Hi everybody, Just a brief thank you to all the Stick player's who showed up in the Netherlands.

l'm glad you all enjoyed yourself & got what you came for. Of course it wasn't possible to cover every aspect of stick playing in just one weekend, but my impression was that y'all got pienty material to keep you busy for a while.

It was the first time I met Greg & teaching together and listening to his wonderful music was very rewarding to say the least. It was wonderful to see that all the students were 100% motivated.l'll get back to you all later with a more in dept evaluation, but for now I want to express my gratitude to everybody who made this happen, you the participants, Greg Howard, Jan van Olffen, Remco Helbers, Jan Wolfkamp, Hubert Heeringa, Jelle Sieswerda & Carla Schaap (great food) & the two beautiful people who without who there wouldn't have been a Stick Galaxy :

Emmett & Yuta

I hope to see you all back next year. For the ones who couldn't make it this year ... sign up in time 'cause it might get very crowded!

Stick together,

Ron BAGGERMAN

I just came back home after having attended to the European Stick Seminar in Leeuwarden, and I'd like to report this great musical and human experience.

The beautiful city of Leeuwarden was the perfect place for a seminar: a quiet, relaxing, picturesque town, with lots of caf6, little restaurants and bars; the Parnas building was our "college", the place were we learned, discussed, had lunch breaks and performed together.

The staff people were also enthusiast performers of the stick, and I have to say that they made a very good job taking care of 22 sticks at the same time without any problem! thank you Jan and Remco for your endless patience and your great performances! Borders broke down when we met together with peolpe from Switzerland, Denmark, Nederland, Germany, Italy, France, U.K., Spain, and we all had the great opportunity to continously shareour different experiences: I can easily state now that every stick is a one of a kind exactly as every stick player is, and that they all are special musicians. Since the first night when I saw the concert of our instructors, Ron Baggerman from Nederland and Greg Howard from USA, until sunday night, we had the lucky to meet two incredible persons besides amazing stick players.

For those lucky stick players that are living in the USA, I strongly recommend to attend Greg's seminars: he's a virtuoso of the stick (I'll never forget what he was able to do with the stick especially during his last performance on sunday night!) but with the gift of teaching, being able to shape the exercises for so many different players levels and attitudes (also for me and my Stick-bass "uncommon" tuning); he took care of our sticks' setup, gear, and every possible question, not to mention his composing skills showed off on his six CD.

Ron is an incredible player/instructor, his approach to the stick is hearty and you can feel he's always having great time with its instrument beneath his fingers, or simply talking about it; He brought the vibe of latin, funk and blues heating up his stick and the audience: a "passion player' and a gifty composer whose enthusiasm is truly catching everytime everywhere... and wherever you play his CD!

Virna Splendore and Roberto Fiorucci were also performing at the seminar in a stick-duet; I know them since several years, but everytime I hear their songs and their "fluid/intricate" approach to the stick, their musicality hypnotizes me: I have to thank them if now I'm a stick player, and I suggest you to discover it by yourself with their forthcoming CD. I'd need so many pages to describe all my experiences during this 2-days seminar, I just hope in the future to have the opportunity to join other stick events... wherever they are!

Andrea Moneta

I just want do add my short comment to this topic. It was a wonderful Stick weekend, very well organized. I enjoyed all the great concerts and I got tons of informations from the Seminar which will bring me (an absolut beginner) a big step forward into understanding and playing this wonderful instrument. Thanks again to all who made this possible and I hope there will be an European Stick Seminar again next year. Best regards from Germany.

Harald Rost nbsp;

Just a short report about the Stick Seminar that we had in Leeuwarden this weekend.

In one word: GREAT!!

Greg Howard and Ron Baggerman played at friday evening. Both were spectacular, and so was the band with drums (MIDIfied), Jan van Oiffen on bass (yes, worked great along with the Stick), and Electric Wind Instrument (a virtuoso). There were 22 students on the seminar, from all over Europe. We had a great time (1 could be there for just one day, unfortunately), and we've all learned a lot.

Greg did an excellent workshop about basic playing techniques: easy enough for the beginners and interesting enough for the more advanced players. Ron showed some great techniques like using the right thumb for creating rich chord clusters.

lt was amazing to discover that all people that were on the seminar played completely different music on the Stick; from Bach to jazz, from very basic to highly complexe.

My compliments to all the people who organised the seminar! And if you get a chance to see Greg or Ron play: don't miss it! They're world class players!

Best regards,

Jaap Kramer