Juri Kannheiser

Educated Musician, Cellist, Bandleader and Teacher, currently living in Munich, Germany, Juri Kannheiser is this month SoundGym Hero!

Who are you?

My name is Juri Kannheiser. I am a cellist/singer and arranger/composer and bandleader of KANNHEISER living in Munich, Germany. I studied violoncello and music teaching at Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. While playing almost only classical music in my studies, I always loved to expand my musical language in other genres and therefore played in a lot of pop and jazz formations in my free time. 

So maybe on Mondays, I would play a Beethoven Piano Trio:

Perform on Wednesdays some crazy mixture of a string quartet and band on another day:

I am very grateful of having had these diverse possibilities to learn a lot of styles and incorporate them into my music, After university, I got the chance to record more and more for film and commercial music composers and it became a big part of my work next to playing and teaching.

At the end of my studies, I had started to write pop songs, at the beginning more as procrastination in order not to practise. But it became a passion very fast and I started the band KANNHEISER with three musician friends of mine.

We released an EP and a few singles up this point. We are in the midst of producing our first album and hope to get to play shows again when the pandemic is over.

In this context, I learned to produce and mix my demos more and more and could incorporate these skills into my work as a studio musician.

After I got into the DAW and plugin world thanks to my producer and bandmate Maximilian Spindler, I started to nerd out pretty hefty watching ours of mixing and production videos and I hope to be able to do more production and mixing work in the future.

Tell us one interesting fact about yourself.

Very hard question to answer. I asked my girlfriend, she finds it very interesting that I could eat a magnum pizza all by myself without any problems.

Music-wise I think it is the duality between my job as cellist and teacher versus the obsession to write and perform pop music with my band. 

On the outside, these two worlds don't have anything to do with each other, but I think it's a very nice artistic balance to do very different things and try to incorporate and interchange basic principles like form, technique, styles etc. 

When you take the timing aspect, for example, the type of pop music I do is widely based on a click. The most classical music I play or teach requires expression through certain freedoms of tempo. Nevertheless can one side profit from the other: Playing classical music with a strong internalised 'klick' can immensely improve clarity in playing and vice versa trying to play in pop music between or outside the metronome for certain moments or parts enables more freedom of expression. 

I find these contrasts very interesting and invigorating to explore.

What is your favourite SoundGym feature?

I love the variety of daily workouts. Each game is fun to play, each game challenges another spectrum of hearing, the token system motivates me to keep going and therefore expanding my hearing and listening skills which help me to make better decisions daily.  

One music piece that inspired you to be a music maker?

The first movement of the Cello Suite by Gaspar Cassadó played by Janos Starker 1989 in Tokyo.

At the time I watched it for the first time - probably around 2007 - I was not sure if I should pursue a music career with the Cello. The masterfulness of this performance paired with a solemn calmness of Starkers expression inspired me many times to keep going. 

Who is your biggest musical influence?

Probably the Beatles, I listened to them from early childhood on and I never grow tired. But I also try to be influenced every day by current music. So I try to listen to new releases, not only of bands or artists I like. One can learn from music that touches one's heart the same way as from music that makes you feel nothing at all. I think it's very important, especially when getting older to try to keep an open ear and not become a professional idiot.

Any habits that help you stay Inspired and Creative?

I try not to judge myself too much when it comes to creative decisions and creative processes. Or rather if I don't like the outcomes, I trust on being great another day and keep going. Also doing other things than music helps me a lot. Going for a run can dig up ideas that no session in front of the nicest modular system could. Talking to people, getting to know other mindsets and opinions is in my opinion very helpful to reflect my own habits and try to change them up every once in a while.

Tell us a bit about your workflow when making music?

It depends. When recording/producing for a client I try to be very organised, technical and critical in my process. I have a template which I know, I name and colour code everything. I listen back a lot and use references.

When writing or creating for my stuff, on the other hand, I sometimes like to work very chaotically without a lot of structure to discover new paths and not stay on the old ones too much. On the other hand, small challenges or limitations can also help to get into a flow. For example to create a chord structure over one bass note or one baseline over one chord. Or to use just one instrument. I also like to sketch stuff only with my voice at first (doesn't hold me up with technical stuff) and recreate the parts later with other instruments or samples.

Any habits you have before starting a session?

I make myself a coffee. It helps with everything. Other than that I try to be in the right mindsets if time management allows. A short walk around the block for example can get me focused. 

Piece of gear in your studio that you have special feelings for?

My Cello obviously. It is an old French instrument from the late 18th century with a lot of soul and is my trustful companion for many years now.

A also love my Juno 106. The outputs and chorus are kind of broken, but it gives the instrument a lot of character and grit.

What does the future hold for Luc van Hoek in the music industry?

I hope to get to work with a lot of good and interesting people in my different lines of work. 2021 I want to finish my band's album and maybe also a little cello EP as well. I would love to cooperate more with people, also to act as a producer or mixing engineer but I think there's a rather long way to go until that point. But I'm not afraid of that and acknowledge every possibility to learn new things.

In general, I aspire to be a flexible and valued musician who can afford a good life with time for happiness, family and creativity.

---