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Name: Bernhard Potschka aka Potsch Potschka

Nationality: German
Occupation: Composer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist,
Current Release: The current Potsch Potschka & Friends album Timeless is out via BSC.

If you enjoyed this interview with Bernhard Potschka and would like to stay up to date with his work, visit his official website. He is also on Facebook



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

I grew up in a family where music was quite important. My mother was a pianist and we had a lot of instruments at home which we all used. I listened to classical music from an early age and I really enjoyed it.

When I was 10/11 years old, I started to play piano by myself and wanted to become a composer and musician. With 12 years I started to play cello and had a teacher. 3 years later I also started having lesson to play piano.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

For me the most important thing with music is to create emotions. Pictures are coming with it.

It doesn't matter whether I see a landscape or I feel emotions – both are  creating music inside of me, which I then translate to instruments.

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

I knew very early on that I have to attain a certain level of technique of playing an instrument in order to be able to play everything which comes into my head and fingers. So I had to practice a lot.

My voice was unfortunaly just for singing in a choir and not for lead-vocals. I never found a way to be a real singer although my voice (tenor) was very good in choirs.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

I was 21 when I became a professional musician. It was what I always wanted to be and my identity was shaped by music of all varities. I always knew what I like and tried to improve this music my whole life.

As a musician and composer I was listening in my two-timer to music, mainly in an analytical way which was no good. But I noticed it and tried to change it which wasn't that easy for me.

But after a while I could listen to “simple” stuff by just opening myself to the emotions a particular piece of music was creating in me and no longer caring whether it`s technically advanced, which always used to be very important to me.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

The only important thing for composing or just making music is to create emotions. It took a while for me to fully understand that. But once I had fully grasped it, it changed my approach quite a lot. And it also changed the my style.

If I want to compose a new piece of music now, I'll first look for the emotion I want to create. Only then will I start.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

It's most important for me that an artist convinces me as a character / personality. If that is the case, the “quality” doesn't matter.

It's the same with paintings: It doesn't matter if it's “professional” or not.The main thing is that it creates emotions.

I was always looking for both.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

My most important instruments today are all stringed instruments (all guiarts, mandolin, oud, etc). And then keybords and all the various workstations (orchestra,synth etc).

Together, they allow me to create all kinds of music you can imagine … and maybe more!

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

I get up between nine and ten, have breakfast, check my office to see what's going on and then I start to work on my music in my studio or work with an artist I'm producing.

But there are days when I'll only be working in my garden - which I quite enjoy.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

The most intensive experience I had composing a piece of music was creating the piece “When silence was borne” on my first CD The Journey.



I composed it in just 45 minutes and arranged it in 2 days. The result was a piece of music which was “better” than I thought I could do.

The reason I was able to do it was that I was completely open-minded and able to let creativity flow. Connecting myself with the Universe.

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

When I started, I would create music and songs as part of a band, contributing arrangements and some compositions.

But the first and main creative part is that I have to be alone. For three decades I have been doing everything by myself (composing, arrangements and mixing), but I really like to work with good musicians who will play my music and improve the live-character of my work.

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

Actually it’s hard to say, you'd have to write an entire book to answer that question.

Basically I think music is a support for your inner peace and agreeable emotions. So music is very important for mankind.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

This piece “When silence was born” creates an emotion which makes people cry. But not because of sadness but because it brings you to a level of true happiness. It means knowing the pain, but accepting it as life!

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?

Science is in the same way like music a very creative process. Steven Hawkins wrote it in one of his books: Science is very exciting because it’s a very creative process.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Buddhism says: With all that you are doing, you should be very concentrated and give it a hundred percent. There's no difference between peeling a potato or a complex or creative work, as long as you do it with love.

So in the end it's all the same and creative if you do it consciously.

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

Ears are a very advanced and precise organs. But there is more involved than the ear. The whole body is reacting as an organ when listening to music. And that's what creates emotions .