Student Stories
Meet the music students who are currently killing it in the first year of BIMM Berlin.
In September 2015, 55 students from 17 different countries arrived at BIMM Berlin to enrol for the first year of their studies; the first intake of the college’s inaugural year, each with their own stories and ambitions.
After only two full terms of music study and development, these students are already achieving some amazing things within the music industry. Let’s meet some of the people that are making this first year something special…
Celine Love
Originally from Hamburg, Songwriter Celine Love impressed a panel of judges at Fritz Radio with her audition track ‘Bones’, winning one of five scholarships that were offered as a celebration of BIMM Berlin’s first year. On her music:
“I mainly play acoustic sets in various venues. My original songs reach across different styles, from soul and pop to folk music. I try to capture the audience with rich lyrics and catchy, yet soulful, melodies. My music has led me to play at numerous festivals and bars across Germany, as well as on TV and radio.
I grew up in a musician’s household. I always knew this was my true passion and gained a lot of performance experience before coming to Berlin and studying Songwriting at BIMM.
Currently, I’m independently recording my first EP, which I’m looking to release later in 2016.”
She was recently in the studio with Grammy-award-winning producer and BIMM Berlin tutor Pete Smith to record her track ‘Off My Chest’ for the upcoming first BIMM Berlin album, and with radio, press and industry backing, Celine has loads more opportunities to come.
Giorgio De Palo
Songwriting student Giorgio De Palo has bagged himself an internship working for the Berlin Music Video Awards.
The Berlin Music Video Awards is a unique film festival that puts filmmakers and the art behind music videos in the spotlight. Our students are taking an active role in preparing for the fourth edition, taking place on 18th–21st May.
Giorgio had the following to say about his experience so far:
“What I find really great is to see how the whole process behind the event’s organisation works – it requires a lot of coordination. It’s great to get to know and work with a team of young people from all over the world. And it’s nice to see the excitement build as a result of all the hard work, and to see people’s expectations for the event too.”
Magnus Schröter
Currently performing in The Ztory, Magnus had this to say about his ambitions and the way he approaches music:
“I was born in northern Germany and I’ve been in love with music since my early childhood. As a baby, my parents used to play me Springsteen and Bowie records when I couldn’t sleep.
By the age of ten, I learned to play electric bass in the school’s big band, which was a pretty cool thing because that made my music classes much more interesting than other ones.
I started playing in bands and writing songs when I was 13. Most of the time it wasn’t lyrics that came to my mind, but guitar riffs and drum grooves, so I started getting into the theory of those instruments to enable me to communicate better with other instrumentalists. Playing the piano as well helped me to understand music theory.
I always listen and try to learn from everything. That’s a great help because I learned, not just how to think like a bass player, but how to think like other instrumentalists as well.
Since I’ve learned that, I’ve been listening to music differently, always trying to understand the role of every instrument on a record: what it does, who plays it, why he/she plays it that way, what emotion it causes… That’s when I fell in love with the idea of becoming a session musician. I love the personal touch you can give a recording. I want to contribute a part of myself to a record to make people feel a certain thing. But I also like to do that on stage – I love when I can see people having a good time watching me play – it doesn’t matter which kind of music, as long as I can make them feel something.”
Max Schiefelbein
Also, a member of The Ztory, Max’s journey here comes from a passion for the greats:
“My name is Max and I study Songwriting at BIMM Berlin. Furthermore, I sing and play guitar. Honestly, I’m deeply in love with rock and folk music, especially from the 60s and early 70s, and my favourite artists are Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Otis Redding…
I decided to study at BIMM to find like-minded musicians, to form a band and to finally achieve my goal of making a living out of writing, recording and performing music.”
Raffael Brunner
“Hi, my name is Raffael Brunner. I’m from Austria and I’m a drummer. I moved to Berlin in October 2015 and started to study music at BIMM Berlin.
The reason why I came to Berlin was that I wanted to get in touch with people who love music as much as I do, and after only two weeks, I met three guys and we formed the band The Ztory. Now, we’re writing songs, rehearsing a lot and trying to get into the business.
My goal is to make a living from music and the best way would be as a performing artist.”
Alex Buehler
Since joining BIMM, Alexander is now focussed on making a career out of playing, writing, recording and teaching music. He has also been involved in a hard rock project, and a rhythm and blues band called The Soulfruits, who have their first gig lined up for early June. The band plays R&B, soul and funk covers, as well as original material.
“Music has been an integral part of my life for as long as I can remember, and I’ve always loved to discover and listen to as many artists from as many different genres of music as I could. I like everything from soul to fusion to progressive rock. As I grew up I continued to listen to music and started to play the bass guitar, learning many different musical styles. I joined my high school’s orchestra and big band, as well as playing in a rock band that I founded with a few schoolmates. Now that I live in Berlin, I attend and play open mic events and jam sessions, which this city is great for because it offers such a huge variety of creativity.”
Anders Ek and Oskar Tornborg
Anders and Oskar are a songwriter/producer duo from Sweden who specifically focus on experimental genres. The pair have worked together on many projects in the past before they travelled to Berlin to undertake courses at BIMM. Their most current grunge/rock project, The Revoltas, are currently recording an EP, with plans for a video release to accompany a set of summer/autumn tour dates from August 2016, both in Germany and their homeland of Sweden.
Although a duo, the pair also have their own projects on the go. Oskar is currently demoing up some tracks for doom-esque project This Useless Existence, while Anders is running an outfit called Eksperience which he describes as ‘post-apocalyptic blues’.
Anders and Oskar are definitely two very creative and hardworking musicians who also have a few other bands and projects they’re working on in addition to these main ones, including Feline Eyes, featuring BIMM Vocals student Fernanda Garcia de leon Guinea, and a death metal project that’s due to gig in Stockholm during the summer break.
Sergio Herfert
Finally, there’s Sergio Herfert. Originally from Berlin, he’s involved in lots of projects and is constantly practising and pushing himself to be the best guitarist he can be. This has been rewarded by his selection to be on the first BIMM Berlin album with a song of his own.
Want to find out more about BIMM University Berlin?
And this is just a small selection. There are many more people working with passion and dedication towards their musical careers at BIMM Berlin, and with lots more great success stories yet to come. 2017 will see a new group of first-year students joining us to continue on their own personal journeys – for more information about BIMM Berlin, please email berlin@bimm-institute.de.
