Rob Martino

Rob Martino is a musician who gained most recognition for his work on the Chapman Stick. He started playing in 2004 on a Grand Stick and has since gained wide recognition through YouTube and Myspace. As of June 2010 he has approximately 2,600 subscribers and has over half a million views on his video of his original composition One Cloud.
Martino has created many original compositions for the Chapman Stick (see discography below). Aside from this, he has done a number of arrangements based on original songs, most prominently from Jethro Tull, whom Martino names as a primary influence on his playing. He offers recordings of all of these songs for download on his website.
He recently released his debut album, One Cloud, which can be purchased online as a CD or downloaded via an online mp3 store such as iTunes or Amazon.
Musical background
Martino started playing flute in 4th grade and continued playing in concert bands and orchestras in high school and college. He also had a few piano lessons throughout this time period and taught himself guitar and bass. He studied music full time at Northwestern University, and in 2000 he earned a Master's degree in music through their Music Technology program where he took music theory classes.
Playing style, influences, & tuning
Martino's playing style is very warm, in particular his acoustic Jethro Tull arrangements. The original compositions also display a lot of technical skill, with very complex tapping, while his use of the bass strings keeps a full and warm sound to the song.
Martino's influences include Jethro Tull (Ian Anderson), Marillion, Rush, early Genesis, Gentle Giant, Kate Bush, Iron Maiden, The Police, King Crimson, The Cars, Boston, Dream Theater, Queensryche as well as some of the classical greats such as Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Holst, Vaughan Williams and Scarlatti. He is also a big fan of Wendy Carlos who he cites as one of the main reasons that he got into music through technology. which allows him to 'adapt some melodic bass and acoustic guitar style techniques'. He is one of the few Chapman Stick players who uses this tuning as it decreases the range of the bass strings, though it does have its advantages. Most notably it is easier to learn for most bass/guitar players as both instruments are tuned (with the exception of the 'b' string on a guitar) in fourths. It also makes it so that all the diatonic scale tones are located in a single hand position and also allows embellishments of accompaniment chords with bass fills and ornamentation. The official Stick website recommends that you only use this tuning on 12 string sticks as the bass strings do not go high enough for effective chording on less than 6 strings.<ref name="stick1"/>
Discography
One Cloud (2010)
Stick Arrangements
From the Martino official website: "A few recording attempts at some Jethro Tull arrangements I'm working on for solo Chapman Stick... I've always loved those acoustic Tull tunes spread across various albums, and Ian Anderson's acoustic guitar technique is a big influence on my Stick playing. Wond'ring Aloud, Slipstream, and Cheap Day Return were re-recorded in 2009. A Reunion is a simple rendition (no fancy effects processing) of a favorite Gentle Giant tune of mine. This is just the Stick and Acoustic Image Coda R combo amp. "
All these songs are available for download on the music portion of his website.
Multi Instrument Compositions
From the Martino official website: "These are a few rock pieces that feature multi-tracked Stick (Mighty Wren) as well as electric guitar, Rickenbacker bass and synth (Differential and Rush to Judgement). The drums are performed with an M-Audio Trigger Finger. All the effects processing for the instruments was done with Guitar Rig 2 and songs recorded and arranged with Apple Logic."
All these songs are available for download on the music portion of his website.
Archive - Prog Rock Demos
From the Martino official website: "These older rock instrumental demos were recorded on a vintage Mac Quadra 610 with Opcode Vision around 1996-98 and are fairly progressive rock inspired, with elements of bands like Marillion, Rush, ELP, and King Crimson. Apart from the predominantly synthesizer oriented sounds, the piece Polyrhythms incorporates some Chapman Stick, and all have some degree of electric guitar. Wondering to Myself is a guitar/flute duet, an acoustic piece along the lines of Jethro Tull."
All these songs are available for download on the music portion of his website.
Grad School Music
About Alpha Test (from the Rob Martino official website):
"These older rock instrumental demos were recorded on a vintage Mac Quadra 610 with Opcode Vision around 1996-98 and are fairly progressive rock inspired, with elements of bands like Marillion, Rush, ELP, and King Crimson. Apart from the predominantly synthesizer oriented sounds, the piece Polyrhythms incorporates some Chapman Stick, and all have some degree of electric guitar. Wondering to Myself is a guitar/flute duet, an acoustic piece along the lines of Jethro Tull."
About Convolution (from the Rob Martino official website):
"A grad school experiment gone terribly awry! Written in 1999, this is a rock piece that borrows sound samples from a few different sources (a "soundscape" from a King Crimson album, a Marillion vocal clip, a Beethoven documentary, and an Edgar Varèse orchestral piece). The sound sources are "convolved" together to create new textures, and slowly become more distinguishable as the piece develops. Kind of weird, not for the faint of heart!"
About Alien Terrain (from the Rob Martino official website):
"Another grad school project, using good old fashioned electro-acoustic music techniques and equipment—tape splicing, analog synthesis with patch cords (an ARP 2600) and an old Emu sampler. The most experimental piece I've done, which explores various musical expressions and textures only possible with electronics."
All these songs are available for download on the music portion of his website.

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