• Performance Schedule:
  Saturday 9 September @ Jimo Cafe
  Saturday 16 September: Stick Seminar @ MI JAPAN
  Tuesday 19 September @ Rakuza
  

Last Friday I had my first rehearsal with a drummer friend. I suppose it went well for a first rehearsal; we spent the two hours with three of my songs, taking our time as he learned them and just generally getting a feel for how each other plays. Our plan is to rehearse together once a week, and I’m hoping we may be able to perform together for at least one of my gigs in September.

The link below is an excerpt from a song I call “Jive”. It was recorded at the very end of our rehearsal on Friday.

Jive with drums (11 August 2006 rehearsal)

I’ve been invited to perform and talk about the Chapman Stick at the Hiroshima Branch of Musicians’ Institute Japan on Saturday 16 September. The seminar is open to the students and faculty of MI Japan anyone who would like to attend.

• Performance Schedule:
  Saturday 9 September @ Jimo Cafe

I’ve added two songs to the Music section. The first is called “Lift Off”, and was recorded during a performance from a couple of years ago. The song has evolved and changed a bit since this recording (e.g. I don’t use a rhythm machine anymore) and now has a slightly tigher structure. The second file is a 2-minute sample from a song called “A Pleasant Fiction”. I recorded this at home a couple of weeks ago while trying to teach myself the process of recording, mixing, and mastering tracks on computer.

• Performance Schedule:
  ramuji @ Rakuza on Friday 14 July

Here is a short clip of a song that I began working on in May. It started off as the relatively simple structure presented here, and then I expanded it a bit last week for the show at Rakuza. It is currently untitled, and still needs a bit of (songwriting) work.

Untitled (1,374KB mp3 stereo sound file)

This clip was recorded at home with Guitar Rig 2, and then imported into Audio Desk for minor editing. I haven’t done much recording until now, so it is really an eye opener for me to listen back and hear how clearly my mistakes stand out. In particular, the left hand bass lines are much rougher than I had realized, and that is one area that I will need to focus a lot of attention. I had a click track in my headphones while making this recording, and yet it’s pretty obvious that I need to spend more time practicing with a metronome.

After doing some rearch on the Internet, I’ve lowered the pricing for the Stick Seminar, bringing it more in-line with similar events in the past in both the US and Europe. For details, see the Stick Seminar information page.

Dan Chapman has been working on a documentary of his brother, Emmett, and the birth and evolution of The Stick. He is making plans to have a friend in Japan come to Hiroshima and film the seminar, concert, and some interviews for possible use in the documentary. Some clips of his work thus far can be seen at the Stick Enterprises website, including one of Emmett (Lotus on Irish Streams) and one of Don Schiff (Ireland).

I’ve uploaded a new sound file into the Music section, from my performance at Jive on Friday. The song is called “Lift Off”, and is the first song I ever wrote for The Stick (or any instrument for that matter).

This evening I put in an order for the last two major components of my MacRack: an MOTU 828mkII computer interface, and Native Instuments’ Guitar Rig effects software. Both are currently on backorder, so it may be a couple of weeks before I receive the shipment.

And a month long hiatus comes to an end …

I’ve always been prone to do things in fits and starts, and that characteristic gets even worse during the summer months. Basically, I’m the opposite of a bear that hibernates in the winter; I shut down as much as I can and wait out the heat by trying to move as little as possible (mentally as well as physically). I have little desire to do much of anything through the weeks of heat and humidity, which includes practicing the Stick. So, when I finally picked up my Stick last Thursday for the first time in weeks, yes I was incredibly rusty in technique, but it was soooooo much fun. For three days I practiced at least 3 hours a day. A busy work schedule this week has prevented me from making it a daily routine, but I’m anxious to get back at it as soon as things settle back down to a more regular pace.

I’ll be playing at One Love on 26 September. Although I’ve heard a lot of good things about this bar/restaurant/music spot, this will be my first time to visit. One Love has been the sponsor of the Miyajima Full Moon Festivals held usually twice annually on a local beach, with the most recent being at the end of August. Apparently the festival was a financial wash for the sponsors this time, due to a rather strong typhoon that decided to pass through and rain (and blow, and wreak general havoc) on the party. The event on the 26th will be a fund raiser, with all musicians volunteering their time and all proceeds contributed to help pay for the losses.

My friend and Stick player Derek Dallenger has finally joined the cyber world (with baby steps so far), and we’ve been exchanging emails over the past few days. He sent me a link to a website that has a brief interview with him, as well as a video clip of a sample of some of his music. Even if you can’t read the Japanese text on the website, I think it is well worth checking out to have a look at the video sample of Derek’s music. (Scroll about halfway down the page; the link is under the red text.)