Song of the week #29 is Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc3fRK759pw[/youtube]

Nicely done! I gotta practice more....

Gene, this is one of the pieces that has prompted me to want to learn the Chapman stick, and you render it beautifully. Thank you for this, and play more Bach!

Whoah, Gene! I almost missed this one. I guess it kinda slipped down the list of posts with all the entries of late. Baby got Bach!!! I don't know if you are ever a featured instructor at the various Stick seminars, but I think you aught to be included in those ranks!

I have recently downloaded Bach's Inventions from Musicnotes.com ( a great resource, by the way). So far I haven't completed the first one yet and they seem to get more difficult as they go. The bass in classical pieces doesn't move like modern music and it seems very unnatural motion to me. Yours sounds awesome though! And the intro, with bloopers shows we all have room for human error and growth.(an encouragement to others)

Mike

Gene,
Totally wonderful arrangement and performance of Bach's seminal piece. I like the relaxed feel you put to it which shows the high level of professionalism you have attained.

The notes are there AND you go beyond those notes like a true musician and add your soul, personality and effervescent humour! This keeps music alive and fresh.

By the way, for all you out there wanting to play this, there is a great arrangement by Emmett, yes Emmett, in the original Free Hands instruction book. I used it at a Wedding and was "da bomb"!

thanks Gene for another spectacular post! Mike loved the "Baby got Bach"! Sir-Mix-Lot!
take care,
Dave Brosky

Thanks Maynard and Marty, this is a special piece for me as well. I had originally planned to drop this in late March, but I really wanted to push my structured practice time and this was just the piece to provide that platform.

Gee Mike, I am stoked on your comment. I would love to be a part of any Stick gathering, whether as a student or instructor. So long as there is Stick playing, Stick discussion and the proliferation of the Free Hands ideology.

As always Dbro, you really know how to brighten up a thread, thank you for that! Emmett has done a transcription in C and I believe that Howard has done one as well in the Stick book in G. His adds some nice harmonies in the bass side that I would like to explore. I have not found a complete transcription or performance of the piece. If there's any interest, i will gladly put together a transcription of the exposition for Baritone Melody (although I use the Full Baritone tuning exclusively).

I exchanged some fun email discussions with Emmett yesterday on the matter - he wanted me to rope in a whole 9/8 Brubeck vibe. So awesome. Talk about tangents - when you think about it, wasn't the whole Free Hands revolution started in part as a tangent? Best tangent ever!

Thanks again, Gene, for yet another little "push" that gives a lot of us here a little more boost in our Stick travels. That was nice!

Gene seems to like working on a schedule and this time he beat his deadline with an excellent Stick arrangement of one of JS Bach's greatest hits. Nice to hear the whole song as the composer wrote and played it. My arrangement only accounted for the main chorus and then went into my "Brubeck" nine meter (2,2,2&3), and again back to Bach's three 3s. (Fun for drummers.)

Gene also got me thinking about living a tangential life and pursuing a life's work that's tangential from the mainstream. I guess I sought out this life style for whatever reason, and those who take up The Stick and Free Hands also follow that linear course with some degree of commitment.

Tangents: Follow the circle and you gain momentum up to a certain speed, slowed only by the bounds of the radius. Then hurl yourself off on a tangent and your speed remains constant and energy free - vector unknown except by intuition. You're no longer on the mainstream and have instead taken your own course, destination unknown (could be a colossal waste of time).

Stay in the circle and you'll discover that it's travelling somewhere too, and that you're on a spiral (can't see it on paper). It's a collective helix moving forward in time, and you must move as it moves, swept away by history.

Tangents or helixes - either way you're bound and committed, but that's life. I'd rather be the explorer, one who might become a leader but could also get lost in the journey.

You sought out this lifestyle cause you're an outlaw.

Pick? Pick?!!! I don't need no stinking pick....

Wow Gene, awesome !
Just a question, how much did it take for you to learn this piece ? You're putting out so many video's, i admire that and wonder how much time you spend learning these songs


Cheers,
Bas