Well, it finally happened. I played Stick for my family at Christmas.
I played "Silent Night" first - I was so nervous that I totally butchered it - good thing I had them all sing along. They carried it. Then I tried it again, and it was MUCH better.
Then I played the arrangement of "Here, There, & Everywhere" that I've been working on since I first got the damned instrument, and it was actually passable. Not clean, by any means, but passable. (Given how tough I am on myself, that's saying a lot.)
Then the inevitable Q&A began. In the process of explaining the choices of note location and fingering, I ended up taking a stab at "Away in a Manger", which I wasn't going to do, because I hadn't fully worked it up. Surprisingly, it was also close to passable.
Now that this first terrifying event is under my belt, I'm going to keep working as hard or harder in order to improve, and get a video out to you all as soon as I can!
Now, if only I can figure out how to insert a photo from the gallery here...
Edit: GOT IT. Pic 1 is "Away in a Manger" in progress. Pic 2 is of course myself and my Stick, with my incredible wife Jen.

i know what u mean, brother. every time one of my buddies walks in the room, the clams start flying. i guess ill/we'll get over "performance anxiety" after "doing it" enough...

I'm sure it was a great time for all the family.

Congrat's, you took a big step


Cheers,
Bas

Excellent. Ya gotta share the music. Good move
Steve A

Luc,
Congratulations on your first performance and that it went so well. I think we are all tougher on ourselves sometimes than we need to be. If you audience liked it, that's what counts! and you had them singing along, joining in- faboo!

Also If Jen doesn't move her head, the Stick is at the proper angle!

Thank you for sharing and being an important part in this big Stick Family!
Happy Holidays and the Best of the new year to you and Jen,
Kudos,
Dave Brosky

After 18 years as a stickist and 30+ years of being a musician...I STILL have performance anxiety.

I've somehow learned to work with it over the years. A life long thorn in my side, etc. Playing out often helps diminish it though.

All the best to you. Thanks for sharing!

Brian Baggett
Ft. Qu'Appelle, SK

Dude! This is great to hear. So true about what Dbro said about being hard on ourselves. Part of that which helps us to strive harder to be better is part of that same thing that holds us back.

Be prepared to fail - just ask anyone that was at the Stick Night out at the FHA this last year. I did it in full style...

That being said, failing miserable is part of what makes us stronger. It helps us to identify specifically; parts in songs that we need more practice with (make the HARD part your FAVORITE part), issues with our setup (bad cables, can't see the LEDs in outdoor settings, etc.), etc. Any gig you can walk away from is a good one.

I had the opportunity to play some music with family last night as well. My nephew is picking up the Tenor sax, my cousin Mike had his harmonica and my uncle Charles was there with his concertina. We paired up and shared songs, but mostly people wanted me to play x-mas songs.

I played a few but felt it just as necessary to do the Q & A part AND let everyone else talk about their musical experience. My uncle was very prepared to talk about the concertina and apparently, we had some family history with the instrument (which lead to a story about his last one, which was stolen). My nephew played us a song (Greensleeves) and man it was loud - he then let us know about his aspirations to learn the Bari. I told him to carefully consider this as Tenor players almost always get the girls. After this cousin Mike played us some tunes on harmonica and shared stories about how he would sneak off to the bathroom at lunch time to jam with his friends as the acoustics were better there.

Before I knew it, we had been sitting and talking music for almost 2 hours. It was magical having that experience with my family and we are already planning our set for next year.

We all agreed that playing for family is the best possible opportunity as they won't boo you or throw things and they don't charge you for beer.

Congrats Luc, we are all stoked for you and look forward to new charts, new tunes and our shared Chapman Stick evolution.

Good show Luc! I played a bit for family as well, parents anyway....
Looking forward to some video posts. Cool lap bar.


Happy Holidays,
cheers,
kev

Congrats, Luc. You're all smiles in those pics!

I think the first time I played Stick for multiple people was at the Vancouver seminar, I enjoyed it more than I expected to (the playing that is, I expected to enjoy the seminar). And having had the chance to play for just the seminar folks the day before, I think I was actually (gasp!) looking forward to it. I also learned that little old ladies love Chopin.

Tenor has a nice smooth tone/range, but bari has such distinct timbres in its upper and lower registers and it's a blast to just honk away on. I'd love to get a bari someday (I have a tenor).

My local family doesn't really play. The last time I had a chance to jam with family was when I spent the holidays with some less-local relatives a few years back (I didn't play Stick yet). It was really fun, I wish I could see them and jam more often. I guess I'll have to bring my Stick next time I go!