Star Alliance Club Terminal One
0.23
Star Alliance Club, Terminal One, Heathrow.
Rising at 05.20.
An unusual feeling-state at the ear;y-beginning of the day. Something along the lines: I feel like this when leaving for long & major touring. Although this going-away is for only 10 days, the course is the culmination of 25 years’ work by many people on four continents. Where does this lead? What happens next? What is required?
By the front door…
A punctual arrival of the KevinMobile at 06.30…
… and a straightforward journeying, check-in & passage through relatively unpopulated security-procedures. A combination of a Lufthansa Star Alliance flight, Million Mile United gold card & independent Red Carpet Club membership: into the Star Alliance Club – unexpected, with available tastinesses…
… and e-flurrying…
A call from the Minx, en route to the Houses of Parliament with a small contingent of industry players, including one from the PRS. Shortly, to the gate.
21.33 Convento La Pace, Sassoferrato, Italy.
Today’s first flight to Munich I…
II...
… with three seats across to myself – hooray! An hour connecting-time…
… to a mostly-empty quite-acceptable propeller flight on Air Dolomite I…
II...
III...
IV...
Landing ahead of time at 16.15 with both bags even.
Roberto & Roberto were waiting, & the Three Robertos set off the c. 70 km to Sassoferrato I…
II...
III...
Arriving, unpacking, showering…
… with a bowl of medicine waiting on the desk…
The door…
The view…
The dogs are barking. The last time we were here, the dogs were barking.
The dining room I…
II...
The ballroom…
The board, and a large course I…
II...
The Usual Culprits are appearing in various corridors…
Road Brother Bill is in the dormitory two doors down, Sylvain the Magnificent next door: three survivors of The Humans’ in three adjoining rooms.
Dinner delayed a little & returning to the room, meet Hernan in a corridor & so a brief catching-up. The head monk, one of the four Franciscan brothers resident in the medieval building, told Hernan they receive ho funding from the Vatican & Hernan believes there has been no cleaning & heat in this retreat house for several years. So, works of Crafty heroism have been underway since the Preparatory Team arrived on Tuesday. They spent the first night sleeping in full outerwear, reports Hernan, and considered abandoning the building & getting accommodation in town. Now, the heating has geared up & hot water is beginning to flow. Difficulties in the kitchen continue but, here too, exceptional acts are underway.
Various messages are coming in from Crafties of the early days; some who would like to be here, some for whom GC continues to inform their lives although participation in conventional ways, such as attending this course, is inappropriate.
Bert & Hernan have both been dreaming much the same dream, apparently. Sharing dreams in GC has some precedent.
Dinner at 19.45 with some 50 people. No dessert but pieces of chocolate placed in bowls for the needy. More catching up with Hernan at the table.
So, what is required of us?
The Guitar Circle I
Guitar Craft 25th. Anniversary Completion Course
Special Project: The Orchestra Of Crafty Guitarists III
Convento La Pace, Sassoferrato (Ancona), Italy
Friday 19th to Sunday 28th of March, 2010
Directed by Robert Fripp
Assisted by experienced members of The LCG, GC EUR & SA, and TTA teams.
Arrivals: Friday, March 19th, early afternoon
Departures: Sunday, March 28th, morning
I
On Friday 26th. March, 2010 Guitar Craft ceases to exist.
This completion course, the third Special Project centering on The Orchestra Of Crafty Guitarists, and the first course specifically addressing work in the Guitar Circle, is available to those who have:
1. an established morning sitting practice;
2. attended at least two Guitar Craft courses;
3. their application letter accepted.
The focus of the course, and one of the primary questions in the work of The Orchestra Of Crafty Guitarists, is this question:
how do we work with others, and specifically in the Guitar Circle?
II
When the practitioners, adherents & followers of any way, school or discipline become attached to the forms of their way, the way becomes identified with its practices & its working gets fixed. The intentional impulse that informed the founder/s will become blocked, to varying degrees. Shortly afterwards the manifestations of the way will go off course, diverting & re-directing the originating impulse that gave rise to that way. Heresy, schism, dissolution, reformation & counter-reformation will inevitably follow.
III
Guitar Craft is a way of developing a relationship with the guitar, with music, and with ourselves. Guitar Craft techniques & exercises provide the basis for an efficient guitar technique, leaving our attention more freely available – to what end? What is the impulse of the essential Guitar Craft, Guitar Craft’s unspoken & deeper aim? It is to awaken & activate Conscience.
Historically, Guitar Craft has provided specific contexts, practical situations & challenges to support this deeper aim. So, we might also say that Guitar Craft is a way of awakening Conscience by developing a relationship with the guitar, with music & with ourselves. Twenty-four years of experience in Guitar Craft has shown us that the primary form of working with each other, perhaps the most powerful, is in the Guitar Circle.
The Guitar Circle is a way of working with others.
Alternatively put, Guitar Craft is moving from addressing the needs of Beginners, to addressing the needs of those who have made a commitment to establish Guitar Craft principles in their daily lives; for example, by supporting the work of the more experienced, such as Circle Leaders, Mentors & Special Study Groups.
IV
The act of music or, more accurately, the act of musicking, is fundamentally a social act. So, how do we music with others? How do we music with other players & with the audience? How do we music with other players, the audience & even with Music itself, when it bends over & takes us into its confidence?
The Orchestra Of Crafty Guitarists is a wonderful opportunity for differing levels of experience to work together, and respond to varying levels of challenge.
The League Of Crafty Guitarists is a wonderful opportunity to manifest intentionality in the world, with its own primary aim of seeking excellence in performance.
V
In essence, Guitar Craft continues.
