Hey guys, just curious how everyone is making out with their Stick practicing and studying! I, for one, would be interested to read about what everyone's big goals were and where they've ended up, how we got sidetracked and all of that good stuff!

I know that for me this has been a great year for gaining technical advancement and proficiency as well as expanding my repertoire with the Stick - the instrument gets more and more fun as I go! I started in 2014 (Got serious about it on October 31st 2014), but I really feel like 2017-2018 was the time that I really figured out how to approach learning this instrument in a way that was right for me. Hooray for late starts...

So yeah, if y'all are cool with it, inquiring minds would love to read about where you went, and where you are headed...

Cool topic, I'm glad to hear about you refining your learning process you no more and I'm looking forward to hearing what you do with it!

I guess my big goals this year are to write more with GEPH, maybe another albums worth if we can before the year is up, and to work more Improv into my arrangements. As I had mentioned in a previous post, I play a lot of rote music and while this is great for technique, consistency and focus, there is a certain freedom that can only be learned through improvisation and this is what I would like to spend some time focusing on.

That, and translating a lot of my exercise books for other instruments into stick applicable material.

side tracks: Parenthood - big one. There was a time when my daughter was about 18 months old, that a stray breeze could've knocked me over, I was so tired. I felt like I was just opening a vein.

Also, we converted my studio into a nursery before she got here (from Guatemala) , and to this day (14 years later) I haven't found a good substitute for that.

So, my music ambition went to sleep at that time. No more Stick for years. But, we had a decent little piano in our dining room, and I spent maybe five years just playing the Bach two and three part Inventions & Sinfonias. What a great thing to focus on! And my little Sofia got to see her daddy practice a bunch. Then I was able to add things in, like figured bass (the 41 Bach chorales with no inner voices). Later, I spent an entire year just improvising at the keyboard, and later, another year just sight-reading piano music. I read all the Beethoven Piano Sonatas, the whole two-volume Well-Tempered Clavier, and two-thirds of the International Library of Piano Music, which friend had gifted me.

So, this obstacle bore fruit.

But all the while, a little voice inside me said "I wish I had a good reason to play my Stick!", and one day, a musician I had gone to music school with approached me. Her daughters were a little younger than mine, and she was writing songs for kids, and she decided to form a band of musicians all from her demographic - parents of young kids. It was called Polly's Tiny Big Band, and we had a lot of fun, playing around Denton, Texas, from time to time. I was playing Stick again! Just bass lines on Stick, but also some conga and keyboard parts. This lady had great connections with other musicians for her recordings (Andy Timmons did some session work on one album), but she chose me for live work. Wow.

That was in January 2013. I now have 6.5 years of solid practice time under my belt. I have improved! I am loving the Stick.

I have moved on from Polly's band. Now I have a little string band that plays twice a week. That's a lot of fun. I'm working in some right hand parts to my bass lines with that group, and I'm beginning to arrange for them. Also, I'm working up the Bach Chorale Aus Meines Herzen Grunde - a big challenge - moving parts in fifths takes a lot of practice. And I study a little jazz harmony when I can.

So this is all in addition to wife/kid/house/pool/kitchen/dog/laundry/yard. It's all OK. If I played Stick as much as I want, I'd probably get tendonitis....

R

Hi Scott , good to hear from you.
I've documented my approach a bit on here, I guess I'm making OK progress be it a bit more slowly than I would like.
At 50 I said " bugger it " ( an Australian term) I need to not reach 60 and not have again achieved something in music, like when I had a Studio in the 90's. My other job had reached it's peak & bears zero creative fruit other than plenty $$$$ ( which is nice of course ) thought it probably looks cool in pictures.

Hence the P50 plan was born ( post 50 ) .
Been doing study with Steve Adelson since then , fantastic , & these days I believe I have my own thing going on with the instrument in my own way an thats really all that matters.

Like Rodan I've also got Wife/Kids/dog/pool & another big hobby, but its the possibilities of the Stick that really turn me on. My winner in terms of progress though has been getting out and playing whenever I can. It was super scary at first and not particularly great , but thats OK. These days I can wait to get up and do it. The live side has become a whole other area of study , though, & "practice" beyond just the physical act of playing it . Greg really hit the nail on the head with this in his post last week. Stagecraft, setup , entertainment etc etc.
I'm still on slack on Music theory and composition etc unlike many of you but its my focus now.

Luckily I have a wife ( & kids ) who say you'd be nuts not to go to StickCamp Spain & Now France in 3 weeks, and I love Europe so its a win win win. Also just fortunate to be able to it logistically etc with work.
My aim is to get into venues by this Australian Spring Summer , a great number of wineries / restaurants in this outer part of Melbourne where I am that do music . soloists & duo's. So far I've done 3 non stop 1 hour spots, which is a stretch but invaluable experience solo. spend a fair bit of time on network building & stuff like that at present. Enough rambling , off to see a custom case builder in an hour. I'll post pictures next week of a single flight case the Grand & Alto will be travelling to France in . Au revoir.

Nice to read that people get around with their Sticks. It's just an amazing instrument!

Over here - in Sweden - I have stopped street busking now and play only regularly booked concerts with my SG-12. The three busking years were great as a way to learn the instrument, but with the declining CD sales it's not a good business idea at all I picked up a side job to teach corporate specialists Swedish, as they work a lot on the global market. Doing that three days a week I get some time to record media music with the Stick and other instruments (although I'd wish I could work faster). Oh, and I have a Sitar incoming from India; thanks to an Indian student of Swedish who offered to bring it here with his family furniture container. I'm assuming the Stick and the Sitar will blend well togehter in recordings for tv and radio licensing.

Most concerts are at churches and at festivals and I'm so happy that people
book me even for singer/songwriter festival stages, despite knowing that I play only instrumental music. So that's a good sign, I think. This weekend I played together with an actor reading poetry and we did not rehearse the reading or the playing, we only took a minute before entering the stage to decide on which attitude to go with through the performance. I wouldn't have had the guts to do this on any other instrument than the Stick.

"So, Per, that wierd instrument I saw you playing that I've never seen before- is that a Sitar?"

Might bring a whole new meaning to that question in your specific case!

Great to hear Per, sounds like you are making it work. Can't wait to hear what you come up with on the sitar. You can actually say

THIS is a Chapman Stick.

THAT is a sitar.

That would be Stick legend.

I am joining a bell group, which should be interesting. It's a professional group, so they have all the music printed out and they only do a single rehearsal every month. We'll see how that goes.

Been doing way too much work on my duo 17 pedalboard. I'm very content with the sound. Very content.

I dońt have The sitar yet so it might have been my fretless Electric har Guitar.

Cool with The Bell Orchestra, Gene! Post something please!