8.32 am. The accrued emails of two-days were answered and returned, the remaining administrations regarding the MA programme resolved, and the typescript for my first Art/Sound lecture, formatted. 9.40 am. I needed, then, to check the sound and video elements of the lecture using the new amplifier. Back into the studio, where the HandBoard 2 filter network was made ready yesterday, I set up a Bluetooth connection between my MacBook Pro and that amplifier:
Why am I amazed that these things work the first time? Just because a connection is neither visible nor physical, doesn’t make it any less real or possible. (I feel a sermon coming on!) The first lecture required a few more illustrative insertions. Shortly before lunch, a seagull perched on the roof above my Velux window and began hammering with its beak, like a rapid pile-driver. (Shades of Bodega Bay.)
1.30 pm. After lunch, I responded to the first draft of a YouTube video that had been recorded in March to promote the School’s ventures into sound art. The theme is my interpretation of Marcel Duchamp’s Erratum Musical (1913). Some amendments, such as inverting the opening title (my mistake), need to be made over the next few days before it can be publicized:
2.00 pm. Today marks the beginning of the final phase of The Bible in Translation: the third exhibition in The Pictorial Bible series, and the second set of sound artefacts in The Aural Bible series. (The first in the series, R B V E Ǝ T N Ƨ O A E V A N R O B E R T S, will be released as a CD by the National Library of Wales later this year):
In developing an exhibition or performance-based project, it helps to conceive of the conclusion first. For me, this is the domain of publicity, the explanatory booklet, and project logos — all of which received my attention during the afternoon:
Once these items are finished, they’ll be dispatched to the printer or publisher well in advance of the event. It alleviates the stress of waiting for anyone other than oneself to deliver on time. If something does not happen, I want only myself to blame.
6.10 pm. Early evening, I ‘roadied’ my amps and MacBooks to the School in order to set up and test all the paraphernalia for tomorrow’s 9.00 am lecture. There are easier ways of delivering this module, but none more interesting or personally fulfilling. 7.00 pm. On my return, I finalised the logos, continued processing sound files for Matt.20.22, and reviewed all the other PBIII bits and pieces that I’d initiated last year. Most of the visual concepts and their design are in place. They require only selection and execution. Likewise, once the remainder of The Floating Bible tracks are completed (by the end of this month, at the latest), the ABII set will be complete.
9.40 pm. Practice session. 10.40 pm. ‘The Night Watch’: tidied up some administrative loose ends and completed processing Matt. 20.22.