German Stick Seminar 2002

A Review by Ron Baggerman

The first German Stick Seminar since the late 80's was a great succes. I remember the year 1987. Emmett gave a workshop/seminar in Mainz, if my memory serves me well about 13 players showed up. The day after Emmett taught some students privately, I was so lucky to be one of them.

In 1988 & 1989, I assisted Emmett & Yuta on the "Frankfurter Messe". Throughout the last few years I've kept an eye on www.chapman-stick.de the site of Stickist Karsten Roeth and noticed that the number of Stickists was increasing in Germany. Karsten checked a few years ago if there was interest in a seminar a, but it probably was too early.

This year I asked Karsten to try to do one more survey. You guessed it: ... this time was the right time to get cooking! We had the oppertunity to book Jim Lampi as a teacher as well, so we were all set. Stick Enterprises was so kind to support this event and send merchandise (CDs, Videos, Books, Shirts, Strings). Karsten arranged 2 Classrooms in a Music School plus arranged a tasteful lunch at the "Lindenbraeu" on Saturday.

After meeting quite a few of the participants on friday night at "The Lindenbraeu" we managed to get out of bed in time to welcome all the students (20) whom I got to know a bit in advance since they were so kind to answer the questionaire which I'd send them a while ago.

Although we couldn't cover every facet of Stickplaying in just a weekend, I got the impression that we managed to inspire everybody with material that will last hopefully until next year.

More than half of the players were willing and capable to play a small song in front of the class on my request. That way I could give them some personal, individual advice.

"The Lindenbraeu" was also the place where Jim and I did our concert on Saturday night joined by the owner/brewer Ralph Stoerzbach on drums and Joerg Ehrler who plays with Karsten in the band www.soundscape-gardeners.de on Jembe.

We all had a smashing night, not in the least because our friendly reception (did I spotted 1 or 2 Stickplayers in the audience?:)) Jim did many songs of his "Greazy" album, if you haven't got it already, you owe it to yourself check it out either to order at www.stick.com or at www.lampimedia.com. At the end of the night I joined Jim and we managed to pull off "All along the Watchtower" and a Funky Blues, where I gave it my best shot singing and abusing the blues harp. Jim and I had just as much fun jamming as we had last June in Spain at the Stickcenter Seminar organized by Guillermo Cides www.stickcenter.com.

If you read German you can check the review of Karsten on the site mentioned above, if not you can check the pictures. Just go to the 1st page of the site (news) and check 01 Dec 02 (Only Photo's) and 26 Dec 02 (Photo's & German review). In the coming weeks I will translate the review of Karsten in English + extra pictures taking by Silvan Jongerius ,who normally acts as my sound engineer/web designer.

On Sunday night most participants had to leave unfortunately, since still had a long way to travel. For the rest of us ... we went to "Treacy's Irish Pub" for a jamsession. The brother of Stickplayer Frank Heim joined me on drums and Joerg was so kind to complement the rhythm section. Jim Lampi played in his natural mesmerizing way also joined by the drums/djembe tandem, I always admire his original choice of melody of his vocals. He's defenitely a wonderful example how to back-up your singing.

We had two pleasant surprises that night: Jim Meyer from Vancouver/Canada and Jacky Mouvillat from Chamonix/France played some great music. In Jim's songs one can spot some "Greg Howard" influences, although it's tastefully morphed into his own compositions. Jacky's playing has a Gypsy feel, I was getting all melancholique!

Although it's always a sad moment to part at the end of a seminar, I feel enriched by the experience of seeing/hearing and getting to know many other players, who proved again that there is no such thing as "Stick-Music". Instead the verdict should be: The Stick is a powerful instrument in any style and setting and is one of the few instruments around where one still can have the excitement of being a pioneer, since the instrument, it's playing technique and his inventor/manufacturer has few if any dogma's.

I'd like to thank Karsten Roeth, Emmett & Yuta one more time for making this a magnificent event.

Best regards,
Ron