Robert Fripp's Diary

Bredonborough To another trustee The

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Bredonborough.

To another trustee…

The Aim/s: to form a Guitar Craft Institute of Research & Practice; and acquire a House for the purposes of developing a new generation of GC repertoire, exercises & assistant instructors; refine our practice; codify & formalise the results of our ongoing work over the preceding 22 years.

The proposed institute will likely never be able to afford a house, it might keep it running. But several tithers are already expecting to visit, even though I do not consider them sufficiently experienced/fit to do so.

My current thinking is that the House will need to be acquired privately, and this either with or without an Institute. Without an institute, & members with demands & expectations, it has a wider band of operating freedom. With an institute, contributing in whatever way the institute might, I will be asked to explain my decision-making process in giving away the hard-earned pay of tithing contributors who wonder why they’re not visiting the House (in one specific case, because they went mad on a course!).

Both approaches have their advantages & disadvantages, both are valid.

There seems to be this two-fold development: Guitar Craft & Guitar Craft Circles. The Circles are where various characters with varying degrees of connection to Guitar Craft use their own initiative & follow their own view of things. The UK Circle is a good example. It’s not quite what I know as Guitar Craft, but it is related. Curt’s TTA is a superb piece of work, but there are those in his Team that (in my view) are not ready to visit an unsupervised House.

Both approaches are necessary.

My concern is this: the Guitar Craft Institute becomes, effectively, dominated by Circle thinking & experience, most of which is Level Two. The GCIRP begins at Level Four. Most of the Circlers have not been to a full-on Level Three and may never do so.

My present sense:

Current advanced work is underway with The LCG. Essentially, this is L4-6, mainly with people who have been with Hernan on L3&4 courses in Spain & Germany. These are the people whose needs I see the House addressing. None of them are American, none of them are English. There are some Americans who are ready for this level, but they are unlikely to ever spend much time away from home. However, some are sufficiently mature to benefit from visiting a House for short periods.

L3&4 courses can take place in Europe, if Hernan is willing to supervise them. For a 12-week course, I would visit 3 times. For a 10-month course, 5-10 times. These take the place of a House. Two-three LCG tours a year provide opportunities for "advanced studies". All of these are contingent upon Hernan’s willingness to take on the responsibility.

There are several smaller/middle size houses in Bredonborough which will be coming on to the market in the next 2-3 years. They can only be acquired by a private individual/s. At the moment, there seems to be no one willing / able to do so.

So, I presently feel no imperative to continue setting up the GCIRP, rather the reverse; and would rather proceed, with the overall vision, privately. No guarantee this will ever result in a House!

13.45  A sunny day I…

II...

III...

16.34  Lunch with the Willcox family upriver. Codger Willcox…

18.41  The Minx & I were sitting by the pond where our two large fish died. One of them was named Frederick, after WF Rieflin, Director of Slow Music & presently the drummer with REM. Comment to T: that’s what you get when you name a fish after a drummer.

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