07.03
Monasterio Nuestra Señora De Los Ángeles MM. Dominicas,
Mare de Deu del Roser, 2,
Sant Cugat (08174),
Barcelona.
The mosquito attack squad woke me at 05.51. My counter attack, directed towards the ceiling, failed. There are friendships to be made & lost with these small flying creatures during the next few days.
10.36 T’ai chi at 09.30.
At 10.00, the Inaugural Meeting for this Special Project addressing Circulations. We introduced ourselves saying who we are, where we come from, what brought us here & our aim for the course. My own aim for the course is to develop Circulations.
The first guitar meeting is at 10.45. The recommendation: to pay attention to our first footfall into the room; that, at the end of this project, we might return to this first footstep.
12.37 The guitar meeting began with an exercise to collect & strengthen our personal presence within the body; within its atmosphere; then extend our attention into the whole of the room; return to our personal atmosphere; and personal presence. The recommendation: to pay attention to our first note, our first intentional note of this Special Project.
Various forms of circulating were addressed, with a 10-minute break at 11.35.
There seemed little inherent difficulty, grasping the forms while playing any note of our choice; but hesitation entering when sequentially ascending notes in C major were introduced. The difficulties to my eyes: insufficient fingerboard knowledge; dis-connection to the instrument; carrying baggage – nervousness, tension, personal concerns, all evidenced in the tight pursing of lips – this distancing us from our place in the circle.
13.53 Zum performed at lunch followed by good comments. The invisible Englishman lost a note during circulations. The need for ear training was suggested.
The forms of circulation were enumerated as:
basic form;
variegated form;
free form (a distant pre-echo of which we approached 17 years ago in Grossderschau).
Perhaps in 21 one years’ time we will go into a Circle & call out: Variegated Form 8b! but at the moment we don’t know what variegated form 8b is: we are writing the book as we go.
Cranescape from the dining room…
The construction work surrounding the monastery continues.
18.12 A Guitar Meeting followed two 10-minute tours of the Kitchen, calibrated to the Polish Minute, a minute longer than the English by a factor of about 50%. We addressed various forms of circulation including…
variegated forms:
left 3 - 1;
left 4 - 1;
right 5 - 2;
The whizz circulation was introduced.
18.49 A call from Mr. Agent Man from NYC re: the upcoming RF & The LCG tour of the East Coast & mid-West this Autumn. I do not deal with business on courses, other than necessary business. This call was relevant, and necessary, business on this course.
20.44 Zum performed at dinner & someone nearly eat Shinkuro’s soup while he was away from the table. This is why Mr. Lurch & Captain Vinny were with us on the Iberian tour in April: unless you protect your private space, people eat your food while you are performing.
Various comments on the day, including (in response to a request from one of the team, working in the kitchen) a report on our guitar meeting. We agreed that things got better when we tightened the lips, whether mouths were open or not.
One circulator reported on his awareness of feeling emotional within the circle, while struggling to grasp the form of the circulation, while circulating.
Comments on the Polish minute, the Spanish minute, the Italian minute & the Russian minute, each longer than the other.
Ask not for whom the bell tolls – it tolls for thee! A few words to an Italian member, unknowing of John Donne, from 3 Englishmen who are only slightly more familiar with the former Dean of St. Paul’s.
Suggestion for circulating this evening: to split into smaller groups. This will follow the introduction of an exercise at 21.30.
22.19 Exercise introduced. Recommendation, when moving the attention around the preparatory circuits of the body during the morning sitting: it this has become mechanical, begin at a different part of the circuit.
Small circulating groups are underway.
"We may do whatever we like, providing we can pay the bill."
