and amps, such as the GK3A MIDI pickup;
the new StepAbout stompbox preamp,
produced by BassLab; and the StickAmp, a
dedicated amp with onboard mixer.
This uniquely-conceived contraption
has always attracted guitarists, whether
through genuine interest or out of sheer
curiosity. We had the chance to talk to
one of the best “stickistas” in the world,
Italian player Virginia “Virna” Splendore.
Virna began playing the Chapman Stick
more than two decades ago – only ten
years after the Stick’s introduction to the
music scene. She spent years playing the
instrument as her passion and hobby while
working for an Italian TV station. During
this time, she became a premier Stick player in Italy and throughout the world, doing
workshops and demonstrations in addition to performing and recording with her
band, SplendoRe. In 2006 she dedicated
herself full-time to the instrument and has
since been actively touring and recording
with multiple bands, as well as playing a
significant role in developing products on
the forefront of Stick technology.
When did you begin playing music?
Did your musical career begin with
other instruments before you found the
Chapman Stick?
Well, when I was very young – like eight
years old – I was a “lost wanderer” in the
instrument world, looking for one that
fit my approach to music. I took classical
guitar, piano lessons and even clarinet lessons for a year. I also took lyrical singing,
where I was a light soprano with a four
octave range. Each of these instruments
gave me something, but my real problem
was studying – I don’t learn by reading
an exercise and then playing it. I have a
strong memory and musical ear, so I’m
guided more by instinct than rules. If I get
trapped into studying rules, I become like
a tabula rasa, which means getting stuck
on something. So, from age eight to 16,
I understood that I wanted to play music
but not in the way that I was being taught.
The one instrument that I really wanted to
play was the bass. My mother said it was
www.premierguitar.com
too masculine and encouraged me to pursue more feminine instruments, but when
I was 19 I bought my first bass. When I
discovered the Chapman Stick, I had to
sell all of my other instruments to buy it
– my clarinet, classical guitar and bass.
Eight years later, I got another fretless
bass – my first love – and realized that the
techniques I had learned as a Stick player
helped me learn more on bass.
What was your first instrument then?
My first instrument was a cheap classical guitar; I learned to play on that and
sold it to buy my first Stick, which was a
ten-string ironwood model with a passive
pickup (now called the Stickup). It was the
only model available at the time and I still
own it; I rent it to those who’d like to try
the instrument but have no idea where to
find one.
How exactly did you come
around to the Chapman
Stick?
At the time there were rea lly
I met the Stick for the first
time in September 1985 at
the Milan SIM Trade Show.
A friend of mine and I knew
about the instrument from
an Italian music magazine;
when we saw that it would
be exhibited at Italy’s biggest
music trade show, we went
to go see it live. My favorite
Stick player at the time, and
still my favorite, Jim Lampi,
who has since become a great
friend, was playing demos at
Davoli’s booth, which was the
distributor. His playing was
amazing; the touch and the
style were highly technical,
but not intrusive. I felt he was
playing from his emotions and
I found myself with tears in my
eyes! I said to myself, “That’s
my instrument.” At the end of
the show, I contacted the distributor and bought the Stick
right there!
STICK
only a few Stick players in Italy: me, my
friend who came with me and the late
bass player, Stefano Cerri. So my friend
and I started to learn together with a
couple of Jim Lampi’s lessons on cassette
tape, although I mostly just played it with
the “Free Hands” manual from Emmett
Champman. The next year, my friend and
I went back to the trade show and did the
demos at Davoli’s booth – it was my first
trade show demonstration ever!
Did you set out to be a professional
musician?
No, I actually started veterinary school but
I never finished. Studying is not my cup of
tea and I was stuck with too many books!
I had gone to school in Milan, so I left for
Rome where I worked with horses for very
little money. At one point I had to decide
to either become an instructor or leave
the horses, and I decided to leave. I took
