In this masterclass, pianist and producer Jonas shares his complete creative process, from the first chord at the piano to the finished track in the DAW. His approach is built around a single conviction: minimalism is not a limitation, it is a language. A sparse pattern, repeated and transformed, can carry more tension than a complex melody. And when that tension is paired with the right electronic production, the music opens into something larger than either element alone.

Drawing on years of developing his solo piano work alongside his electronic project Polaroid, Jonas moves between two worlds that most musicians treat as separate. In this masterclass, he shows exactly how they connect.

"There is no right or wrong. It is just about what feels right, what gets you inspired."

What You'll Learn

This masterclass offers a complete creative and technical framework across two disciplines: piano composition and electronic production.

You'll learn how to:

• find inspiration in unexpected places: a photograph, a classical motive, the texture of a single chord

• build song structures that go beyond A-B-A, using tension, release, and modulation to tell a story

• develop minimalistic melodies that leave space for every other element in the music

• use a classical motive as the starting point for an entirely new composition

• experiment with sound design at the piano before the recording begins

• record and warp piano takes in Ableton so they sit naturally against a fixed tempo and electronic elements

• process a piano recording with EQ, compression, reverb, and tape effects so it fits inside a mix

• approach electronic production from two directions: piano-first or beat-first

• layer synthesizers, bass, and drums around a piano composition to create a full track

• start a production from scratch and follow your instincts toward a finished idea

Tension as Language

Jonas composes by asking one question: what does this song need right now? Not what structure should it follow, but what the music itself requires at this moment. His B parts do not resolve. They build. His C parts hold tension suspended until the return to the A part feels, as he describes it, like coming home.

Through live performances and breakdowns of his tracks "Midnight Glow" and "Loon," Jonas shows how each section earns its place in the story. He also demonstrates how a single fragment, here a melodic motive from the 17th-century composer Lili Boulanger, can become the seed of an entirely new composition. Step by step, note by note, he transforms it into something contemporary and entirely his own.

Two Workflows, One Vision

The second half of the masterclass moves to the studio. Jonas opens two finished productions built from very different starting points. "Day" began as a complete solo piano composition, later reworked into an electronic production: tempo-mapped, processed, layered with synthesizer and drums. "Backwaters," made with Polaroid, started from a malfunctioning tape machine and a Moog pad, and the piano came afterward, composed to fit an atmosphere that already existed.

Both approaches produce real music. The masterclass shows how each one unfolds in full detail inside Ableton, including every processing decision, every layer, and every moment where the track changed direction.