“Technically, Mr. Gosselin is dazzling, but the emotional and expressive range he coaxes from his instrument is truly astonishing. The Chapman Stick has a captivating richness of tone unlike anything you've heard, and this is an artist with the stylistic versatility to exhibit it. Each genre in the eclectic program was authentically articulated: smouldering blues and coruscating jazz, lyrical New Age pieces played with the poignant tenderness; even fresh and winning renditions of traditional Celtic songs on this most non-traditional of instruments... ”
— Reena Kreindler - Winnipeg Free Press
Léo A. Gosselin
Grand Stick Soloist
Léo A. Gosselin is a pioneer and master of a radically new technique on strings. The Chapman Stick Touchboard, invented by Emmett Chapman in 1974, represents a revolution in stringed instrument technology. The “Stick”, designed in 8, 10, and 12 string versions (the right hand tuned like a guitar, the left like a cello in reverse), is played percussively, with both hands free to sketch melodic lines in the manner of a keyboard.
New album release!
Includes five of my original pieces as well as several that were originally recorded by such famous artists as Eric Clapton ("Tears in Heaven"), Don Henley and Glenn Frey ("Desperado"), Elton John ("Can You Feel The Love Tonight"), Sting's "Fields Of Gold", Van Morrison's "Have I Told You Lately", and "You Are Always On My Mind" by Willie Nelson.
The Chapman Stick
Chapman Stick Technical Notes: The Chapman Stick is a member of the guitar and bass family, and introduces a full two-handed piano technique applied directly to strings. It has a longer natural sustain than guitar, and yet is extremely percussive, the drumming of the fingers executing sharp, staccato rhythms with a strong and distinctive bass voice. The technique of four major instruments - guitar, piano, bass, and drums - are brought together on this single Touchboard instrument. The divided fingerboard combines the advantages of a double neck and a single neck into one extremely versatile instrument with endless combinations of note patterns, chordal voicing, polyrythms and fingering techniques. With this dual tuning concept of two fingerboards on one neck, the hands can play independently, each hand relegated to its own string group, or interdependently with all eight fingers tapping interwoven patterns, and finger at any string.