Chapman Seminar & Stick Concert Review 29.11.11 Blackburn Store
Posted by Allans Billy Hyde , Thursday, December 1, 2011 3:55 PM
An audience of around 40 people came to enjoy an evening of Stick music. Drum teacher from the Blackburn Academy, Konrad Park aka Stickrad opened the concert with some recognisable tunes - Coldplay’s Trouble and the main theme to Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino, which set pace for the foray into the progressive world of the Stick. He also described the design and tuning of the Stick allowing the audience to feel that they could play a simple idea on the instrument without any real effort.
The performances were kickstarted by Stickrad’s trio rendition of Elephant Talk by King Crimson, which is the entry point for most people familiar with the Stick, via Tony Levin’s groundbreaking and expressive playing with the early 80s King Crimson line-up. Stickrad performed the world premiere of his new piece Brute-iful, which is much like European Jazz meets The Terminator.
Evan Harris performed two outstanding tracks from Steve Turner’s EP CD, Not in Kansas Anymore and forthcoming second solo CD (Untitled). Showcasing an early ironwood Chapman Stick and the NS Stick; a multirole bass-tapping instrument. Evan’s performances were polished and highlighted the melodic capability in the high bass range as well as thunderous bass riffs through Steve’s progressive compositions.
The audience were then delighted to meet Emmett Chapman the inventor of the Stick via Skype resulting in a 10min jam with the Melbourne based, internationally acclaimed Reeds player, Adam Simmons and Stickrad on drums. It was fantastic to hear the Stick in the hands of the master and inventer and showed people the full range and sonic capability of the Stick. The evening concluded in a Q&A with Emmett, leaving the audience with the feeling of having a personal meeting with him and a clear window into the world of Stick music.
What is The Stick?The Stick combines elements from bass guitar, keyboards, drums and the melodic inspiration from wind instruments and is designed for a technique called Free Hands. Both hands become equal partners, playing parallel to the strings and allowing all fingers the maximum freedom to tap and hold the strings. You will find yourself playing chords, lead melody, bass lines and rhythm, in new and creative ways because of the instruments design.
- Erin Whitwell
Marketing Co-ordinator / Allans Music + Billy Hyde
This sounds very interesting