Day 1 - 4-vii-03:
Sue and I arrive in Barcelona at 11-00 and are taken by taxi from the airport to the monastery in San Cugat which, for the next few weeks, is the HQ of the Spanish Guitar Craft course, 2003. The weather is hot, the landscape mountainous and the terrain sandy and dusty. Around the convent excavators are doing work building new roads (?). We are met by Hernan Nunez, the Director of the course. H. shows us around the house and takes us to our room. We look around, get a feel for the place and go down for lunch at 13-00 where we meet more of the GC participants. Amazingly, my old E-mail friend David Snyder is there. The meal is fine and non-elaborate, and afterwards there is a period of silence and then people are asked, by Hernan, for observations and comments - especially on the King Crimson performance in Barcelona on the previous evening. This was obviously a profound moment for those who saw the band. We then have coffee. I read the House Rules on the notice board. One of the aphorisms strikes me: Nothing is compulsory; some things are necessary.' We are on the Introductory Course and it doesn't officially begin till 21-00. So, we walk into San Cugat and have a cup of coffee. The shops are closed. We return, practise guitars in our room, and then go down for dinner. Other Introductory Course participants have arrived, whom we meet. At dinner I get the impression something invites us in. Everything is precisely ordered on GC: times and events. People respect time. People respect each others' time. All the participants on both the Kitchen Craft, more advanced players (of whom there are some of staggering ability) and Intro team then go into the Ballroom and put out chairs to form a fairly large circle. I notice no-one leaps in. People take their time to gather thoughts and reflect standing behind their chairs and awaiting Martin, the instructor, to take his place first. When this happens we seat ouselves - properly - and the circulations begin. This involves passing one note and then two notes around the circle from player to player. The quality of how to play one note is of greater significance than playing a hundred notes badly. How we begin is how we proceed. I discovered this when I trained to become a flautist. But, in GC, it's not just a case of perfection of tone, although that's important. It's a case of giving one's attention to the moment; to the note; to the environment. This is of unparalleled significance and it is the principle on which GC is hinged. It is revolutionary. I'm expecting a reaction from myself with this realisation: No. 4 or the shadow (to cite Helen Palmer's book) will get his revenge. But this is also important. It is who I am. Then some rhythmic exercises. The more advanced players don't look down on or patronise those of us who are less experienced. Rather, I have a feeling of helpfulness from all involved. This might just be a profound experience. I am already feeling it. Sue has a deja-vu experience at bedtime. 'We've done this course before,' she remarks. Words by T.S. Eliot immediately spring to mind.
Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future
And time future contained in time past.
Day 2 report will follow tomorrow. Even as a I write that other thoughts from the week re-emerge into my mind.
In the meantime, Gert-Jan has e-mailed to say the SS/KC orchestration mixing
has gone well. It looks as if we will expect good things from this. David Singleton
is enthusiastic. It also looks as if I didn't even get an interview for the
university post I applied for. Nothing happens by chance. There is a reason
for this, as the GC course confirmed.
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Guitar Craft, Day 2 - 5-vii-03:
Dream: 'In a room with a group of students. I feel out of place because I'm
older and dressed older. A young woman sits on my knee.' First Primary exercises
with the assembled Introduction team and Martin. The team are: Neil, Sue, Carlos,
Claudia, Victoria, Christian, Matthew, Allain, Miguel and AGK. The first Primaries
address the left-hand. Good feeling. A large black and white butterfly flies
in through window. G.C. piece learnt in parts: Eye of the Needle. This is standard
GC repertoire. I like this piece and have a CD of it. (Bert Lams told me of
a concert the League of Crafty Guitarists did many years ago at the Paradiso
in Amsterdam, when their bus broke down and snow was thick on the ground. They
couldn't get anyone to come and mend it, and finally managed to get someone
to tow them to the Paradiso where they performed. They were poorly fed and had
to the concert on, more or less, empty stomachs. The bus was abandoned post-concert.)
Notice large photo-picture of a waterfall in the dining room. This was similar
to the one in my dream which was just about to be hit by the 13' wall of water.
Words are written on it, which I ask Martin and Mariella to translate: 'How
lucky is the man who lives with the everlasting words of understanding and affection.'
I have a strong feeling that GC may just be a still point from which I can work,
but I have No.4's cynicism and apathy, selfishness and cruelty to overcome.
I Ching says that if we wrestle with our faults they remain victorious. The
best approach is to make energetic progress in the good. Is this the reason
for why GC has presented itself at this point in time? Robert Fripp and KC presented
a way forward to me in 1969, 1970, 1973, 1981, 1996 and, most significantly,
in 1998. It seems that July 2003 may be another of those moments. First group
Alexander Technique lesson. This is a revelation, to me at least. My posture
has always been appalling. Attention and awareness are the two key factors of
this, and the course in general. They are the two key factors of anyone's life
- musician or otherwise. But it's clear that our mechanical and habitual ways
of living, drilled into from a very long time ago, are dominant in our ways
of thinking. Significant progress throughout the day in self-realisation. This
is not to be confused with selfishness. 'I would know my shadow from my light,
and then shall I at last be whole.' Sue and I practise guitars for most of our
freetime. Sue is finding the course hard work. I go through the Primaries with
her several times. This left-hand primary isn't too difficult for me mainly
becuase of my experience as a classical guitarist. Sue finds it tough going.
We retire in a totally exhausted state.
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Guitar Craft Day 3, 6-7-03:
Ray Mear's Extreme Survival, GC in San Cugat. A day of transformation on several levels. This is when I started getting real with myself. Unconscious struggle or struggle with the unconscious. This happened on a musical and personal level. Eye of the Needle bass parts. Second Primary addresses right-hand. My left is reasonable, but my right-hand is really poor. I have never been good with a pick. I have a trouble with this and so do the other students. It's all to do with 'lines'. This has a direct connection to classical guitar technique. Fripp has amazingly synthesised all styles. This is polytechnical polystylism. Mariana and Huan play a really good little haiku-like, Pillow Walk, at lunch. Tell them so. They should make their own album. Real antagonism develops in me at 14-00 approx. Absent from Hitting the Floor session. Should have been there but sulk in room. Refuse even to answer the door. Read Helen Palmer's book. Sue returns and I vent my anger on her. She manages to calm me down somewhat. I should be better, musically and inwardly. The shadow has taken hold. Later, more Eye of the Needle. Things change in me at 20-00 approx. Alexander with Mariella. Convinced she can feel the shadow. I ask her. She says she has the ability to feel blockages in the body. Sue continues to be supportive. Listened to Larks' 2 orchestration. Didn't get on with it this time round. Bed at 23-05. A long day. Slept in afternoon. Martin is a fine GC guitar instructor. He conveys a seriousness. Fripp's techniques are even more all-pervading than I originally thought. My mind begins to work on this aspect. Is it the power of music or the power of Fripp? Sue asks Mike about the silences at mealtimes at dinner. Mike is a kind person and tells her his views on this. This aspect of things has got to her, mainly because of our former experiences in the Pentecostal church which we have bad memories of.)
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Guitar Craft Day 4, 7-vii-03:
Dream - 'A Roman soldier (but it could be Mercurius) shoots someone in the
head with an arrow. Brains everwhere. Particularly messy.' Primary 2: white
notes on G. Any white notes can be played over a new centre with position shifts.
Any mode works together. Keys have narrowed the musical system (my realisation).
Three visionary moments: what I might do for the future centering around GC.
This still remains formative. Introductory Circle: Eye of the Needle. Foreground
rhythm over background pulse like Gamelan. This illustrates Stravinsky's/Messiaen's
approach to system of underlying rhythmic backgrounds ultimately passed to Reich.
Also illustrates foreground/background, microcosm/macrocosm of the universe.
How the collective unconscious intersects the personal unconscious. How physics
verifies the existence of seven dimensions with a further four known to exist
but unprovable by maths (thanks, M!). Music reveals this and, for rock music,
Fripp has re-discovered it via Strav/Reich/Gamelan etc. LTIA is an early example.
Eye of the Needle extends it, Thrak extends it further. Reveals underlying universal
pulse. Alexander/Gurdjieff/Bennett/Jung makes us aware of balance a should contain
within himself/herself. This brings the body into line with the universal pulse.
I sensed GC would be important, but not as important as it's turning out to
be. Possible to sense present/past/future together as one? Like I sensed someone
would knock on our door 5 minutes before they actually did yesterday. 'Time
future and time past' etc. Idea for Ricordo piece later emerges keeping me awake
at night. Ask Hernan what is the universal significance of GC; realise KC is
an extension of GC; ITCOTCK was the birth of KC; Poseidon extended it but then
gradual transformation into LTIA-period KC; KC III stripped away Romanticism
found in earlier KC, but earlier KC part and parcel of the growth of KC; RF
locked into the occult but J.G. Bennett provided the solution he had been searching
for to trigger his vision for what KC might achieve; Exposure/League of Gentleman/Blondie/Talking
Heads/Bowie all research sources, but nonetheless important in themselves, for
how KC might proceed especially with KC IV, V & VI.
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Day 5, GC at San Cugat, 8-vii-03:
4th Primary. My thumb keeps collapsing. Martin draws attention to this many times. Attention needed. Outside sound of crickets are rhythmic. Alexander with Mariella. Suddenly feel at one with things. Unitary moment. Time of quiet from 12-30 - 13-00. Walked outside - seat-bones, legs, neck - attention to. Swaying with the trees. Great sense of peace. The present moment. Mentioned to M. I have pain in l-h side of my back when I play guitar in this new posture. M. says things are changing. Pain not as significant today as yesterday. Anger at 14-30. Thrakking. Couldn't work out how triple polymetre works. Christian clarifies it. I write it into notebook. Buy X4 CG picks just in from Japan. Spoke with Martin re Ss/KC orchs I'd let him hear. He is unsure about the KC music for orchestra, but likes the Ss. Fifth Primary at 18-30. Conversation with No. 1. 21-00: meeting for everyone in ballroom. My reason for going on GC? To learn more about RF/KC. My aim in coming on CG? To be here. Introduction performance challenge set: full group piece; solo (me); duo; trio; quartet. 21-45: group gets together to write piece. We have less than 24 hours to do this. By 01-30 it's done. Then we split up and go off and write solos/duets etc. Hear others working at trio in kitchen: Neil, Victoria and Miguel. I eventually get to bed at 3-30. Shattered. Lucky I had chords earlier in the week. Group piece may be called San Cugat Boogierama. Sue couldn't deal with another ensemble and has withdrawn from 4tet.
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Day 6 - GC in San Cugat, 9-vii-03:
awake early. Shattered from the rehearsal last night/earlier this morning.
Down to breakfast. Why do the Level 1 participants smile/laugh at me knowingly
when I walk past them? They think I don't know what they might have planned?
They are mistaken! If they had expressed nowt at all then what is to be would
have been more of a surpirise. Intro team meet in the ballroom at 9-00. Further
work on San Cugat Boogierama. Then further work on solo/smaller scale pieces.
Time of doing nothing at 12-30 - 13-00. Return to group piece at 14-00. Practise
for the rest of the day. My piece, Angelos(t) (currently title Prelude - My
New Socks) is OK. Just OK. No time to finetune it. 18-00 Intro team practise
and set out the ballroom in an approriate fashion. Into team performance at
21-00. We wait our turns in the Chapel. First on are Claudia and Carlos. Jeering/laughing/general
abuse (nothing bad - all in good taste)/distraction from assembled audience
of around 25. I'm on second. Same thing. Stand there on me tod, in front of
radios going on and off/flickering lights. Announce piece but assembly shouts
over me. I think 'shades of teaching one or two of my students at home...ignore
these silly antics!'. Play piece...distractions continue but die to silence
by around bar 10. Complete silence at the end. No applause. Walk off. Trio next.
They suffer from major distractions from audience but get through. Quartet (
minus one!) next and they are good. Ensemble next. Major distractions from audience.
We play. At end a juggler appears in front of us. Juggle Craft. Nice one. Ignore
it all and walk off. Hernan appears and asks to come and play the whole performance
again in 5 minutes at 21-25. We go on this time to complete silence through
the whole performance. They have utilised the opposites to distract us and centre
our attention on ourselves and, thus, on the music. And this is the crunch:
we are faced, in the musical life, with distractions such as this but also many
others. It's our job as musicians, if music really is a vocation, to be 1000%
committed and look to neither right nor left in order to proceed along our chosen
paths. This is a method to get to the essence of the Self...that which produces
the music. GC has reminded me of this fact, but introduced me to so much more.
Attention is the key factor and total dedication. It's easy to say 'yes! I will
follow that path.' It's 100 times more difficult to put it into practice. It's
the parable of the Eye of the Needle. Meet Andres later in the Chapel at 23-25.
A. is one of the best players in the Fripp style I've met on the course. He
runs through a piece he's performed twice during the week called Third Relation.
Alexis kindly allows me to consult his score of the piece to see it's finer
details. This is difficult stuff.
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Day 7 GC, San Cugat, 10-vii-03:
dream which anticipated future/past event revealed when I arrived home on 11-vii-03. Up at 7-30, pack suitcases/clean room. Breakfast at 8-15. Afterwards Hernan asks for the Intro teams views on the previous evening's performance. Various views put forth. Taxi comes for Sue and I at 9-00 and off we go. Say goodbye to Mariana, Mike, Neil and Alexis and the Intro team. Hope we'll meet again. This is the first time we've seen the world in a week. Nowt changes. Busy roads, 1000 mph to airport. Check in and fly back to Liverpool for 13-30 approx. Mike Hilton collects us and drives us home. M.H. very interested in my account of GC. He likes RF's work. Unpack, practise guitars. Reflect on what we've learnt which is a HUGE amount. For me, this centres on one main thing: 'attention'. When you have that you have it. And this is difficult. A world can be re-constructed on this principle in all its facets. The problem is that we live our lives asleep. Nor are things likely to be achieved by constantly being driven. There is a balance to be had. Attention to oneself leads to attention to others and the environment. It's a case of leaving our habitual ways. This sounds like a sermon, so I better stop. All in all, the Guitar Craft Intoduction Course was a painfully wonderful experience, and something I will live from for a very long time. Many thanks to Robert Fripp and Hernan Nunez for the invitation.