A series of Jim Reilly's interviews with players, fans, and the people behind the scenes of the Chapman Stick.

Jim Meyer

A Tale of Many Seminars

January 30, 2003

Jim introduces Greg Howard at the Cellar Jazz Club in Vancouver

Spring seems to have come a little early in Kamloops. It's only the end of January but already the snow has melted, I haven't worn my heavy jacket for days and I'm thinking about moving my boots from beside the front door to underneath the stairs.

In Kamloops, spring means warm days, the end of the hockey season, trips to the lakes. Good times. For us Stick players spring has come to signify something else: seminars.

Over the last couple of years these Stick seminars have taken on a life of their own. I'm very happy and proud to say that I've been involved in several and look forward to being involved in many more.

Already events are confirmed in B.C. and Montreal. More will follow I'm sure.

Who better to give us the low down on these seminars than 'The Other Jim?'

While I don't think Jim Meyer has the record for the most seminars, Scott Schurr in Portland probably has him beat, Jim certainly has racked up the most frequent flyer miles getting to them. Travelling from his home in Vancouver B.C., Jim has attended events in Michigan, Kamloops, Seattle, Vancouver and now Germany.

Jim also holds the distinction of being both a participant and an organizer. Last year his seminar in Vancouver was a great success. In April he plans to out do himself with the Stick Retreat on Salt Spring Island near Vancouver.

I spoke with Jim as he was busy unpacking from his trip to Germany.

Jim Reilly: Let's start with Germany. What prompted you to hop on a plane and go to Germany for a Stick seminar?

Jim Meyer: A couple of things. I was working on a project that was scheduled to end in early November. It was really good timing to get away so I was trying to make a vacation out of it. The last few Stick seminars I've been at have been just incredibly helpful for me, so I'm always interested in going whenever I can and the timing was right.

So I started to get organized for that, signed up for the conference and the project got extended so the trip ended up getting cut short. It ended up really just going to Germany for the seminar with a day-and-a-half of browsing around. But it was excellent, it was an excellent place to do that sort of thing: in a little music school, in a tiny little town in the southern part of Germany.

JR: Take me through the seminar itself. What were some of the highlights?

JM: There were 20 Stick players there. The one in Michigan sort of set the standard size-wise but 20 Stick players is still a lot of Stick players. It was at a music school. I think sometimes the location can put you in the right mood. The school boasts about 295 students of any instrument you can think of in this tiny little town. It's this really dedicated community for supporting music.

All the Stick players, as always, were pretty good guys. It's always a real pleasant weekend.

Right away we got divided up into two groups. Jim (Lampi) went with one group, Ron (Baggerman) went with the other and in a couple of hours we switched. It's a real advantage to have two instructors that have different perspectives. When it's compressed into only two days that helps to really get a lot out of it.

JR: I don't think you have the record for most seminars, I think Scott Schurr in Portland has you beat, but I think you've amassed the most frequent flyer mileage. So take me through the history of your Stick seminars. When was your first?

JM: I went to the first two seminars here in Vancouver in '96 and '97. That was when I was really very raw and had to force myself to go. I really didn't know anything about The Stick.

JR: What was your Stick history before the first one?

JM: I purchased a used Stick from a guy up in Mission (near Vancouver). I was always curious about it, having seen Crimson in the Discipline/Three of a Perfect Pair era. A roommate in college had a Kittyhawk album that we use to listen to from time to time, so I new a little bit about the instrument since the late '70s.

Seeing Tony (Levin) with Crimson and Peter Gabriel really focused my attention on the bass side, seeing as I was a bass player for a while. It must have been about '90 or '91 that I picked up The Stick. I noodled with it a bit, I had a friend who had a Stick and from time to time we would talk about it and try to come up with things. But I really didn't make that much progress.

The first couple of seminars in the mid-'90s were just showing me the possibilities. I was really just a raw beginner. I certainly got a lot out of them but I didn't just devote a lot of time to it until about two-and-a-half years ago when I thought, "Hey, let's take another approach on this." I had always been battling with left hand being bass, that seemed comfortable and an easy transition, but the right hand I keep think as guitar and I'm just not a guitar player. I don't approach music that way so it was a barrier for me.

Then one day about two-and-a-half years ago it struck me that Stick is more like piano. Piano is something I have a bit of experience with so just thinking that way got me motivated to play again and things started to come a bit easier with the right hand.

Then there was the Kamloops seminar.

JR: Was that the next one after Vancouver?

JM: No, I went to one of Louis Hesselt-van-Dinter's in Seattle. It was fairly small, I think about six or eight Stick players and Steve Adelson.

JR: So you went Vancouver, Seattle, Kamloops then the one you organized in Vancouver?

JM: Almost. Right after Kamloops I totally got the fever. We performed "In C" as a group in the Art Gallery and I remember sitting between Glenn Poorman and Jason Brock and it was the most fun I had had playing music in an awfully long time. It really felt great and I just caught the fever.

I talked with Glenn about his seminar coming up in Michigan and had signed up, cashed in my frequent flyer points then September 11th happened. I was scheduled to leave two days after that and there just weren't flights. I was really committed to going and thought I should go anyhow because everyone was saying to try and stick with what you use to do but there just weren't any flights.

So I was ready to go, I had the fever and I was looking for the next thing and that's when you and I got the March seminar going in Vancouver. If you can't go there you may as well bring them here.

JR: Bring the mountain to Mohammad?

JM: That's right.

JR: So we had that, then Detroit and now Germany this year.

JM: That's right.

JR: How many different instructors have you had?

JM: Greg was in Vancouver both years, one year was the indescribable Don Schiff. In Seattle was just Steve Adelson. Kamloops was Greg again, Greg and yourself in Vancouver. Bob and Greg in Michigan and it was really nice to hook up with Ron Baggerman and Jim Lampi in Germany.

JR: Take me through each one of those people and give me a quick description of their teaching styles, what each of them brings to the table.

JM: Don Schiff had such a powerful sound whenever he'd play a bass part it would be something special. I'll always remember Don's humour. Even now on Stickwire his personality comes out when he plays and when he speaks. He was just a really fun guy to learn from.

Steve Adelson was the first guy I actually got a bit of a jazz lesson from. My background is not jazz at all and obviously Steve's is. So it was really nice getting that different perspective. We had a common interest in that I was a huge Pat Metheny fan and Steve was as well. So when he played a little Pat Metheny at the seminar it really captured me and took me in a direction I wouldn't have gone in by myself.

Bob Culbertson in Michigan: I had never really thought very hard about classical music on a Stick. I'm not sure why because once I made the connection with the piano it seemed quite reasonable. I remember at one point wonder if they had a Hanon for The Stick or could you transcribe Bach's two-part inventions onto The Stick but not really very seriously. Then I saw Bob playing the classical stuff and some of the flamenco stuff and again I was off in another totally different direction that made me think that this instrument is whatever you want it to be. And of course Bob's solid music theory foundation is another thing I have so much to learn about. There where a couple of 'light bulb going off episodes' during Bob's part of the seminar.

In Germany, Jim Lampi plays the most multi-culturally influenced rhythms. When Ron and Jim played on the Saturday night in a pub they had a drummer and a percussionist sit in with them. Jim would turn to him and sing a little rhythm and then it would be 'ready...go.' I remember talking to the percussionist afterwards and him saying that he really had a lot of trouble keeping up with Jim. His rhythms were Middle Eastern, Brazilian, all thrown in together.

Ron's booklet is perhaps the most organized thing I've seen handed out at a Stick seminar. It's a whole bunch of single page exercises. Some are two hands on the left side, chords, basic octave things, a variety of technique type exercises where the fingerings are really important. That was really helpful.

And then I think Greg is the best teacher that I've experienced in the Stick world. First of all, his heart is just in the right place. He really wants people to move this instrument forward. He wants everyone to become better players. He wants other people to be getting the word out. As an instructor, sometimes he'll say something I may have heard before but he'll say it a way that just makes sense to me. That could be a music theory thing, it could be a technique thing, it could be why you plug your compressor in here and this effect in this part of the chain, any number of things. He just has a way of clearly expressing it that works for me. I always have a much better understanding after talking with Greg about anything related to The Stick.

And then there's this Canadian guy (he means me). What you've brought to the seminars is really valuable. You have a way of communicating the music theory stuff. The sheets that you gave out in Vancouver with chord changes and their options was just another weakness of mine, I've just not had any training in that area. I think, like a lot of other Stick players, once I hear it, it makes sense but I don't formally understand that. Some of the materials and the time you spent going through that was really helpful not only in playing and understanding things but when I start to compose it gives me more options for creating my own stuff so as not to sound so straight forward.

JR: You've been a participant and now and organizer, what's the difference between the two?

JM: It was really nice to go to the seminars in Michigan and especially in Germany and just be a participant, just sit in the back and try to go over as much as possible.

When you organize one in your own city, it is a fair bit of time and effort but it is so fun to see something like that come together. All these Stick players come to your town and have at least one, maybe a couple of nights of amazing performances at a local venue. It's really great.

JR: O.k., give me the top five 'Jim Meyer Seminar Moments.'

Jim performs during the 2002 German Stick seminar

JM: All right, number five and number four would be from Kamloops. Number five would be when we were standing around in a circle at the end of the seminar. You and Greg got us going through a little chord progression then the idea was one of you would point at each of us and we would play eight bars or something like that with the right hand. Everybody was doing a chord change with the left hand and a little solo with the right. That was the first time I had ever done that and was so nervous, my hand was shaking and it was a little bit rough but when I got done I thought, "Wow, I've never done that before" and it was really a buzz.

The other Kamloops one was when we played 'In C.' It has to have been amazing for everyone who played but for me especially. I had never sat in front of people and played The Stick before. It was such a safe environment with 16 other Stick players, there wasn't any sort of pressure, it was completely relaxed. It was an amazing experience that I will always remember.

Number three and number two would have to be playing on stage in Ann Arbor in Michigan and playing on this little stage in Germany. Those are the two times I've played solo in front of people. Both of them were a bit on the rough side but I see those as the steps I've got to take to actually perform. I don't think I have any unrealistic ideas about what that will be but it's something that I really want to do.

The number one for me would have to be in Michigan spending a lot of time with Greg driving back and forth between different places and talking about playing The Stick and being a performer. Greg is so open when you ask him something. Talking to him about being nervous about playing and this whole idea that you know you'll stumble but you also know that you have to. Greg was really supportive. That night we were watching the guys perform and Greg dedicated 'Goya's Dream' to me. It's a piece that has always inspired me on The Stick and he told me earlier that he hadn't been playing it much lately. I knew when he played it that part of what he meant was, it's music that's in me and maybe I'm not 100 per cent ready to play it this minute but it's just a moment and just go for it.

I thought that was the most significant demonstration of the feeling of trying to promote everything: The Stick, people who play The Stick, all of that stuff. I think Greg is just so important in our community to be able to do that sort of thing.

(Don't forget to check out the websites for the upcoming seminars on Salt Spring Island and in Montreal. Both plan to take the Stick seminar to the next level and are going to be a whole lot of fun. See you there.)

Jim Reilly can be reached at play_stick@canada.com.