Oregon Stick Seminar 2002

A Living Room Event

The "Living Room" group (L to R) Scott Schurr, Mike Connelly, Darin Stewart, Jim Reilly, Qua Veda

A few months ago I heard on Public Radio about "Living Room Concerts". The hosts move furniture out of their living room, set up folding chairs, and offer some refreshments. Live musicians perform for the invited neighbors and local folks. Those who attend buy tickets to enjoy live music, up close and personal, in their local area without having to worry about TicketMaster or parking. The musicians perform for a very attentive and appreciative audience, and often earn more money than they would at many small clubs. These are becoming increasingly popular in the U.S., and I found this to be really inspiring - and a great way to support live music. I thought it would be fun to have "living room" concert, or event someday.

There are a few Stick players in the Portland, Oregon area. We live 15-50 miles away from each other, and due to our working and personal schedules, we very seldom see each other. Jim Reilly let me know that he would be coming from Kamloops, BC to the Washington/Oregon area prior to attending the Midwest Event. Jim is a professional music teacher who performs exclusively on Stick. He possesses a wealth of information about the evolution of the Chapman Stick and his interviews with Stick players from around the world are posted on the Stick Enterprises website. We began talking about doing a one-day event at my house.

I sent emails to the local Stick players, StickWire and StickNews to let folks know what we had in mind. Everyone thought it was a great idea! In keeping with the tradition of including performances during the events, I contacted a couple of places in my area that offer live music, and was able to arrange a couple of gigs for Jim.

The one-day format worked out great! We didn't need to schedule hotels, and everyone was able to drive to the event. On Sunday morning, Jim and I moved some furniture out of the way and set up a small mixer and powered PA speakers, some chairs and music stands in the living room. Folks arrived at 9:30am. Since we were at home, my wife, Vishara and I were able to serve fruit, pastries, coffee and tea while folks plugged in. By 10:00am we were settled in and ready to go.

Jim began by reviewing the playing position of the Stick for natural relationship to your body and hands. We did some warm up exercises. He led us through syncopation worksheets which he handed out. We live in a very small town of Yamhill in the Oregon wine country. So for lunch we drove into town and ate at the Yamhill Cafe - a real small town diner. We took our time and enjoyed the peaceful country atmosphere.

During the afternoon session, Jim covered scales and chord theory. His handouts were very useful and we seldom felt the need to take notes.

Jim was able to check out our instruments and answer questions about truss rod adjustment, and features of the new Sticks (he owns a 10-string graphite Stick). He covered topics that included suggestions for practice routines and polychords and combining bass chords with melody scales from different keys.

In the small group it was very easy for us to ask questions, interact and discuss among ourselves without interrupting the flow of the instruction.

Sunday evening Jim played at the historic Hotel Oregon in McMinnville, about 8 miles away. Some folks had to leave but the rest of us went with Jim to the hotel. The audience was very small (they don't usually have live music on Sunday evenings), but very appreciative. Hotel staff members came over to let him know how much they enjoyed it, and hoped he would come back. Jim stayed at our home that night, and the following morning he played at Cornerstone Coffee during the lunch hour. While he was playing someone's cell phone rang with particularly loud and clear tones - their pitch and rhythm just happened to fit perfectly into Jim's performance! "If it had rung a few more times", Jim said, "I could have picked it up and incorporated it into the improvisation."

Everyone had a great time, got to know each other, and came away with great learnings and enthusiasm. We're much more likely to get together again soon to help each other learn and play together.

- Qua Veda, Yamhill, OR July 2002