Lebanon NJ Snow covered the

Posted by Robert Fripp
24 Mar 2005
Thursday, March 24, 2005

Lebanon, NJ.

12.22

Snow covered the ground this morning & is now retreating.

A room with a (snowy) view…

roomwithasnowyview.jpg

Tony G returned last night around 22.00 & was at the head table for breakfast this morning. Comments over the tables centred on last night's performance: dreary (Curt's description) and dismal (mine).

The Hootenanny was so vital, with lesser material, so why was last night a lesser event? Various comments suggested pre-determination, the audience, the space as unsupportive of performing. Even the MC was criticised. The Doorwoman had set herself to protect the space, but found herself becoming angry with the audience. And then, afterwards, the MC had to urge people to leave.

During t'ai chi (09.15) the tetrad of apprentice-professional-master-genius continued unfolding, indicating varying degrees of Present Moment in space and time. For example (from yesterday afternoon) a good professional can undertake commitments for 3-7 year periods, a master 21 years. The genius has global effect or influence, the master international, the exceptional-professional national, the developing-professional regional, and the Happy Gigster gets work in their own town.

Or so it seemed during t'ai chi. Returning down the hill…

Dining hall…

diningroom.jpg

Looking back up to The Goddadavida…

goddadavida.jpg

Staff Cottage…

staffcottage.jpg

Clean sheets & tidy….

Cleansheets.jpg

A House Meeting at 10.00 to present the Exercise Of Qualitative Endeavour. Comments were also made on the lines of Service & Acceptance, with examples of both from this course.

A Staff & Buddies meeting followed. Beginning comments addressed the return of the property to a state of readiness when we leave tomorrow. This is not so much returning the property to how we found it (which would require putting back the Mother of Detritus, for example) but to how we might hope to find it, should we return.

Then comments moved to negativity absorbed by the Alexanderisers. Comments in response recalled that, on early GC courses, the instructor and assistant instructors would always get sick. We were learning how to deal with the emotional states & psychological conditions of students, imprinted & fixed in their bodies, and released as the use of the body changed. My early days dealing with hands were very hard: how a student holds their pick is how they live their life. So, in repositioning the right hand I was confronting a world-view & belief system, locked & typified in one small physical gesture. Lebanon 2005 is the first full-blown GC course for this Alexander team: perhaps they will refine their approach to self-protection as experience grows?

Best guess: there is a measure of de-toxing going on in the course, probably catalysed by Laura's acapuncture & healing work. Ideally, Laura would have been able to stay, even one day longer, and help to neutralize the toxicity released. Meanwhile, we are all learning on the job.

14.10 Fab performance by Zum and The Red Hot Weenies.

Max had a Burning Issue & asked for 5 minutes of the team's time to present The Intergalactic Cowboy's insight into the nature of composition: an aspect missing in GC – the heart. Max gave a practical example from that morning: an amazing & swift compositional accomplishment by the Level Two-and-a-little-bit, written from the heart. Max declared that GC composition is from the head, and that this accounts for difficulties & time spent in preparing new material. Now, composition can be from the head and the heart.

Max was asked whether these were the only two ways to compose and, prompted, accepted that there might be three. For example, a well-trained player could "compose" with little more than the hands. That is, the player would "compose" by rote, but a broadly-based & well-informed rote situated in-the-hands might be moderately convincing.

This would then give us composition by:

the heart;
the head;
the hands;
the heart & the head;
the heart & the hands;
the head & the hands;
the hands, head & heart.

The single forms of composition are one-legged stools. Essentially, this is apprentice level. A good pro can combine any two facets of the three. Balanced & harmonious composition is, fundamentally, in the domain of the master musician/composer. This is the three-legged stool upon which composition can sit. But a good use of one-legged stools is to invert them that they might better remind us of our aim.

Max's requested 5 minutes actually took 11 minutes of Full-House Team time. It was suggested to Max that he owed the House 6 minutes. A repayment considered sufficient was for The Intergalactic Cowboy to perform a 6-minute piece, Burning Issue, to be composed from the heart. After all, when we recognize a need, we are called upon to address it. The suggestion was also put forward that Max could team up and perform as The Red Hot Weenies and Max's Burning Issue.

Max undertook a solo-presentation for dinner.

18.51 Following tea, a presentation of examples from today's Exercise of Qualitative Endeavour began in the dining hall with members of the Kitchen Team, and included demonstrations involving garlic & a carrot. Presentations then moved to the Gymnagogue, aka the Godmagogue, aka the Goddadavida.

Afterwards, a Level Two with concerns based in imagination & a demand for personal attention, attacked me. This, a good person, demonstrates the danger of Level Two. Simultaneously, Bob Gerber and his Wife Veronique arrived by car, right in front of the Godadavidda. Bob proclaimed: I couldn't leave here!

21.02 A superb candlelit dinner with music had something of the quality of a celebratory feast. Bob & Veronique joined the Head Table.

I am continuing to recover from the Level Two suck. The distinguishing feature of Level Two is that it sucks the life out of anything that moves.

Q: How do I know I have been the victim of Level Two?
A: The diminishing of my presence, and the stickiness that attached itself to me.

thelastday.jpg

22.56 The final meeting was held at 21.45. Friends, family & course participants who are at-a-distance were spoken for, myself on behalf of Bill Rieflin. Four of the Team suggested interest in the Kiel Level Three this July-September & various comments were made. After good words offered by Bob Gerber, the course was declared completed at 22.50.

01.20 Packing mostly done by 00.30ish, I joined old pals in the dorm room opposite. We came together spontaneously for a few minutes, following various departure-organising operations, and toasted Guitar Craft's newly-arrived twentieth birthday.

Dribble.



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