Casa de Retiro Nuestro Senora

Rising at 06.30, sitting at 07.15, breakfast at 08.00.

Silence came to visit around 08.20 and deepened, continuing until we rose from the breakfast tables at 09.00. The arrival of several students at the House took part within this.

Silence is a friend to Guitar Craft, and these visits a precious gift to the courses. This is where the distance between the real world and our everyday world suddenly closes.

The real world is as available to us as we are ourselves available; that is, to the extent that we can bear to be present to what is real. This is a question of being. Nearly everything we believe ourselves to be is unreal, and when our fond beliefs of who and what we are become clearly revealed as what they are, merely puff and flutter, we may find the insight hard, even terrifying, to bear. How easy to type these words.

The real world is not what we imagine it to be. This is because it's real, not imaginary. It has a distinct quality, a taste, that in time we learn to recognise when, and if we're lucky, this distance closes.

In the silence, there is also help. We are made a gift, to the degree that we are able to receive it. The gift is in this: we are given what we need. This might be in the form of necessary information, it might be a deposit in our bank account, it might be an investment in a piece of work to be undertaken.

There is no compulsion to accept the gift; although if we do, this becomes a beginning point. A gift remains in motion and, in accepting a gift, we recognise that there is also a responsibility that comes with it; although this accepting-responsibility is not compulsory. Money in the bank is there to be used and/or invested; also we might choose instead to have a party. Recognising & accepting a gift-freely-given, a crafty recipient treats it as a loan, knowing that no debt-collector will ever arrive to demand repayment. After all, a gift is unconditional: a gift to be repaid is not properly a gift.

Useful, perhaps necessary, information carried in this silence to me: on the nature of understanding, the present stage in my personal life-process, an exercise for the Kitchen Team.

10.04 A knock upon the door. A personal meeting.

11.25 A meeting at 10.30 with the Level Four At-A-Distance team lead by Mike.

Questions for the Level IV AAD: What is the distinguishing characteristic of Level Four? What is the difference between L3 & L4, for example? If a participant is at Level Four, they are able to answer & describe where there are. Three of the replies suggested this distinction is clear & experiential.

Discussion on what is realistic for the team's work this week. A closing comment: in Guitar Craft so far, our work with AAD has been on the basis of geographical distance. Another element, that of distance in time, has not yet been addressed.

Afterwards, fine-tuning the roles of various Staff members.

15.01 Silence visited at lunch, around 13.20, coinciding with the arrival of more students.

18.07 Hernan has popped in to discuss various arisings. Several journalists would like to visit, even from Buenos Aires, for interviews. Some of these focus on the G3 performances in December. Also, a famous Argentinian artist would like to put equipment in a truck and drive here, to record me for his new album. We also discussed the possibility of Crimson working in Buenos Aires next year.

As of the end of this year, I am no longer a touring player. That is, touring is no longer the focus of my professional life, as it has been for the past 35 years; and live performance is no longer the focus of my playing-life, as it has been for 43 years (and 3 months). And I began performing in public three years before that. My working assumption has been that musicians play to people, and this takes place in public. The form this takes, in standard contemporary commercial performance & touring mode, is no longer tenable for me, for several reasons. I find the overall experience profoundly unmusical. Which doesn't mean that I will never play in public again.

When the Crims met at Adrian's last month, I suggested that if they presented me with a tour I couldn't refuse, I probably wouldn't. But the brain-dead approach to touring, such as Crimson in 2003, was not something I was prepared to undertake again. So, what & how? Argentinian audiences are very different to most of the contemporary European audiences of my acquaintance. There is a spirit here that is rare & remarkable. Would it be possible to arrange a Crimson tour of Argentina? No. A Crimson tour of Buenos Aires? Maybe. That's something worth looking into and, if we can find a viable approach, to present to the other Crims for their consideration.

Crimson in Argentina is not something an established promoter here could approach, nor understand. This would have to involve a re-constitution of Possible Productions in the full knowledge that this is not, and cannot be, approached as a money-maker.

Now, back to practising on the Beadoux acoustic.

20.29 Dinner served late at 19.15. Silence visited strongly at 19.45 & was accepted in a way that is unusual for new students. Perhaps the Introductory & Preparatory courses are having an effect.

The House Rules were presented by Martin, Hernan, Rob, Luciano, Mr. Fritz, Terry. Mariela & Mariana, translated by Fernando.

One of these, to remain within the boundaries of the course, is conventionally taken as referring to the physical boundaries of the property within which the course is being held. Actually, this rule refers to holding our attention present within the course. Telephone contact with family & friends is to be approached with care, to avoid distraction & dispersal. Music to be heard is that generated from within the course rather than, for example, listening to CDs. Reading material is also better focused on that presented within the course. So, to the extent that we may, let us be within the boundaries of the course.

Another, there is no mistake save one: the failure to learn from a mistake. But it is not legitimate to point out the mistakes of others.

Another rule, to accept nothing presented to us in blind faith. Blind faith has no place in Guitar Craft. Rather, we are asked to approach anything with a healthy scepticism, engaging in a spirit of goodwill. Guitar Craft is based on insight & experience, but is not perfect. Exercises, even those based on insight & experience, are capable of further refinement and perfecting. Perhaps the application of our healthy scepticism may contribute to this greater refinement.

These, and more.

Guitar Craft time was set at 20.19 and punctuality asked of the students, while recognising that punctuality is not part of Argentinian culture. Nevertheless, we are asked to honour the external flow of Time's Arrow. If we fail to seize the opportunity available in this moment, the moment is lost. It will never return. If we are able to honour the flow of external time, then another kind of time becomes available to us.

Translation is Fernando's main work on this course. The main work of Zum is performance, with the challenge of setting a standard to which we may all aspire. On earlier courses, the Zums have been Guitar Buddies.

The Inaugural Meeting was set for 21.30 to allow sufficient time for clean-up & completing the kitchen process.

22.52 Inaugural Meeting: acknowledging that there are 3 people yet to arrive, and recognising that they are already part of this course, the Course was formally declared underway at just before 21.35.

The Level One introduced themselves. The first Yorkshire accent, and the second Irish accent, that I recall on a Level One. This is also the first Level One with more British than Americans, with the possible exception of one course at the Red Lion House.

The IM was adjourned until tomorrow, when the Kitchen Team & Staff will introduce themselves.