Robert Fripp's Diary

Los Molinos.

08.34

An earlier schedule for this morning: rising at 06.30 and sitting at 07.00, breakfast at 07.45. The dining room had been re-arranged to allow for faster traffic flows. Generally, this seems to have been successful.

Today I have 7 hours of personal meetings, the first 3 hours with guitars.

14.38

Several performances at lunch, mainly of the therapeutic variety. Good comments on the morning's work, and particularly of yesterday evening's meeting with Curt's introduction of a piece that is variously referred to as a "cathedral" & a "meditation".

A grateful declaration, from the proposer of the motion, that pledges have now been made for 505 euros, sufficient to fire up the heating full time (which was beyond the budget for the course).

My personal meetings this morning were varied & good. A Japanese Level One student has been making hand-making picks & has given me one of them. They are made from the same India-rubber material as the Herdim picks we acquired from Gunther Dick during our time at the Red Lion House..

18.24

My last personal meeting left at 18.19. A good day of good issues. Now I'm dribbling gently.

20.08

There was a stunning performance at teatime by The Big Time Trio, of a Bach Partita in rapid circulating offset triplets. This was played twice at dinner, the second time followed by a visitation of silence lasting some 20 minutes. The Trio stood for this time, and then left to applause. Several other performances, some honourable & some therapeutic.

We have a meeting at 21.15 without guitars.

22.20

A House Meeting at 21.15. Comments on the day were offered. The longer plans for GC activities were announced: a summer project in this house, an autumn Level Three in Atlanta, and the possible English course for 2006-7. I then commented --

This house is not big enough for the course. The kitchen is too small. The dining room is too small. There are not enough single rooms & people are having a hard time in the dormitories. So, from one point of view, this is not the right house for this course. But, if little in my life is arbitrary, how much more can that be said of the life of Guitar Craft? So, my sense this morning was that our presence here is part of a larger picture, and one that escapes me.

It may be, as often in past, that the house needs what Guitar Craft brings to bear. In which case, we are in exactly the house that we have to be in. It is possible to rationalise this to some extent. For example:

We have made a good connection to the Order of Padres Claretianos & they have offered us a house in Seville that, on the surface, is far more suitable for large courses;

Several of the Crafties on this course live in the immediate or close environment, and this supports their position.

But my hunch is that there are repercussions involved here that we may never know.

We have often had the sense that, in the houses that become available for Guitar Craft courses, that the house needs something from the course. Presently, this house is vulnerable and its sphere of protection is diminished. So, perhaps this house is needing of something from us. Knowing this, we may be more accepting of our irritations, knowing that our irritation is not arbitrary.

If we act rightly, we can deal with the repercussions. If we act carelessly, the repercussions may trip us up. If we act badly, knowing that we are acting badly, then the repercussions may overwhelm us. Creative actions take place beyond our knowing, and set in train enormous responses & reactions, and repercussions far beyond what we may ever know; even though several years after the event we may learn or discover some of them. So, my sense of us being here is positive, despite our discomfort.

That is, we may not know why we are here, but we may know that we are in the right place.

We are all at the same place. We all begin where we are. We are all in the same boat. Those involved for the first time in Guitar Craft, and hearing the term "lifers", may think that those with longer experience have seniority. And experience is valuable. But "points of seeing", or creative insights, are as available to members of the Level One as to Crafties who have been involved for several years. Perhaps these points of seeing are even more "available" to the less experienced who "don't know what they are doing".

The present stage of the course is the middle. This is the place where we are too far from the beginning to go back & too far from the end to go forward. From yesterday's Staff Meeting:

Our motives push us as far as the middle of the middle. Our aim pulls us out of the middle. The confusion in the Great Divide may cause us to lose our way, even cause our process to unwind to the extent that we end up back at the beginning. The difficulty is, although our aim attracts us and pulls us towards it, if we are confused we may lose touch with it.

But we are now at the end of the middle, and moving to the beginning of the end.

In the overall end stage, we present our work to the world and our work is accepted, or not, and we are recognised, or not. This part of the process is out of our hands. For the performing musician, this involves presenting their work to an audience.

It is impossible for a performer to control a performance, even if they attempt to do so.

There will be a performance by the House on Wednesday evening for local invited guests. There are criteria for this performance, and anyone interested in presenting a performance may audition for Senor Nunez on Wednesday afternoon at 16.30. These auditions are open to everyone in the house, Levels One & Two, Kitchen Team, Staff & Buddies.

The course presents a supportive environment for those who wish to practice different approaches to performing. So, some of the performances offered on courses are more inclined to the therapeutic than the musical. This is supported by the GC House & course, but therapeutic performances are not appropriate for guests from the local community.