The history of Preissler Music – your support on stage!

Timpani for Freddie

It was in spring of 1992, when Tom Preissler received a call from the German TV channel ZDF asking him to provide two timpani for rent for a live performance. The timpani were needed by the legendary band “Queen” with their singer Freddie Mercury in the former famous TV show “Der große Preis“. Because it wasn’t just in Berlin that word got around that he had a large variety of percussion and drums collected for his work as a teacher for classical percussion & drums at a music school and also as a lecturer at the university.

In short, ZDF borrowed the timpani from him, and Queen’s drummer, Roger Taylor, thoroughly enjoyed playing them. But this wasn’t a one-off. A short time later, the timpani were needed again for Freddie Mercury and Queen on television, and later that same year for an orchestra at the International Radio Exhibition IFA in Berlin.

Tom Preissler researched this topic and noticed a considerable demand for rental instruments, especially for classical music. Thus, the idea was born to use his instruments not only in lessons but also on major stages. To ensure the company was handled correctly, he took the initiative and officially registered “Preissler Percussion – Rent A Drum” as a rental company and ® trade mark in November 1992.

Preissler Percussion – The beginning was made

The income from the drum rental business financed additional instruments and repairs. And slowly but surely, more and more inquiries came in. Tom Preissler had originally planned to primarily use the instruments in his lessons for his students and only rent them out to maintain them. Neither the music school nor the university could or would provide the funds to purchase their own professional percussion instruments. But things turned out differently.

The demand for rental instruments remained strong, and Tom Preissler’s collection of instruments grew in parallel. By the end of the 1990s, it had reached 400 different instruments. An incredible milestone, and simply fantastic as teaching material for a percussion teacher and lecturer. The instruments were used in regular percussion concerts with his students in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the the famous Academy of Arts in Berlin and other concert halls. Because of their exceptional nature and the many instruments, they were increasingly covered by the German press, radio and TV.

From pure percussion & drums to orchestral instruments & backline for jazz and rock

In the following years, the range of instruments expanded even further, and soon there was hardly anything that Tom Preissler didn’t have available for rent and lessons. It would certainly have remained just a percussion instrument rental business had it not been for the brutal terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, in the USA and their worldwide consequences.

After the attacks, orchestras, especially those from the USA, had enormous problems getting their instruments back from airport security checks after returning from tours. For security reasons, this also affected orchestras and musicians from other continents. It could easily take four weeks or more before the orchestras were ready to perform again. For professional musicians, this was an extremely serious problem.

This led to Tom Preissler receiving numerous requests for complete orchestral sets with all the major instruments within a short period. Suddenly, he was being asked for high-quality double basses, concert harps, brass instruments, celestas, harmoniums, and more. However, he didn’t have any of these instruments in his own inventory and had to painstakingly rent and collect them from all over Germany. It quickly became clear that a purely percussion-based rental business wouldn’t be sustainable in the long run.

Preissler Percussion became Preissler Music

In 2011, the company was renamed “Preissler Percussion – Rent A Drum” to Preissler Music – your support on stage!, the business was expanded to include the rental of all types of musical instruments and a fleet of own transport vehicles was added. At the same time, Tom Preissler, after 32 years, gave up his teaching position in percussion and drums, also at the university and devoted himself intensively to building up and heading the company.

It was a long and difficult journey to acquire these very expensive and valuable instruments. Each of these instruments has its own, sometimes even adventurous, story of how it found its way to Preissler Music. This included not only classical orchestra instruments, but also a variety of backline for jazz and rock. Keyboards, digital pianos, stage pianos, concert guitars, electric guitars, electric basses and even an original HAMMOND B3 organ from 1956 and old keyboard glockenspiels found their home at Preissler Music.

However, there was, and increasingly is, another problem for all international orchestras, jazz bands, and soloists touring Europe: the costs for airline cargo and insurance are rising steadily and rapidly. Even highly professional, top-tier orchestras are finding it increasingly difficult to manage these costs. More and more instruments are being rented for orchestra tours to save money. Preissler Music is increasingly being commissioned to provide complete outfitting for orchestra tours, including all major instruments, every conceivable accessory, as well as orchestra transport and stage services. With this comprehensive, one-stop service and our high-quality musical instruments, Preissler Music is unique in Germany and Europe.

The largest instrument rental company for classical music and jazz

Today there are over 2,000 different instruments. And there is hardly a musical instrument that cannot be found in Preissler Music’s 1,000 m² storage area. Double basses from old masters, many over 100 years old. Wind instruments from contrabassoon to bass clarinet, from tuba to sousaphone and drum kits, percussion and drums really endless. There are also many musical film props that are often used for national and international film and TV productions. And last but not least, hundreds of professional orchestra chairs, music stands, desk lights, conductor’s podiums and other orchestra accessories of all kinds are part of the rental equipment from Preissler Music.

We proudly boast a total of 3,800 rental items in our warehouse. All acquired in painstaking, small steps, without ever taking out a loan. After 34 years of Preissler Music and an incredible 50 years in the musical business for Tom Preissler, everything is complete and the goal he has worked tirelessly toward for decades with the active support of his team has been achieved.

But some extraordinary instrument will always reside in our dreams. The diversity of sounds and musical instruments from all cultures around the globe is immense and immeasurably vast. Far too vast to possess everything. And it would be presumptuous to believe that one could ever achieve such a thing.

We, as the team at Preissler Music, can only attempt to get as close to that as we possibly can…