A Stick Journey - No Experience Required

A few years ago my wife, Vishara, and I attended a Cirque de Solei performance. What a huge dose of creative expression! Color, sound, dance, theater - truly breathtaking. I arrived at work the next morning, still experiencing the afterglow. I am quite comfortable working in the cubicles so typical of a high tech company, but now the ocean of grey cubes confronted my sensibilities. "Man!" I thought, "I have got to get more creativity flowing in my life."

Vishara and I thought about ways we could incorporate more creative activities into our lives. We decided to learn musical instruments. We had no previous training, so were both very excited about the idea of adding this new dimension to our lives. Vishara immediately knew that she wanted to learn piano, which she had always loved. I have been an audiophile since I was a child, listening mostly to classical, choral, and a highly eclectic assortment of music. I'm passionate about sound quality, timbre and rhythm. So, what instrument would I like to learn?

Back in 1992, a friend asked me to meet him at a club in San Jose to see their friends perform in a "world music" band called African Rain. There were about 10 people on stage. It seemed like everyone and their brother was up there playing some kind of percussive instrument. Then a tall, slender, blond musician (which I found out later was Bob Culbertson) appeared playing an instrument I had never seen before. The sounds and performance were amazing! I couldn't even categorize it. Years later, after a very full decade of life experience. I somehow managed to recall that the instrument was called the "Stick". That memory provided an immediate spiritual connection to the instrument. "That's what I want to learn!", I said with an enthusiasm similar to finding a long lost friend.

I surfed the web, and was thrilled to find out that the Stick was in production and some new and used instruments were available. I think it was through the Sticknews.com newsgroup that I found someone selling a Grand Stick with an instruction book. I negotiated a deal and took delivery. I was like a child on Christmas morning opening up the case for the first time. It felt rare and beautiful to me - very precious.

I wanted to be sure I was starting off on the right foot, so I took my Stick to a local guitar shop for new strings. They did not have long enough strings, and we're sure about adjusting the intonation (I didn't even know what intonation meant, let alone that it needed adjustment). By now I was discovering more about the Stick on the internet. I found Stick Enterprises, and sent my instrument to them to be checked out and overhauled as needed. So the pressure was off for awhile, but when I got it back, and was confronted with actually learning to play.

I soon discovered that there was much more to becoming a musician than I had imagined - much, much more. I found the Bob Culbertson videos gave me the best starting point. I began educating myself about theory. I took some "introductory piano lessons for adults" which helped me get my bearings.

In the summer of 2001, I attended my first Stick seminar in Kamloops, BC. It was a huge boost for my inspiration and learning! So much so, that I consider it the real day I started to learn the Stick. The instructor was Greg Howard, and the host was Jim Reilly. It was my first time attending anything like this - a seminar for musicians. We learned some of the parts of "In C", a beautiful composition designed to be performed live. Each person was to play a sequence of 53 musical phrases is kind of "round". I struggled a bit finding the notes on my Stick, but I was able to figure out how to play at least some of the phrases. I was playing my part in this Stick seminar orchestra! Later we performed this for an audience at a local art gallery. Any player or audience member who was there can attest to the fact it was a huge success and left everyone in an elevated state of consciousness.

You can read about this seminar at www.detroitstick.com/writings/events/kamloops2001.

So many new areas of exciting things to learn - basic music theory, gear, ways to invest in practicing. I was overwhelmed at times. However, having entered this new realm, my appreciation for all types of music and performance began to increase dramatically. Listening took on a whole new dimension, and my interest in music was rejuvenated and greatly expanded. I began listening in new ways, hearing much more than before, including new genres and artists that I had never listened to before (e.g. Tony Levin).

Ultimately I would like to be able to build a repertoire of original music. Clearly this will require more practice time than I have been investing up until now. In addition, I would have to overcome significant anxiety I have about performing in front of others. A couple of months ago a friend suggested that I set a goal for myself to perform a few songs at an "open mic night" where the audiences are typically very forgiving and supportive. This sounded like a great idea - a significant challenge in many respects, but one that I could realistically aim for. At the very least, I would spend more time practicing to prepare for such an event, and that in itself would be very positive.

I'm happy to report that last night was my first public solo performance. I performed 4 of my own songs for a small but appreciative audience at an open mic night at a local brew pub. It was a personal milestone which confirmed that even with many other interests and commitments, and limited practice time, I have managed to make music on the Stick that people can enjoy.

Thanks to Emmett and Yuta and the extraordinary Stick community for all their support, advice and companionship which has led me to this moment.

-Qua Veda