Michael Chapdelaine-Music from the Heart-

“Not all who wander are lost”   JRR Tolkein-

Michael Chapdelaine is the only guitarist ever to win First Prize in the world’s top competitions in both the Classical and Fingerstyle genres;the Guitar Foundation of America International Classical Guitar Competition and the National Fingerstyle Championships at the Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival in Winfield, Kansas.  From New York’s Lincoln Center to the Cactus Cafe in Austin, from Milano to Bangkok, Michael continues to enchant, dazzle and surprise audiences and critics alike as he redefines the modern acoustic guitar with his amazing technique, “soulful” expressiveness, and versatility as a performer, composer and arranger/producer.  His performances, played on both steel string and classical guitars, include musical styles ranging from Blues to Bach to Country to Rhythm n’ Blues as he wins his audiences hearts with breath taking technique and the poetic magic of his original musical portraits and landscapes.

Michael resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he is Professor of Music and head of guitar studies at the University of New Mexico.

Gee, this is impressive!  Was this on Michael’s ‘to do list’ when growing up?  Be an international star, win First Prize in all the competitions, become a professor of music, travel the world, be hero worshiped on every page Google lists him on, arrange, produce and record Time-Life Music’s beautiful Guitar by Moonlight collection and more importantly, have over 2,000 friends on his MySpace page AND have 424,534 (I counted!) views of him playing ‘California Dreaming’ on YouTube? 

While all of this is cool, this isn’t why I choose to interview Michael.  It’s because I’ve sat there in the audience, when while he was playing, it was so quite you could hear a pin drop, everyone was so absorbed in his playing.  I’ve never heard anyone put so much of their won personality into playing someone else’s music.  When listening to ‘Wipeout’ ‘And I Love Her’ ‘Heard It Through The Grapevine’ he owns the song and if you didn’t know better, you’d think he had written them all!  How joyous to listen to a favorite song with new insights and emotions!

“I grew up playing pop music in Navy clubs…I needed to find a way to mix the groove and fun of that music with the discipline and expressive beauty of classical music.  Music is fun, if it’s not fun, why bother?”

Michael’s search for the soulful and fun is not limited to only his guitar playing.  This past summer was spent in several Zen retreats along with experiencing a Sufi healing session.  He has run the Mile High Marathon in Denver and is an avid mountain biker. To me, anyone who can make me both laugh and cry during a performance all the while wearing blue jeans while performing barefoot on stage, has got my money and my vote-

I started the interview by saying to Michael, ‘You know, I’m a woman and we don’t look at things the way guys do, so I’m probably going to ask you stuff you haven’t been asked before.”  When Michael could take a breath again from laughing so hard, he said, ‘Women don’t look at things the same way as men?  They don’t think the same way, talk the same way or act the same way!  It’s a wonder we get along at all!  But I love women, all of them, go ahead!”

My ‘Chick” questions-

At age 10, you got your first guitar and stated, “Must become a Beatle, WORKS HARD!” So the fan adoration, screaming chicks, long hair and irreverence for the establishment all while having fun, started then?

“Yes.  All I did was listen to the radio.  I LOVED music.  My life was all about baseball and music, music, music.”

I have to ask; Is it lonely traveling as much as you do? Or are you just so focused on getting where you need to be and preparing for your show, that this isn’t a concern? (OK that was 2 in 1!)

“I like to travel.  Never tire of it.  The only thing I could live with never hearing again is the “Emergency Procedure Lecture” at the start of each flight!  Dealing with snow in Chicago, a storm at Dallas/Ft.Worth, it’s all a part of it.  Seeing new things, seeing new people, I love it.  And I never, ever get lonely.  Never.  I really enjoy myself.  I fill up my time socializing, doing interviews, or doing sound checks.  And during my alone time, I can’t keep my hands off of the guitar.  It’s like a present.  It’s like Christmas every time I travel.  It’s just really, really cool.”

Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, “Outliers” is about exceptional achievers including Bill Gates and The Beatles.  It states that one of the most powerful forces driving personal success is cultural legacy.  Part of your legacy was moving frequently, from cradle to high school, because of your dad being a Navy pilot.  Most children in similar circumstances, become painfully shy  because of this and don’t feel they fit in   You, however, said you made good friends along the way.  Was this a conscious decision on your part, or just your natural sparkling personality?

“I don’t know how much of it is a ‘nature vs. nurture’ thing in regards to us moving so much because of the military.  I’ve read books on the subject that say it’s terribly traumatic and detrimental to people. There are common problems that show up in military brats like me.  The military tells the families their ‘bullsh*t dogma’ that it’s ‘good’ to move.  But the studies show that the reverse is true, that all that moving around causes significant behavioral problems for military families.  So because of how I grew up in the military, I may be mistaken as a non conformist.  I’ve not been content to follow. This attitude has caused me to be restless career-wise too.  I started out being a singer/songwriter.  My favorites were James Taylor and Jackson Browne.  Then I got into classical music.  Then I tossed that out and became a composer.  Tossed that out and went into finger style Rock n’ Roll.  Now I’m at my middle age and ‘peak’ and want to do more singing and songwriting!”

When a woman gets upset and feels like she doesn’t have any control over her life, she changes her looks.  One of the easiest ways of doing this, is cutting her hair.  You shaved our head in 1995 and 1998.  Is there something you wanna tell me?

“I don’t know, must be a father thing. When he would come back from a tour or cruise, he would take me in the back yard and shave my head!”

With you being as unbelievably talented as you are, why aren’t you Rich and Famous and a world wide phenomenon?

“Time-Life Music told me when they were getting ready to release my ‘Guitar by Moonlight Collection’ that it was ‘in the bag’.  I would be a multi-millionaire.  I would be an international sensation!  The week they released it, the O.J.Simpson trail for murder began.  It was all over the news then and for the rest of the year.  It was on TV non stop.  And Time-Life couldnt’ buy ant quality advertising, so the project never had a chance.”

What about writing a score or a movie/television theme song?

“The producer for ‘Dawson’s Creek’ heard my music and LOVED, LOVED it! They wanted to use it on the program and sent the contract over to my lawyer.  After looking it over, he then sent it back to the producer saying it wasn’t enough money and…that was the end of that!  Dawson’s Creek MADE Paula Cole’s career!”

The Zen Mountain Monastery, set in the nature preserve in the Catskill Mountains, states,”Many students of Buddhism are brought to the Path our of the suffering that they have experienced in their lives both in the harm done to them a well as those hurtful actions they have brought upon others…” One of their ways of healing is thorough silence and deep introspection.  While at the Zen retreat you stayed at this past summer, did being without music externally allow you to hear it more internally?

“I didn’t even think about music.  I am slipping into a very positive spiritual place myself.  The result of suffering, of course.  I enjoyed the Zen solitude, rode my mountain bike.  Music, love, bikes, mountain fun, Zen…that’s about the extent of my interests.”

Has music been your ‘Saving Grace?”

“It’s what I do.  It’s allowed me to see the world.  It’s allowed me intimacy with lots of people.”

Sleep Compass’s Favorite Questions:

Gilligan had his hammock, Dracula his coffin and SpongeBob SquarePants his ‘Pineapple Under the Sea’  Where is your favorite place to sleep?

“In the arms of a woman.”  (Smart man, great answer!)

• Do you-

• a. sleep alone?

• b. sleep with a significant other?

• c. sleep with critters?

“Alone or Not alone.”  (Told you he was clever!)

Jack Nicklaus dreamt up a new golf swing.  Robert Louis Stevenson had a dream that became the basis of ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”  Paul McCartney heard the melody for ‘Yesterday’ in a dream.  Have you ever gotten inspiration from a dream?

“Yeah-out of body experience during dreaming and consciousness.  Just as I was falling asleep.”

They say you are most vulnerable during sex.  I say, its’ during sleep.  Sex is often when we pretend, prepare and promote who we WANT to be, not always who we really are.  Sleep is when all pretensions, prejudices and poses are washed away, and in it’s wake, what is left is our true essence, born from the ocean of our subconscious. 

Or… I could be wrong! What do you think?

“Never experienced any pretension during sex.  That is the place to be honest, absolutely, totally honest…”

And your honesty during this interview, Michael, at times made my heart hurt.

I wish you Peace, good life, good fortune and the sweetest of dreams-

Jane

 

California Dreaming

Please listen to Michael’s Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, it is breathtaking!

mc finished composing his Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra in 2005

it has not been played by humans yet

below are complete performances of all three movements played by sampled instruments (don’t panic, they are very good samples and will give a good idea of how the piece will sound when it finds a conductor who wants to premier it)

Listen to mc’s Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, 2nd Movement (MIDI instruments)

 

Listen to mc’s Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, 3rd Movement (MIDI instruments