The World Greatest Stickists - Emmett Chapman |  |
| 02:06:2006 г. | |
Автор: Irene ORLEANSKY We continue our series of publications "The World GreatestSstickists", and today I am happy to present not only the great stickist, but also the pioneer of the two-handed tapping method, the "guru" of all the stickists and tap guitarists and simply a wonderful person, the inventor of the Chapman Stick Emmett Chapman.MUSIC BOX: Emmett, you have probably been asked this question thousand times, but still, how did the Stick story start? EMMETT CHAPMAN: It was the most simple and thoughtless act, a gesture, putting my right hand over the fretboard of my homemade 9-string guitar in August 1969, with fingers perpendicular to the strings as they already were in my left hand coming from under the fretboard. I was trying to play some snakey Jimi Hendrix type lead lines using his hammer on/hammer off technique, but to do it with my other hand while I pressed down my familiar left-hand chords, four to the bar. I could immediately do it, and somehow faster and more "articulate" than the intricate one handed fingering I had developed over ten years of jazz guitar. At that point, I tossed my complicated melody with chords technique "out the window" and started over. MB:Do you remember who was the first person who bought the Stick? EC: It was a neighbor on Yucca Trail in the Laurel Canyon Hills, Tony Eldridge, in 1974. The second buyer was Joe Zawinul of Weather Report, who heard me play at The Five Spot in Manhattan, then borrowed my Stick after the set, jumped up on a table and proceeded to play his percussive keyboard technique with great animation, at least it was pretty convincing to both of us and to the remaining audience. MB: When you created the first Stick, did you expect that your instrument would gain such popularity among musicians? EC: I didn't know what to expect, but was caught away in the two aspects, the double role that still haunts me today - designing the instrument and exploring the music. MB: Are there Stick players whose style or playing manner revealed for you new things about the instrument you invented? EC: I recognize that each musician has a different universe to explore, that The Stick is a musical "blank slate" capable of universal adaptation, and that my particular artistry has definite outlines limited in scope. Therefore, I've been influenced by other Stick artists in terms of their techniques, not their music, which I appreciate from a different faculty of mind. (Yes, I have a "faculty" in my head.) So there has been a cross-fertilization of sub-techniques within the basic two-handed string tapping method, and I've been "shaken up" a few times by such techniques as Don Schiff's funky bass lines of the late '70s, Bob Culbertson's driving rock rhythms of the mid '70s, and Greg Howard's interlocking hands of the '90s. MB: What are the main sources of inspiration for you? EC: The music is mostly from within, an ever developing, unfolding process. I like to create novel harmonic arrangements of known songs from any genre, jazz, rock, pop, classical, opera, Latin, and ethnic folk music around the world. I also like to explore new music theory and let it "crystallize" into a new composition, as with "Parallel Galaxy". But sometimes, it's not theory that leads to composition, but rather technique itself, as with Back Yard, inspired by a technique I call "FingerSticking" (credits to Stickist Jeff Pearce for the term).. MB: There are many discussions about whether the Stick must be put into mass production. (I must note here that I am proud to be the owner of the Stick made by the hands of the Master himself!) What is the reason that the Stick remains a custom-made instrument for so many years? Is that the matter of principles or commerce? EC: I'd like to mass produce Sticks and I'm sure I could sell them all, and with the support of an infrastructure of Stick teachers and experienced players to sustain the expansion. I've been working on it, and several new patented innovations lead in that direction - the Flaps, the Rails, the adjustable bridge, the truss rod that pushes or pulls. What holds it back, however, is the nature of the product itself. No matter how mechanized the fabrication of the parts, it's still basically a hand made instrument. The final setup is challenging with very low tapping action and a very even plane of Rail tips as the playing surface. To enable such precise adjustments and fret work in the setup, the basic construction must be exact, as well as the machining of all parts, with everything adjustable that can be adjustable. MB: When I first got acquainted with the Stick, its structure and tunings, I was really struck by its perfect mathematical logic. Did you use any mathematics laws while developing the Stick and do you have any background in mathematics? EC: I have a background in science but not math. I seem to have good instincts in design of balancing forces. I enjoy maximum performance using minimum means (as this sentence exemplifies). MB: And now from exact sciences to occult. I heard about your interest in astrology. How does that influence your creative process and the Sticks we play? EC: As far as I know, astrology had no influence, except in its inherent dialectic of similar opposites, which applies nicely to art and design, and to the Stick tunings. Astrology did, however, influence the music I play on The Stick, as in the 12-spoked wheel charts and geometric note relationships of my "Offset Modal System". See my essay at http://www.stick.com/articles/parallel/ MB: In your album Parallel Galaxy, I discovovered another Emmett Chapman - a virtuoso Stick player, a musician and composer of great profundity. Can we expect more recordings from you? EC: Thanks for noticing "profundity", which I equate with "meaningful frame of reference", which is what life is about for me. In music it equates to novel chord progressions that cast a surprising "sheen" to the melody notes. This is what I love best about music, especially European derived music. And yes, I'm starting to record again, this time with no processing at all, relying on subtle and not so subtle "finger effects" for expression, and odd intervals and chords for "tonal effects". MB: Do you find time for live performances and colaborations with other musicians? EC: At the November Tap Guitar Festival in France, I played in various duos with my brother Dan on harmonica, with Guillermo Cides from Argentina playing a Stick "SoundScape", with Ron Baggerman playing Alto Stick, and with Stefan, a versatile French drummer. I played solo too, but I seem to prefer the half thematic, half improvised duo setting where I can flow into the other artist's music. MB: Do you have your favorite Stick/s? What kind of Stick do you play yourself? EC: For the past three weeks I've been playing a new graphite "Ten-String Grand" model with the ten wider spaced strings and matching aligned hardware on a wide twelve-string fretboard. The wider spacing seems to give me a greater percussive freedom. It's tuned "Matched Reciprocal", meaning that the melody 4ths match the reversed bass 5ths at any given fret. So at the third inlaid dot, which is the octave position, the high melody 1st string and the low bass 6th string are both tuned to "C". The next lower melody 2nd string and the next higher bass 7th string are both "G"s. Then a pair of "D"s at 3rd and 8th strings, "A"s at 4th and 9th strings, and "E"s at 5th and 10th strings. MB: Have you ever thought of the place of the Stick in the history of music and musical instruments? EC: I think The Stick is a design and that the real invention is the particular two handed tapping method I discovered in 1969, a basic new method of playing strings that lead to the Stick design. There were three guitarists who tapped with both hands before I did, Jimmy Webster, Dave Bunker and Harry DeArmond, but they all held their right hand and fingers parallel to the strings in a more normal guitar position. I had never heard of them when I made my discovery, but I immediately placed my right hand perpendicular to the strings, same as my left hand approaching the board from the other side. Both hands were then equal partners in scalar fingering positions, all eight fingers locking into successive fret spaces for guitar type scales and chords tapped independently with each hand. MB: How do you see the future of the Stick? EC: It has got to be mass produced, but it's much more painstaking in the construction and setup than Leo Fender's guitars. Still, a piano is quite a complicated contraption and it spread across the world by the sheer will of its classical players, composers and teachers. MB: Your support to the Stick players is really astonishing. What >role does the Stick community play in your life? EC: Yes, there is really a world wide Stick community, reinforced by the Internet and continually invigorated by seminars, "Stick Night" concerts, and notable US Stickists on tour, including Tony Levin, Sean Malone, Steve Adelson, Bob Culbertson, Greg Howard, Larry Tuttle, Tom Griesgraber with Jerry Marotta, Don Schiff with Rocket Scientist, Jeff Pearce with Will Ackerman, also Nick Beggs and Jim Lampi both of England, Ron Baggerman of Holland, Virna Splendore of Italy, Dale Ladouceur and Leo Gossilin both of Canada, Carrie Melbourne of England, and Mauricio Sotelo with Cabezas de Cera of Mexico. There are many more excellent performing Stickists around the world, especially in France, Italy, Germany and Japan, and also yourself, Irene, performing in Israel and Russia. MB: The Stick is a truly international instrument, it is played in Europe, America, Asia. Does such cosmopolitan character of your instrument influence your own personality? EC: I'm a native Californian, raised in the San Fernando Valley on Woodlake Ave. a block and a half away from where we live and work now. In my heart I always felt "international" because my mother was a singer/guitarist entertainer who sang in seven languages. Our radio in the early '50s, in contrast, played country and western music across all stations. There wasn't even any R&B to be heard. Building and selling Sticks in the late '70s and through the '80s, I always paid special attention to mail and telephone correspondence with European and overseas customers and tried to nurture those connections. MB: There is a great interest in the Stick in Russia. Is there something you would like to tell the Russian people who are about to start their journey into the world of the Stick? EC: Just remember, you don't need a golf course or tennis court for your recreation. One square foot of standing space will do. And they say, isometrics are good for your health. If it's prog rock you're after, you'll need some "heavy artillery", but The Stick, even when totally unprocessed, sounds powerful and articulate through the sound system of a concert hall. MB: Emmett, thanks a lot for your interview and first and foremost for the wonderful instrument you created!! EC: My pleasure, Irene. I enjoyed the directions of your insightful questions. www.stick.com |
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