Tometa musical journeys
I play the piano and sing. As a dancer myself I particularly like improvising live music for free-form dancing events, creating unique soundscapes with what is present in the moment to support the movement of the bodies and the expression of emotions. On this page I share a sample of my music and write about my own story as a musician.
I regularly play for in Zürich - Switzerland:
- Ecstatic Dance (free-form dancing)
- Soul Tribe (conscious events)
- Basic Pitches (improv musical theater)
- Experimental jams (contact improv)
Listen to my music
To get a sense of what I do, I captured a snippet of live music from one of these dancing events.
Here is what you'll hear: it starts with the last song of a 2h-DJ set where I blend in my piano music until the soundtrack fades out. I then support the dancers with a moment of solo piano, improvising on the harmonies of the DJ's last song before transitioning into my own improv based on the moment's feeling (you might recognize at some point the chord progression of an iconic Radiohead song...).
As you might understand after reading my story below I'm very much into playing live music in a way that it is unique to the very moment and that's why I generally don't record my performances. So the best way to discover my music is by coming to the events where I'm invited as a guest musican (in Zürich the main ones are: ecstatic dance, soul tribe, contact improv) or contact me to play for you!
Want me to play for your event?
Contact meMy story as a musician:
As a child, I learned to play the piano the traditional way, with private lessons, basic theory, and practicing classical pieces. I enjoyed it, but something always felt off. I memorized a few pieces and could perform them decently, but the process was tedious: deciphering sheet music, long hours of practice, and the pressure of performing perfectly at recitals. The frustration of forgetting the pieces after a few months was constant. I felt embarrassed when I couldn't play more than the two or three pieces I had memorized, couldn't improvise, jam with other musicians, or play something for friends to sing along. After a while I realized that I was actually never really "playing" music... I was "deciphering, practicing, rehearsing, and performing" rather than having fun along the way.
During university, I stopped practicing piano to focus on my studies. While I lost all my repertoire, this break was crucial. When I felt the urge to make music again at 25, I decided to abandon sheet music and commit to only play by ear. So I started by trying to reproduce pop songs I heard on the radio with two fingers, figuring out the melody and experimenting with the bassline. Gradually, I expanded my musical vocabulary, developed my intuition for chord progressions, and after a few years, I could play most songs by ear. Now I have so much fun doing live karaoke for friends at parties, and am proud of the confidence to improvise wherever there is a piano knowing that I'll have fun and people around will have a great time as well. On top of that I also developed my singing practice, especially my sense for vocal harmonization and learned some basic intuitive drumming.
I'm thrilled with this shift from a music that was very result-oriented or performance-based to a more process-oriented, enjoyment-based approach. I don't regret my traditional training as it developed my technique, and though I don't play classical music anymore, I still enjoy listening to it. Now I feel very blessed to be able to truly "play" music, with my fingers guided much more by my heart than my head.
