A friend on Facebook shared a video of a musician playing something called a Chapman Stick. I’m no musical dummy but I had never heard or seen anything like a Chapman stick before. As I watched the video I naturally wondered if any Christmas music had been done with this unusual instrument. Of course, it has been done — and you have to hear it and see it played:
That artist is Greg Hughes, by the way. And he’s pretty good. But we’re curious if there is more Chapman/Christmas stuff out there — we’re intrigued.
The Chapman Stick, as you can see, can play multiple parts unlike any other instrument out there. But it is not a guitar — it is an electrical touch instrument played with two hands, the notes are struck much like a hammer produces sound on a piano.
According to several sources the instrument has been around since the early 1970s — which makes me wonder why we haven’t seen or heard more of it in popular music. Perhaps it is tough to play.
Curiosity got the better of me and I found this Youtube of Emmett Chapman himself demonstrating the instrument:
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