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Doc Talk on Free Hands Friday
https://stickist.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=7490		 Page 2 of 2
Author:  greg [ Fri Mar 14, 2014 9:10 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Doc Talk on Free Hands Friday
LADC wrote:
Originality is important. What Emmett did in 1969 had never been done before. The other guys who tapped on their guitars were doing it on an instrument that was designed to be played in a different way. Emmett had no influence by the touch system, as that method was not well-known at the time.
Total agreement. More to the point. The instrument he created was based on that technique and each refinement along the way he has made made with the goal of making the technique easier and more capable, and with making the instruments easier to build.

So the technique came first, and while I love The Stick, I think his invention of the method is the most important contribution, though most people think the vehicle is the more important invention.
Author:  earthgene [ Fri Mar 14, 2014 9:53 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Doc Talk on Free Hands Friday
Agreed. Nowhere is the process so well documented for playing an instrument in this manner. There will be copycat instruments, but on one can deny the method.

The Chapman Stick has a smaller role to play in the evolution of music as a whole, but the process by which it is played is altogether unique, creating new ways to make music.

That was the whole idea.

Imagine the look on people's faces when they saw the organ being played by the composers feet for the first time - it's like that. Free Hands is the preamble to the greater tapping revolution. There are some that are quick to scramble to research others that were novelty players in this regards, diminishing Emmett's efforts in the process, but they lack the same vision that Emmett had.

The methodology will endure. In all likelihood, the Chapman Stick will continue to be the cutting edge tap delivery instrument for many years to come simply because Stick Enterprises possesses the most man hours researching, testing, and delivering a very high quality product. The inspiration for the instrument was to play new kinds of music, not make buckets of money capitalizing on someone else's ideas. This ideal strikes a chord (!) with many musicians and the Stick, coupled with the FH method, are the perfect springboard for new directions in music.
Author:  Tatsu [ Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Doc Talk on Free Hands Friday
Hi LADC I hear you saying that you don't want Emmett's discovery to be minimized and although no one had tapped the way he applied it, people definitely tapped before him even if it was only one note on one song which is all my post claimed.
Author:  BSharp [ Sat Mar 15, 2014 8:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Doc Talk on Free Hands Friday
Thanks Greg, Dan and Gene, for the gratifying credit about the scope of "Free Hands" as a novel method of playing on strings (albeit electric strings). But I've also got to hand it to Tatsu for some real acknowledgement he sends my way (perhaps buried a bit between the lines):

- That The Stick was exceptional for not merely being an electric or electronic version of some familiar instrument. To me, this implies that I designed a musical instrument around a new playing method, which I know to be accurate.

- That The Stick turned out to be the "preeminent post-modern instrument" over and above the '60s era of experimentation. Anyway, that's how I read it , so thanks for that too, Tatsu.

And yes Dan, it took courage, not just breaking out of the musical mold but also to commit to a new career of unknown destination. This was Yuta's courage too and as a family we did it together.
Author:  LADC [ Sat Mar 15, 2014 9:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Doc Talk on Free Hands Friday
Sorry if I missed your meaning, Tatsu. I was high on enthusiasm.

Of course musicians tap. Playing the piano or the sax is tapping. One point I try to demonstrate in my docu-in-progress is how Jimi Hendrix picked and tapped strings on his Strat to break established boundaries of guitar, which directly inspired Emmett's two-handed tapping discovery and to put away the pick altogether.
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