Mr. Haller, are you a multi-instrumentalist?

I would not say that.

Of course I also learned to play the piano and played electric guitar and bass.

But multi-instrumentalist is something else.

The silent film "Mother Krausen's Journey into Happiness" from 1929 premiered a few years ago at the Berlin Volksbühne in a new musical version.

At that time they belonged to the ensemble and played vibraphone, glockenspiel, marimba, xylophone, congas, tubular bells, bass drum with cymbals, snare drum, temple blocks, kettledrums, chimes, tambourine, whistle, oral siren and crotales.

So multi-instrumentalist after all?

Well, there are even wilder setups.

The music came from Michael Groß, who also played trumpet with the Ensemble Modern for a while.

I almost forgot about the project.

But for us drummers, the type of instruments we play is constantly changing.

Then there is also a singing saw.

In the Ensemble Modern we try out a lot and often develop new instruments with composers.

We always use several instruments.

That's true.

When you see drummers rushing from one percussion instrument to the next in New Music, you might think of a saying by Birgit Nilsson.

The singer said that in order to be able to cope with Wagner's music dramas, you need comfortable shoes above all.

Do drummers also need good shoes, maybe spiked racing shoes?

It's actually a bit like that.

In any case, you shouldn't make any noise.

I wear shoes that are a little more comfortable and quieter so that nothing creaks on stage.

It's a balancing act.

First you have to understand the structure of a piece, then you have to come up with a choreography in order to get to everything well.

We talk a lot about different flails and how to change them.

I remember Helmut Lachenmann's "Mouvement (before the solidification)" for which you really have to rehearse the movements.

Drummers also seem to constantly have to learn new signs for new sounds, more so than other instrumentalists.

That's true, and that's the crux.

Because for us there is actually no standardization of musical notation.

Many composers have their own way of writing.

You often have to relearn that.

Except for marimba or vibraphone, perhaps also glockenspiel, there is no uniform description of the playing techniques, above all, of course, with self-invented instruments made of iron bars or cardboard tubes or with other percussion instruments from the hodgepodge of ideas that are integrated into the notation.

You then have to mark it again in your voice how to play it.

Apparently the drums are also ideal for radio plays, with many possibilities for sound effects right up to musique concrète.

Actually it is the instrument par excellence for new music.