About me
Understanding music.Human
Jonathan Helbig (*1991) is a composer and musician.
He has played classical guitar since the age of 8. His training began with Olaf Leuschner at the Johann Sebastian Bach Music School in Leipzig. Masterclasses with Tadashi Sasaki, Thomas Müller-Pering, and Hans-Werner Huppertz refined his musical understanding. This was followed by singing lessons in Weimar and participation in various choir projects.
Parallel to his master's studies in chemistry in Jena, he taught himself piano. At the FRANZ LISZT University of Music Weimar, he took lessons in harmony and ear training with Ralf Kubicek. In addition, he acquired a broad musical understanding in the fields of instrumentology, music history, voice training, voice physiology, and subject-specific didactics. The Weimar years also saw his first attempts at composition, growing out of notated improvisations on the piano.
In 2021, he successfully completed his doctoral studies in chemistry at the University of Münster. During this time, he deepened his skills in composition with Ken Richter and ear training with Krystoffer Dreps at the Münster University of Music. It was during this period that further compositions emerged, as well as the desire to deepen this fulfilling activity.
Jonathan Helbig has been living and working in Leipzig since the end of 2021.
Music
Why write tonal music in the 21st century? Isn't this a relic of times gone by?
With classical tonal material, there is an almost infinite possibility of combining tones, and thus more than enough possibilities to combine them in a recognizable way; to create one's own style - this is the systematic answer.
The honest answer is, my music is what comes out of me. The language with which I can express myself most easily, accurately, and naturally. For this to be possible, a musical form and recognizable tonal language are needed.
Musical forms are numerous in music history, conceived and brilliantly applied by great minds. Here, I don't have to reinvent the wheel, but gladly make use of these forms.
It is the tonal language that makes my music my music. Living in the tradition of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Liszt and Chopin, I always find new and individual paths, so that what is heard can be clearly recognized as my tonal language, as authentic music.
Motivation
Music is there to be heard.
What good is the greatest music if you cannot share it with someone—if it cannot resonate with the listener?
However, resonance can only occur when familiar and experienced things are brought back to memory. In addition, the manner, the how, must also be right and familiar. When resonance occurs between the listener and what is heard, an active moment arises. This active moment can express itself through touching the emotional or even spiritual level.
If this happens, it holds the power of transformation. The listener is touched and is no longer in the same state after hearing the music as before. Without the active moment, however, music is at best a cool pleasure.
Ideally, the effect of the active moment extends beyond the confines of the concert hall.