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by Jim Reilly (Author)
Emmett Chapman did more than simply create a new musical instrument (as if that's simple). He discovered, developed and refined a new way for musicians to interact with stringed and fretted musical instruments. Along the way, a community gathered around this new instrument and a rich, new musical vocabulary emerged. This is his story. The Chapman Stick is a 5 and 1/4 octave, stringed and fretted musical instrument played with a two-handed tapping technique. Both the instrument and the technique were created by American musician and inventor Emmett Chapman. To date there are thousands of Stick players all around the world creating new, innovative music with The Stick on some of the biggest concert stages, small clubs, coffee houses and even in their parent's basements. This is the story of the man who created this new musical instrument, his music and the community that has grown around both. ---------------------------------------- "Creation is a dream or an imagining about something existing that may never exist, but does exist in your mind and in your heart. It comes from your experience and it comes from stretching what you know is possible to include the improbable... In the dream somehow the new way of imagining away from a problem creates the solution that was never there before." - Emmett's childhood friend Bill Kettman discussing Emmett and The Stick. "I blended my creation-from-the-heart with the aspirations of other musicians, and almost got drowned out in the process. The rewards for such sacrifice may seem distant and less personal but are immense." - Emmett From Chapter 1 - Evolution: "The room is silent. The audience has remembered that dimmed house lights signal the beginning of a performance. Quickly, burbling conversations dry up. Attention focuses. In the instant between the end of old banter and the potential to begin anew, a rich baritone voice fills the auditorium from unseen loud speakers: "Would You Welcome Please..." (The voice rises ever so slightly, perhaps this is a question) "Would you welcome please, Emmett Chapman." The name comes on an exhale, a downbeat. The name is a release. Shoulders drop..." And with that, the story begins...
