Coding the Self: Theo Bleckmann on Finding Your Own Language

Theo Bleckmann has spent decades living in the space between: between categories, between careers, between composition and improvisation, even between apartments. Born in rural Germany, he trained as both a boy soprano and a competitive figure skater, before coming to New York at 23 to study with the legendary singer Sheila Jordan. Quickly he found a home among musical misfits. Since then, he has built a singular life in music that balances jazz, avant-garde experimentation, composition, performance art, and teaching. He is one of the most beloved and well regarded vocal educators in New York, known for his open and exploratory approach to both teaching and creating (which are not unrelated for him).

Bleckmann's new album, Love & Anger, produced by drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr., revisits touchstones from his past (his ongoing musical partnership with guitarist Ben Monder, his love of Kate Bush, his reimagining of The Beatles) while reaffirming his belief in collaboration, curiosity, and emotional honesty. As he says, the record came together only when friends reminded him, "This is good; stop doubting yourself."

Here he talks about what it means to live a life in music rather than a career in jazz, the changing landscape of education and social media, and the deeply human need to listen—to music, to one another, and to oneself.

He tells me, "I always laugh when I hear my students talk about a career in jazz. It's so absurd—a career. That sort of suggests that you climb up a ladder if you do certain things and then you get a promotion. And, and for me it's more... a life in music is much more how I think about it. I'm so grateful and fortunate that I have a life in music. I'm not famous, but I always have a gig somehow."

For Bleckmann, finding your own unique approach and sound is the key to longevity: "I think of being a musician as being an artist as creating your own computer language. So you could either learn Photoshop and execute it really well, so you can learn jazz and do all the right inflections and sing all the right repertoire with the right musicians, and everybody's gonna clap and it's gonna look and sound great. Or you can learn how to code and then create your own program. And that's really what I'm trying to get into my students, is to figure out what they wanna do [...] That's, that's the ticket to longevity and to a fulfilled life in music."

When I sat down with Theo recently, I was honestly a little intimidated. He's such a pure artist, someone who seems guided by curiosity rather than commerce. But within five minutes of meeting him, I realized that the thing people say about Theo is true: he makes everyone around him feel seen and supported.