09.06
Monasterio Nuestra Señora De Los Ángeles,
Sant Cugat.
Over breakfast, in response to the question How was the performance for you last night? Comments & observations were presented for 16 consecutive minutes by the Beginners’ Course, without constant prompting. This is a first on the course.
11.58 Kitchen Team meeting at 09.30. A good question was asked at the end of the meeting, when there was insufficient time for an answer, addressing the degree of flexibility in the kitchen & kitchen work.
Flexibility is only possible in a situation where we are alert & awake on our feet. Otherwise, what we mean by flexibility is often more like – I want room to do what I like! I want to turn up later! The rules are too much for me! I want an easier life! The degree & extent of flexibility available to us is a measure of being.
T’ai chi at 10.00.
Beginners’ Group meeting at 10.45. Some of us will meet again, and some will not. So what can we take from this course, for a certainty? The recommendation was made to choose one small piece of work, one small task, an aim available to simple & clear definition, which can be practised through the day & presented for verification to the Team this afternoon.
A meeting with Dr. Mike.
Reflecting on the possibility of a GC House in Bredonborough.
13.43 Several performances at lunch: a duet & jig; The Moving Force honourably presented by the young man who wants to become a professional musician (he has received encouragement to become a plumber); Mother of Violence (the Peter Gabriel song) performed by a duo of vocalising harpist & guitarist.
Meetings with Roberto, in response to an interesting proposal made by him; Sylvain & John P. in respect of developments in the JGB Tapes.
16.36 T’ai Chi at 15.30. Tea at 16.00.
At tea, a Crafty sitting close to the head table leant over…
Crafty: I met a student who was at your lecture at York in 2000. He said it wasn’t his cup of tea.
RF: That’s what I get most of the time.
Crafty: He said it was vaguely pompous.
Since that talk, Discipline & The Act Of Music - the PRS John Lennon Memorial Lecture at the invitation of Dr. John Potter of the Hilliard Ensemble (actually on Thursday 1st. February, 2001 & which died following a photographic flash) this is the first feedback I have received. Perhaps: no feedback is feedback, especially when the feedback is – not? Well, it seems I’ve moved on from pretentious. Long ago I accepted I am not a voice for England; this is additional confirmation, were any needed.
From an e-letter which went off this afternoon to several in the team…
There is a major shift in Guitar Craft activities underway, reflecting our present stage in the larger Guitar Craft process. Particular points of arising interest within this present stage:
our shared experience over nearly 23 years;
the individual initiatives of those who have been in Guitar Craft since the early courses;
the Seattle TTA experiment;
those more recently arrived to Guitar Craft, with commitment & growing experience;
those who have a fair measure of experience, and are pretty clueless;
the ongoing & continuing work between myself & the Team based mainly in Europe & South America: Guitar Craft’s centre of gravity is presently within this Team…
I have decided to drop the proposed GC course at Camp Caravan this July. The discussions & negotiations became increasingly complex, and would have become more so… Instead of visiting Massachusetts in early July, I have suggested a Guitar Craft: Developing Variations – Beginner & Intermediate course to be held in Sant Cugat at the beginning of July. We will make very good terms available to any American who would like to attend. In the future, Guitar Craft is available to visit the US, and hopefully Camp Caravan; but the organisation & preparation presently needs to be directed from Guitar Craft World HQ & July at CC is too complicated.
The Introductions To Guitar Craft & NST have effectively replaced the Level One. So, when students arrive on a Level One with Robert, the course doesn’t feel like an historic Level One, nor quite a Level Two: more Level Two Lite.
The present course here has the sense & feeling of being a transitional event, and does not have quite the same flavour of Level One & Two course that we know from the past; not that different either, more a change of emphasis. The centre of the course belongs to the Kitchen Team & Staff; that is, closer to intermediate than beginner. We have acknowledged that the terms Level One & Level Two are no longer as useful & have adopted the terms beginner & intermediate, acknowledging but not yet employing advanced. These 3 clear stages have the advantage of each providing 3 stages in turn, so we have a framework of:
Beginner – Beginner;
Intermediate - Beginner;
Advanced - Beginner.
Beginner - Intermediate;
Intermediate – Intermediate;
Advanced - Intermediate.
Beginner - Advanced;
Intermediate - Advanced;
Advanced – Advanced.
A working definition of what these terms mean is that they describe the capacity to respond to different levels of challenge. For example, a Beginner - Beginner might be presented with a challenge lasting an hour; an Intermediate Beginner lasting a day; an Advanced Beginner lasting a week.
So, a future Guitar Craft Beginners’ Course may reflect a wider spread of beginning-capacity & experience than Level One + Level Two.
Guitar Craft’s centre of gravity is currently more Intermediate (or Levels Two, Three & Four in old terminology) than Beginner.
Other arising news: all the papers for the Guitar Craft Institute of Research & Practice are signed & with the lawyer. A building, formerly a nursing home, has appeared on the market in Bredonborough. It has 14 bedrooms, is detached and, although on a main road, in many ways is ideal for the next stage in Guitar Craft. It is unlikely that, at the moment, this (or another suitable building) can be purchased. So, I will be inspecting it with a view to whether it might be available to rent for a 3-year period.
The very best to all of us!
19.57 A meeting at 16.45 for Beginners to present the results of their work to take home with them.
Dinner at 19.00. This was something of a feast, with 2 desserts for each person. Plus a solo performance of an extended piece, twice.
22.14 A Kitchen Team meeting at 20.30, addressing the issues of flexibility & reliability of different qualities.
This meeting segued into the Final Meeting of the course. Various observations & comments were presented, beginning with one that went back to the questions of the Inaugural Meeting:
What is the first requirement, or stage, in acquiring craft?
What is the first requirement, or stage, in acquiring discipline?
How do we differentiate between emotion & sensation?
Why do we mean by negative emotions?
How do we prepare to make an observation when we are woken by the alarm in the morning?
The Course was declared completed at 22.06.
Hernan called for a fresh-air break, and then a meeting to address practicalities & departures tomorrow.
"Small additional increments are transformative."
