Here's a brief summary. It was my second time attending the Vancouver seminar. This year, it was held in a rented house on Deer Lake in Burnaby, a Vancouver suburb. Weather was fantastic- beautiful sunshine all day every day.
As usual, Jim Meyer was the host and one of the instructors, and as usual, he did a bang-up job of it. Don Schiff was the featured instructor, and as usual, he also did a bang-up job.
There were a few new faces mixed in with the familiar ones. This included the brothers that make up the Mexico City progressive/experimental jazz/rock duo Cabezas de Cera, who flew in for the seminar and to play a few gigs here and in Washington (state). Mauricio is a long time Stickist, and plays a Railboard and a couple of other interesting stringed instruments created by his brother, Francisco, who is the band's percussionist.
The weekend was made up of a number of 1-2 hour sessions. Sometimes they were topical, such as warm up and finger exercises. Often it was learning and expanding on a progression, progressing from basic and working it up into a form "like Don would play it". On more than one occasion it was about rhythm and timing exercises. Mauricio also led a session, and stretched everyone with a complex timing element involving playing a two-handed groove in 7/8 while tapping one's two feet in an 8/8 pattern.
Saturday afternoon included a Skype chat with Emmett. He shared some playing techniques with us that he's been working on lately. One in particular was what he described as "three finger technique using four fingers". As one who favors a four-fingered approach, this drew me in a bit and has given me something to noodle on. The Skype connection was really good, too...high frame rate with no pixelating of the video, so watching his fingers and hands was really easy. He also pulled Yuta, Grace, and Cambria into the call, which was a big highlight for me- getting a face to attach to the names and phone voices was nice. Diane also made a brief appearance as she dropped off lunch for Emmett and Yuta. Quartet of wonderful women.
Saturday evening we all went to a local concert venue for the Cabezas de Cera concert, which was strongly supported and advertised by the Mexican consulate in Vancouver. There was good attendance...I don't know how many, but there weren't many empty seats. Jim Meyer, with his frequent drumming partner Mike Michalkow, opened with a short set, and just killed it. Many of those on this forum are familiar with Jim's music, so I'll just say I wish he could have played longer and leave it at that.
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When Jim and Mike finished, Cabezas de Cera came on and played their set. All instrumentals- no vocals. Tight, high energy stuff, lots of effects, and outstanding interplay and communication between the two brothers- you can tell they have a great relationship and love playing together. Francisco, the percussionist, was quite entertaining to watch, and at times he was driving the harmony and bass elements of the songs, along with keeping time , with his drum sticks on what I can only describe as an electronic instrument with 8 or 10 pads that effectively functioned as an electronic marimba set. I saw it and he told me a little about it, but the specifics escape me (a Yamaha of some sort, maybe). Mauricio got a great deal from his Railboard, rhythmically and harmonically. He spent most of one tune playing it with a bow through heavy effects to get a great thunderous sound. Some of the songs featured unique stringed instruments created by Francisco, who obviously has skill as a luthier. The evening ended with Jim and Mike joining Mauricio and Francisco for a jam. Great evening of music, start to finish.
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Sunday morning involved donuts. No surprise there, Don was in town.
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Sunday featured a Skype call with Guillermo Cides, coming to us from Barcelona. He talked with us for a while about performance and nerves, and took questions. He had some very helpful things to say. I've never met Guillermo, but I look forward to it someday. Wonderful, classy gentleman. Then he played something for us that was, as one might expect, exquisite. He had his setup directly plugged in to the Skype audio channel, so the audio came through nearly perfect.
Sunday afternoon wrapped activities at the house with a student recital. Everyone played something, and it was thoroughly enjoyable to hear everyone's individual styles coming through in how they approach the instrument and songs. Don kicked it off with a couple of tunes, which I am thankful for because I was unable to stay for his Stick Night performance. Four Stickists played while singing, which is something that I always find impressive.
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Sunday evening was Stick Night, with performances by Jim, Don, and Mauricio at a local pub...I wasn't able to stay for it, so perhaps someone else can type a few words about it.
There you have it. Seminar done right. Thanks, Jim!
