About Glenn
Instrumental Music on Chapman Stick® and Guitar
Glenn Poorman performs instrumental music on the Chapman Stick and the acoustic
guitar. The music is a blend of rock, pop, progressive, and new age. Over the last
20 years, Glenn has performed to very receptive audiences all over Detroit, Ann
Arbor, and Traverse City sharing the stage with such notable performers as ex-Dave
Matthews band member Greg Howard, Windham Hill bassist Michael Manring, the California
Guitar Trio, and legendary King Crimson and Peter Gabriel bassist and Stickist Tony
Levin.
Born in Detroit, Glenn has been a musician for over 50 years. He was originally trained in saxophone and piano studying privately, in his hometown music program, and at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in northern Michigan. After high school, Glenn was a saxophone major at Eastern Michigan University where he also began playing the guitar. It wasn't long before he found himself in and out of a handful of Detroit area bands and, in 1982, he joined Conditioned Response as the group's lead guitarist and writer. During that time, Glenn also began what would be years of writing and recording original material in his home studio playing guitar, bass, keyboards, saxophone, and doing all of his own rhythm programming. While still rooted in rock, Glenn's recordings took a lot of influence from movie soundtracks, progressive rock and contemporary jazz
In the early 90s, Glenn joined the Detroit area band Coup Detroit playing guitar and keyboards. In the late 90s, he transitioned over to the role of bassist and, in 1999, began learning the Chapman Stick. After only a year or two of playing the Stick, Glenn started to perform as a solo Stick player in addition to working with the band. After Coup Detroit, Glenn continued performing as a solo Stick player and also transitioned his guitar playing to acoustic fingerstyle. Since then Glenn has continued composing original material for both the Stick and for the guitar.
As a Stick player over the last two decades, Glenn has been fortunate enough to study with some of the top players in the world including Greg Howard, Bob Culbertson, Jim Lampi, Steve Adelson, Tom Griesgraber, Larry Tuttle, Don Schiff and Emmett Chapman. Since transitioning over to fingerstyle guitar, he's also been fortunate enough to attend workshops with some world class guitarists such as Laurence Juber, Billy McLaughlin, Muriel Anderson, Don Ross, Thom Bresh, Alex de Grassi, Andrew York, Richard Gilewitz, and Calum Graham.
Today Glenn is a full time resident of Leelanau County, Michigan. He performs live on the Stick as well as the guitar and also records music in his home studio under the name 121normal.