August 17-20, 2001
Kamloops, British Columbia
Click any image to see the slide show
Also see
the Geometry of Systems -- a
paper written by Jon Pickles as the seminar drew to a close.
The 2001 Western Canada Stick Seminar is now officially over and I have
to say that it exceeded all of my expectations. The seminar was held at
the
Academy of Performing Arts located over top of the
World of Music in Kamloops,
British Columbia. Jim Reilly (from Kamloops) organized the event and did
some of the instruction.
Greg Howard
also flew in and acted as instructor for the event. The space provided by
World of Music was excellent. We had a ton of room to work with and the
store also provided amplifiers for everyone in the group. On top of the
seminar, Jim had also arranged for a night of Stick music on Saturday
evening at
Music in the Park which occurs nightly in Kamloops
offering free music to anyone who comes down to listen. Lastly, part of
the weekend also involved working on
Terry Riley's "In C" as a group and
performing the piece on Sunday at the
Kamloops Art Gallery.
Everything went as planned with no complications and I went home
marveling over Jim's organizational skills. I'm still trying to digest
everything that happened and these pages are an attempt to notate my
own experiences at the event.
NOTE: My report of the events during the actual seminar will be slanted
to the stuff that Greg was teaching simply because that was the group I
was in.
First, the attendees of the seminar were as follows:
Greg Howard - Virginia
Jim Reilly - British Columbia
Joe Berkman - Minnesota
Jason Brock - Alberta
James Charbonneau - British Columbia
Louis Hesselt-van-Dinter - Washington
Roli Mack - Alberta
Jim Meyer - British Columbia
Andrew Peacock - Newfoundland
Jon Pickles - New York
Glenn Poorman - Michigan
Scott Schurr - Oregon
Qua Veda - Oregon
Travel Day
My trip started early on Thursday. I took an early flight from Detroit
to Seattle. Louis met me coming off the plane and we proceeded to hook
up with Greg, Scott, and Jon. Scott was driving up from Portland and
agreed to shuttle the rest of us between Seattle and Kamloops. The drive
was a bit longer than we had anticipated (about seven hours). Part of that
was a stop for lunch and a somewhat lengthy delay at customs. By the time
we got to the Ramada Inn in Kamloops, it was about 7:30PM. Jim and his
wife Michelle met us in the lobby and, after dropping our bags in the
rooms, we all went up to the lounge. Up at the lounge, we also met up
with Joe, Jason, James, and Jim Meyer. We had a good time that first
night getting to know each other and shooting some pool. As 11:00PM rolled
around, we all started fading (especially us folk still on eastern time)
so we called it a night.
Day #1
On Friday morning, I met up with Jim Meyer and we went down to the
Academy. The seminar wasn't suppose to start until noon but we went down
early to hang out and help setup. After a coffee run, things got going
pretty much right at noon. In addition to everybody from the day before,
Roli showed up that morning along with Andrew and Qua. So now we were
thirteen strong and the seminar was officially under way. To start things
off, Greg worked with the entire group and we went over positioning of
the instrument, position of the hands, and the basic technique. We also
covered the independence training lessons from Greg's book. After a short
break, we split the group in two with Jim Reilly taking some of the newer
players and Greg taking the rest. In Greg's group, we spent a lot of time
in the afternoon really soaking in all of the different intervals on the
fretboard and on both sides of the Stick. By time 5:00PM rolled around,
we'd covered quite a bit and you could see the glaze starting to form
over everybody's eyes so we quit for the day. While we were playing,
Michelle had made reservations for the whole group to eat at a place
called "Oriental Gardens" in downtown Kamloops so, after a quick hotel
stop, we all went over. We were all seated together in a private room
and had a great meal. The plan for after the meal was to do a little
five pin bowling before turning it. Unfortunately, the meal ran long and
the bowling place closed so with the only choices left being bed or
karaoke, we chose bed.
Day #2
Saturday morning it was back to the academy at 9:00AM. We split back into
our two groups right away. During the morning session, Greg covered a lot
of ground talking about interdependence topics such as cross-tapping and
polyrhythms. We took a somewhat extended lunch break at around 12:30 and
ate/lounged for a while while Greg used the time to practice for the
evening's performance in the park. After lunch, we all got back into a
single group and Greg gave a talk about gear. I think this was a new addition
to Greg's itinerary and he opened his talking by commenting on how gear is
just one of those things that Stick players love to talk about. I think he's
right. After the gear talk, we all began working on Terry Riley's "In C".
Just to provide a little background, "In C" is a piece written in the 60s
that is credited with launching the minimalist movement. The piece contains
53 patterns or motifs. The patterns are all in the key of C (with some modal
changes) and are of varying lengths. The instructions call for an eighth note
pulse to be played on middle C and for all the performers to begin playing
and repeating the first motif. Actually, and more specifically, the
instructions call for the pulse to be played by a beautiful woman on the
piano. Since we were a group of all male Stick players, we skipped that part
and we provided the pulse on Stick. From there, the instructions call for all
of the performers to play all 53 of the motifs in sequence. How many times
you repeat each motif, however, is up to the individual performer so once the
piece gets going, everyone ends up at a different place and you have many of
the motifs playing at the same time. Once the first performer arrives at the
last motif, it is repeated until everybody else gets there and the piece
ends. Our rehearsal of the piece on Saturday consisted of everyone going
through the motifs together and making sure we could all play them. Some were
definately harder than others (#35) but I have to say that I was impressed
with the progress we made as a group. Once we hit the last pattern, it was
time to pack up and head for the park. Sunday morning would be our first
attempt at running the piece the way it was meant to be played.
We grabbed a quick bite to eat, I grabbed my effects processors from the
hotel, and we all went down to the park where we would be performing on
Saturday night. The park setting in Kamloops was really quite nice. The
park was very large and sat between the road and the river. The band shell
was very large and looked out over a spacious lawn with the river running
behind it. The Kamloops area apparently features "Music in the Park" just
about every night during the summer. This night was suppose to be nothing
but Stick music. With Greg and Jim definately playing, the rest of the
bill was left for anyone who wanted to play. After one of the local DJs
introduced Jim, he spoke a little bit to the audience about why we were
there and then launched into a couple of original tunes to open the night
with. Jim played a great set with a real fluent almost finger picking
style of play that I really liked. After finishing his second tune, Jim
introduced Roli Mack from Calgary. Roli was really great. He's got a ton
of experience playing covers and a few originals in bars all over Canada
and his comfort out on stage was real apparent. He talked well with the
crowd and really worked them up. Then he'd launch into tunes that went from
reggae to country to blues to rock and sang on everything he played. Roli
played about four tunes and then it was my turn. I ran two solo tunes and
it felt good. The sound was a bit boomy and I found myself loosing my loop
a couple of times but covered it and got the job done. After a generous
response from the audience, I brought Jim back out along with Louis
Hesselt-van-Dinter. Louis had been throwing down some cool grooves the
day before and I'd started soloing over the top of them. During a break,
he asked if I'd come up and do a jam with him. I said I would and Jim said
he wanted to join us. So the three of us went up completely unrehearsed
and did a jam over a Louis groove. I have to say, I really really enjoyed
this. I had no idea how it would go but, in the end, it was great. So with
our jam done, Jim introduced Greg Howard. Greg did about a 45 minute set
and really had a monster night. His sound out in the park was just huge
and he really seemed to have a jump in his play that night. As always, his
set provided inspiration for us all to keep working. After the show ended,
we all hung around a bit packing up gear and talking to some audience
members who stuck around. Just as we were packed and ready to go, Michelle
pressed us all into service to help setup some tents in the park for a
bike race they were holding the next morning. Instantly, there were thirteen
Stick players all trying at once to figure out how to put these tents up.
Possibly too many cooks in the house but we got it done. From there, we
absolutely had to grab some drinks and do a little back patting so we all
went over to Kelly O'Briens in downtown Kamloops before finally retiring.
Day #3
On Sunday morning, we all met back at the Academy at 9:00AM once again.
The plan was to immediately pack up all of our gear and haul it over to
the Art Gallery. The gallery itself didn't open until noon so this would
give us the opportunity to use the gallery as a rehearsal space for our
performance of "In C" before the real thing would take place that afternoon.
We went through great pains in the morning to even out everybody's volume
and dial in a nice level and nice tones in the room. From there, we
started. This was our first crack at playing the piece the way it is
supposed to be played. Playing the patterns was a little more awkward
than when we played together as you now had people around you playing
different patterns of different lengths. Once we started our run through,
however, this didn't seem to be as much of an issue as I had anticipated
and it was sounding good. After making it all the way through, we had about
two hours to kill so we grabbed some food and then logged a little down time.
We met back at the gallery at about 2:00PM Sunday afternoon, tuned up,
and psyched up. Our chairs had been setup in a half circle and the plan
was that we would walk in in order so there wouldn't be this clump of
guys walking around trying to find their chair. So we lined up with me
walking in first and headed for the gallery. I was about three steps away
from entering when I realized that my chord was still back in my bag.
Another step or two and it would have been very awkward but, as it was,
I only held us up for a few seconds.
To open things up, Jim gave a really nice talk about the Stick and it's
origins. I've heard and given the usual speeches before about tapping and
how it works but Jim really slipped in a lot of detail about the origins
of both the instrument and of Emmett Chapman himself. It was really well
done. From there, he talked a bit about Terry Riley and the significance
of the piece we were about to play. Then ... we started. Greg started on
the pulse and, one at a time, we all came in on the first figure. From
there it just built. The sound in the room was much warmer with the
addition of many warm bodies and it became apparent very early on that,
barring any catastrophes, this was actually going to come off much better
than even our best run through. For about an hour, we played continuously.
The combination of various patterns playing at once and the fact that no
two performances are the same created music that was incredible and always
surprising. Jim was standing out in front being the director. He kept our
tempo under control and started the piece directing our dynamics. After a
while though, the performance took on a life of it's own and Jim just
watched as we would move from very loud to very soft and back again as a
single cohesive unit with no prompting. There were parts of the piece
where many different patterns would go at once and other parts where, for
a moment, we would all be hitting the same or very similar parts. It's very
difficult to describe in words. As well all converged on the last pattern,
we faded away with just the pulse playing just as we started. When the last
pulse played, the audience (who had been so quiet you could hear a pin drop)
rose to their feet and gave us a huge round of applause. We all just stood
there and basked. I looked around our half circle to see some pretty big
grins all the way around. I must say, it was a job well done and something
I'm not likely to forget.
Many people stayed around afterward to talk with us and ask us questions.
By around 4:00PM, the gallery finally cleared out and we hauled all of
our gear back to the Academy after taking group photos in the gallery
lobby. Once we got back to the Academy, we all basked some more and
discussed what had just happened. I think most of us were still quite high
from the event and that was a feeling that wouldn't be going away any time
soon. I've enjoyed many performances including the music in the park on
Saturday. The gallery show, however, was something really special. So
after a generous helping of self-congratulations, we decided we would all
meet at Boston Pizza for dinner and take a little time to re-group before
hand. At 6:30ish, we did indeed all meet up and had a great meal in the
outdoor patio at the pizza joint. After putting away a very nice helping
of pizza, we left there and headed down to a bar called "All Stars" to
catch Roli Mack who'd booked himself there prior to the seminar. Roli
again proved himself to be a machine. In addition to the Stick and vocal
work we'd caught on Saturday, Roli also had a keyboard setup that he
would play with his right hand, a drum sequencer he would start and stop
with his foot, triggers for cymbal crashes and fills that he would play
with his foot, and an acoustic guitar that he played on a couple of tunes.
Literally, a one man wrecking crew. Plus, Roli's wife BJ would come up on
a tune here and there and do some percussion and backup vocal work. When
Roli's second set started, Greg plugged in and jammed the whole set with
him. They ran a bunch of covers and it was great to hear these tunes being
done by two Stick players. For me, the particularly noteworthy pieces I
heard were "You Shook Me All Night Long" (mainly because of Roli's vocals)
and "the Sultans of Swing" (a tune I used to love playing on guitar that
sounded really nice on two Sticks). Roli went back to his solo act for his
short third set and, shortly after midnight, called it a night. By this time,
everybody was pretty tired and had had many beers so we called it and went
back to the hotel.
Day #4
Our last seminar day. We all met up again at 9:00AM (give or take) for
our last morning at the Academy. Greg saved his Stick setup talk for the
last day. We talked a lot about the truss rod adjustments, string height,
pickup height, intonation, and tuning. I find that, even though I've gone
through the setup talk, it's always useful to go through it again as I
still consider myself far from comfortable with it. To end things off, we
did something that I really enjoyed. Greg wrote a chord progression out
on the board and all thirteen of us worked on playing the progression
smoothly in a waltz style with the left hand. The plan was that as we did
this, everybody would find the G major scale pattern around fret #12 and
take a turn at soloing. We started up and Jim Reilly led off the solos. As
the first run through the progression came to an end, Greg silently pointed
at Andrew to take it. As he started in, however, we all noticed that Jim
was still playing. He'd really starting getting lost in the moment and had
his eyes closed and his head back oblivious to the fact that we were all now
watching him. When the progression came to an end for the second time, he
kept going for a third. By now Greg had moved in close and was getting ready
to nudge when Jim's eyes opened and he realized what was going on. A classic
moment. So from there, everybody took a turn. When the last of us soloed, we
all started soloing at once and, without being told to do so, faded the piece
to it's end. With that, Greg and Jim thanked us all and we called it a day
(and a seminar).
After goodbyes all the way around and a quick lunch, we piled back into
Scott's van (Scott, Louis, Greg, Jon, and myself) and headed back to
Seattle. Our drive to Louis' house in Bothell took about 6.5 hours and
was fairly uneventful unless you want to count the several miles we spent
getting hammered by jokes from Greg and Jon (best left for another writing
perhaps). Once we made it to Bothell, we dropped Louis and Greg and
continued on. Scott was a driving machine and wanted to continue to Portland
so we got back on the road quickly. They dropped me in West Seattle at a
friend's place, then Jon was dropped in Tacoma, and Scott headed back to
Portland solo. As for the rest of my own trip, I met up with some friends
that night and stayed out until about 2:00 drinking beers and still basking
from the weekend. The following morning, I was dropped at the airport and
my next stop was home.
Wrapup
This was my second seminar and, by far, my best. I enjoyed the seminar
we had in Michigan last year but this one was really something else.
First, all of the other twelve participants were a great pleasure to spend
time with. Everybody was really pleasant to be around and everybody
eagerly participated in all of the activities we had. Second, the
performances were outstanding (as a performer and as a spectator).
Especially the "In C" performance in the gallery. Next, I came away thinking
I could really take a few lessons from Jim Reilly on organizing these
seminars. I just can't say enough about what a great job he did along with
the invaluable help from Wilf and Jane Epp at the World of Music. Jim and
Michelle were also great hosts. With plenty of activity outside of the
seminar itself, we had very little time to vegetate and that was good.
Lastly, Greg again has proven why he is constantly asked to do these seminars
and is constantly invited back. He's a good guy to be around, is extremely
patient, and has a real knack for explaining even the most difficult concepts
with great clarity. And as an added bonus, we all got to see him play.
So I'll simply sum up by calling this seminar a gigantic success. Thanks
to all who were involved for making the last weekend such a great one. And
I hope on meeting up with you all again some time.