The drummer: Niklas Weiskopf shines on drums and marimba

Created: 05/10/2022, 09:00

By: Alexandra Anderka

Niklas Weiskopf received full points on his marimba at the state competition "Jugend musiziert".

Too small for tuba, so drums With a big role model in the school band © private

Niklas Weiskopf (14) from Dorfen is on the road to success with "Jugend musiziert".

Dorfen

– When Niklas Weiskopf glides over the marimba with his mallets, he seems to forget the world around him.

At one with himself and his instrument, the 14-year-old recently presented Brett Diez's previously seldom played composition "Fantasy For Marimba" at a high school church concert in the parish church of Maria Dorfen.

This six-minute four-mallet work with different time signatures and playing techniques was also one of the pieces with which the Dorfener won first prize in his age group in the state competition of "Jugend musiziert" in Ingolstadt.

In the percussion category, Niklas convinced the judges with his diverse program and was awarded the best rating of 25 points among the 17 participants from Bavaria.

In autumn he had already taken second place with his duo partner Julius Schatz at the national competition in Bremen.

"I was very excited," admitted the young musician, but it gets easier every time.

The 14-year-old high school student has been learning drums and percussion for seven years and has already completed the D1 and D2 music performance badges.

He actually came to drums by chance, Niklas remembers: “I started with the piano and then wanted to learn tuba or bassoon.

But since I was still too young to play a wind instrument at the age of six, my mum and older brother suggested I play the drums.” Alexander Weiskopf is a professional musician and plays the double bass with the Munich Philharmonic.

Just one year after the then six-year-old Niklas had started playing drums, he was successful with "Jugend musiziert".

That motivated him to stay with the instrument.

It's also "cool".

The young man from Dorfen practices for one to two hours a day, and once a week he takes lessons from Roland Gallner, music teacher at the Musikverein Velden.

"Twice a week before competitions," says Mama Anita Weiskopf with a smile.

"Very determined with clear ideas," Gallner describes his protégé.

They have already competed in a number of competitions together since 2014.

Together, the two also put together the solo program for the state competition, which was intended to present the versatility of a prospective orchestral percussionist, because Niklas has been playing with "Attacca" with the youth orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich since June 2021.

The young percussionist opened his program at the state competition with "Four Stickers", a drum set solo by Eckhart Kopetzki.

He presented two movements from Siegfried Fink's drum suite on his newly acquired concert snare.

He showed special sounds through different points of attack, playing techniques and changing the percussion tools such as sticks, brushes or marimba mallets with and without the snare carpet, the part of the drum that makes it rattle so characteristically.

He also presented a "Rondo For Four Toms" and in the composition "Viridiana I" jazzy, bluesy and classical elements.

The 14-year-old is not the first national marimba competition winner from Gallner's talent factory.

He also taught Jakob Marsmann, a former student at the Dorfen grammar school, now a student at the Munich Music Academy and a great role model for Niklas: “Jakob and I played together in the grammar school’s big band for another year.

It's my big dream to be as good as Jakob one day."

He's on the right track: After the planned prizewinner's concert in Regensburg on May 15, together with other Bavarian competition finalists, Niklas Weiskopf will take part in the national competition "Jugend musiziert" in Oldenburg on the Pentecost weekend and present himself to a national jury for the second time.

According to his teacher, the chances of winning are "relatively high", but so is the level.

But Niklas has to face this if he wants to fulfill his big dream: "One day to become a professional drummer".