Thanks Akinu, that's very interesting.

Max

Akin...! Just amazing.

You made that piece feel so intimate in the way you've offered it and the church setting only ads to the cultural and musical substance of your delicious performance.

Beautiful, the level of intimacy in which you've invited us into your experience of preparation and the eventually performance.

Simply stunning Akinu!
I really enjoy hearing the Stick used for classical and your effort is appreciated.

Hi Akin,

I'm glad it was helpful, but you did the work!

When someone wants to experiment with tunings as you have, the kind of adjustability that Emmett's instruments have built into them is essential. I can hear how easy it is to physically tap the notes in your playing (leaving you more energy for the execution of the piece).

Sometimes, when I hear fast baroque and classical music tapped on guitars it sounds "forced" and very stacatto, but the way you are playing the SG12 is very fluid, a testament to the amount of time you put in, and also to how good the setup can be, and how important that is to getting a good sound.

Cheers!

I was thinking exactly that as well. It's not uncommon to hear tapped classical pieces where the performer strived to get the "notes" and then considered it finished. Of course, anyone who's worked in this area knows that getting the notes is the prerequisite. Once you've done that, then you begin working on the piece. Akin's goal here was obviously to work up a good performance of a piece that he holds near and dear. Always a good motivation.

Thanks guys; this is exactly why I spent so much time into refining the performance. I believe the chapman stick is the ideal retrospective instrument which can re-define an entire period of baroque and I will work on arranging more Bach and Scarlatti works for the stick.

That is extremely inspiring. It's by far the best and most enjoyable piece of classical music on the stick that I've heard. For me the question arises: Spending so much time and effort on one piece, do you think that you only trained your hands to play this near perfectly or do you feel that you generally got a lot better on the stick?

Hello Nico, thank you very much.

I feel this piece has made me a better musician definitely, and not just a stickist. All your work on one piece also contributes to your overall musicianship, but such work has to be consistent so that it can build up. Different people would give different answers for that, but my personal preference is to aim for technical perfection on one very difficult piece rather than merely hitting the right notes OK on 5 different easy pieces. When a musician manages to play 10 very difficult (not in terms of technique only) pieces well, s/he will be performing at a much different level than the musician who may be playing 100 simple songs mediocrely. Yet, it is a matter of taste as well; there is no right/wrong approach to these things..

Based on what you achieved there, I'd say you were right. The piece sounds so right for the Stick - or the Stick sounds so right for the piece - or both

Astonishing work. If I had a webcam you could have seen me watching your video open-mouthed.

Doesn't get any better than that! Added to my Vimeo "likes".