm has real bite. We sat with it for quite a while until it settled. But in the end Lunis had it down.
What Lunis did not know
And now comes the part Lunis had no idea about. I know the singer of Liquido personally. Through my work as a music producer I had already had sessions with him, and we are in touch to this day. At some point, while we were practising, I thought to myself: what if?
So I wrote to him. I told him the whole story — about Lunis, about the performance, about the nerves — and asked whether he might perhaps record a short video for him. A few encouraging words would have been plenty for me.
Two minutes nobody would have expected
What came back genuinely moved me. The singer took proper time over it; it turned into two whole minutes. Two minutes in which he talked about stage fright, about how those nerves are completely normal and part of it, and how Lunis was going to do brilliantly. A warm, personal video, for a boy he has never met.
In that moment I knew exactly, as a teacher, what this would mean to Lunis — long before he could grasp it himself.
I forwarded the video to Lunis's father and simply waited. Lunis was incredibly happy that the singer of that very song had taken time for him. It gave the lessons such a lift that in the final session before the performance we really put our foot down and refined the piece further.
The moment on stage
And then the big day came. There is a recording of Lunis walking onto that big stage, sitting down at the piano and playing the first notes of Narcotic. In front of an audience, with the band behind him. And he does it quite, quite outstandingly.
The loveliest part came on top of that: the video had evidently made such an impression that the band's singer even told the story from the stage. A piano student, a worldwide hit, a message from the original artist — all in a single evening.
Why I am telling this
What this story shows me is something that genuinely matters to me as a teacher. I cannot get every child a video from their favourite artist; that would not be an honest promise. But the willingness to go an unusual route for a single student now and then matters more to me than the individual moment itself.
I am not only a piano teacher but also a music producer. Over the years that work has built up a number of contacts in the music industry. And every now and then those two worlds can be connected in a way that creates a moment for a student they will never forget. Particularly when it comes to playing pop music, it sometimes lets me respond to what someone wants in a completely different way.
That is exactly the difference I want to make. Not a pop star every week — that would be silly. But the attitude behind it: as a teacher I am glad to go the extra mile when it brings a young person a little closer to music.
Lunis, by the way, still very much enjoys playing the piano. And I am fairly certain that this one evening played its part. If you would like to experience what lessons can be like when they go beyond mere practice, do come and see us at ARTIQ Music School in Mainz-Finthen.