March 20, 2017

Over the weekend, the extraction of ‘blind’ from the Old Testament records was completed, and the studio readied for composition. The ‘A’-loop on the system network is, now, compromised. An insufficiently strong signal is either entering or leaving the Moog units. This is likely to be a problem with either the capacitance or the resistance of the set up. A bit of buffering may do the trick. Perplexed.

Today. 9.00 am: A busy week ahead, and still tutorials to fit in. Dr Forster and I have decided to do something entirely reckless (again):

10.20 pm: I’d set the morning aside for first-year personal tutorials. Only a few have signed up to see me. Perhaps, they only turn up when they’ve a problem. (Rather like one might, at a GP’s surgery.) Although some with known problems don’t turn up because they have a problem. Their absence is indicative of that problem.

12.10 pm: In the Life Studio today, my past caught up with me. Alumni from the distant and more recent history were studiously engaged in drawing the model. A great deal of ability was represented in that room. And so many of them are still pursuing professional practice. Life drawing is as much a philosophical position as it is a practical discipline:

1.10 pm: Lunch having been taken during my final personal tutorial of the morning, I headed upward to the campus for the 2.10 pm PhD research training workshop on ‘Ways of Working with Sound’:

There are only ever a few curious enough to sign up to this class. Nevertheless, the experience (for me at least) is rewarding. The discussion opened up many potential avenues of thought that couldn’t be traversed due to the restriction of time. As on the previous occasion when this workshop was held, the Impromptu Aberystwyth University Music Department made a collective composition in situ. Each member of the ‘orchestra’ brought to the table (quite literally) an ‘instrument’ of a very rudimentary nature. These were played following a game plan (inspired by John Cage), initiated by the toss of a coin:

4.15 pm: Back at homebase, I completed the admin for the afternoons class (uploads, register, communications, and so forth).

6.30 pm: Practise session 1. 7.30 pm: I finalised the last of the slide scans in readiness for the Forster/Harvey magnum blast on Thursday. An ‘AU Learning and Teaching Conference’ will be held in July. I’m considering submitting a proposal.

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