Jim wrote the first melody for me to perform. The first melody I performed was not complex, but a simple melodic foundation, supportive to Jim and Bob’s harmonized guitar solos. It was my dream and my strongĭesire to accompany other musicians with electronic percussive melodies woven throughout acoustic rhythmic patterns. To my knowledge, I may be the first to conceptualize, integrate, and play melodies on electronic drums within a composition while playing on an acoustic drum set. Having been inspired by Carl Palmer and by all the electronic drum industry had to offer at that time, I began to envision electronic drum melodies. Nevertheless, Carl’s solo performance was inspirational.
However, Carl did not play the Timpani Kettledrums and his hybrid drums melodically in a musical composition while accompanying Keith Emerson and Greg Lake. Carl’s overall setup was impressive and his custom hybrid drum design was a benchmark at that time. He had his hybrid drums built from reverse engineering, an electronic drum prototype given to him by Bob Moog, the electronic music pioneer and creator of the Moog synthesizer. Carl also had a custom electronic hybrid acoustic drum set. He used two pitch tuned Timpani Kettledrums. I was impressed by Carl Palmer’s innovative drum solo. Many years prior, in the early 70’s, I was inspired in a unique way by Emerson Lake and Palmer’s performance at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium. I do know for certain that my tenure with Stickband ended in early 1980, probably March or April, approximately one year after our music video taping on Maat the San Francisco State University (SFSU) Broadcast and Electronics Communication Arts (BECA) studio. I don’t recall exactly when Stickband was formed, but I do remember joining Jim and Bob sometime in the mid 70’s. Additionally, the broad range of musical expressions Bob produced on the Chapman Stick were mesmerizing, thought provoking, and were also beckoning my creativity. Jim’s interest in many electronic musical instruments, the Chapman Stick and Lyricon for example, and his music school Showcase Music Institute were encouraging and excellent creative motivators. I was greatly inspired by Jim and Bob’s multi-instrument musicianship. I pulled my thoughts together and began to write some details about our musical history you may find interesting. After watching our music video, I was reminded about how and when some elements of our music came to be. Recently, I’ve been looking back and enjoying memories of my four years working with Jim Bruno and Bob Culbertson in Stickband. Bob Cooper Founding Member – Drums (1976 – 1980) Bob Cooper:
0 kommentar(er)
