Circulation Day - Meeting VIII - 19th December 2009

Saturday, 19th December 2009
Lower Sydenham, London.

Meeting VIII

Circulation Day / LGC Commitment Completion

There are five of us in the Circle today: Pawel, Jacek, Mark, Tywi and John visiting from Paris.




Pierre, another member of the Paris Circle couldn't make it because of the train cancellation. He is going to join us AAD.

The space is ready:




We are going to pause on the hour between 10 and 16 o'clock.

10:00 - Morning Sitting.

TR leads the guitar work today.

Session I [10:45-11:57]

JK needs to address some house necessities, so he participates in about the half of this session.

...

Circulating different rhythmic patterns in F major.

Skip every 2nd person, then reverse.

Circulate pattern in 5 playing on 1 2 3 and 4 and 5 and.


* * * Coffee break. This is coordinated with a short visit of the landlady and potential buyers of the property - chaos. But then, here's an opportunity to practice being present while surrounded by noise and accident - provided we notice and accept the opportunity * * *

Session II [12:30-13:55]

Begin with the exercise of directing attention to our right hand - scan it in more depth/detail than in previous meetings.

Look at the patterns presented by RF at the recent course in SC.

Metronome at BPM 66

Circulate an open empty string: plus 4 minus 1

The aim is to sound as one guitar.

Then circulate short phrases of one quarter note duration:

- two 16th notes
- four 16th notes (also plus 4 minus 1)

Circulate the notes of d minor on the A string. Circulating two notes at the same time is beyond us today.

Build up on this: circlulate two notes of the chord, then three and four arpeggiated notes.

Rhythmic variations (dotted rhythm).

There's a healing quality in these chords.

Complete the session - go back to the right hand in depth.

*** Break for lunch. Superb food made by MB. Most of it was pre-prepared in Bristol yesterday, so only little work is needed now. PH assists.***




Some of us have dessert and coffee. One of us forgot about the role he was meant to take on today.

We give ourselves break until 15:30, postponed until 15:35, we gather at 15:35-ish.

Session III

JK leads the Division of Attention w/o the guitars.

Begin by giving part of the attention to the sounds outside the house - inside the house - inside the room - we listen to ourselves.

Metronome at BPM 69

Count in 4 together.

Circulate the count of 4. Circulate the count of 3 bars of 4.

Feet are on the beat - Left Right.
Let go of the count -> add the hands Left Right Right.

If impossible - establish the possible and gradually move towards the impossible.

We circulate the count of 4 on top of it. Then 3 bars of 4

Some of us move to tapping hands in double speed.

Circulate the count. Stop.

Allow tensions that arose from the exercise to go. Listen to the sounds inside the house.

TR continues.

LGC performs The Experiment in Terror for JH.

10 more minutes of work on the phrases from SC.

Follow up on the Chords circulations work - more advanced patterns, for example in 6:

1 2 3 4 and 5 and 6 and.

And the body is more actively engaged in this, however, we are not quite ready for this (i.e. Attention levels)

Good effort.

* * *

After this session we sit down together and share comments and observations from this meeting and also about our work in the previous months. Today was the last meeting we committed to.

LGC:



We made it - our commitment is completed at 17:23.

This was the last meeting as the London Guitar Circle.




(LGC photos by JH)

Meeting VII - 13th December 2009

Sunday, 13th December 2009
Lower Sydenham, London.

Meeting VII

Today's meeting is the least attended so far. Some of the Team are either still traveling back from the Course in Spain, or recovering.

In the Circle today: Pawel & Jacek.

9:28 - The Practice of Doing Nothing.

Session I [10:05-11:15]

We begin with sending best wishes to Chris, Tywi & Mark. Then pay attention to the sounds outside the house, inside the house, inside the room, we listen to ourselves.

Metronome at 60bpm.

2nd Primary on the A string:

Begin with half notes, then J plays his half note on the upbeat, which adds up to quarter notes. We play the count of 4 like this, then swap the parts. A good challenge.

Do the same with the quarter notes, with second guitar playing on the offbeat = eighth notes.

Both of us have to make an effort to make it happen. It's good - every timing inaccuracy is very clearly exposed.

4th Primary that builds up to the 28 bars picking pattern. We begin very slowly, then move to the possible and comfortable speed. Add the chords and gradually extend the number of bars. We complete the session with going through the piece (for the first time). It sounds good.

Very diligent and hard work so far.

We complete with listening to ourselves, sounds inside the room, inside the house, and outside the house.

* * * Coffee break * * *

Session II [12:45 - 15:00]

Rhythm Exercises / Division of Attention (without the guitar)

The importance of relaxation is acknowledged. Time to let go of tensions.

Metronome at 66 BPM.

Quarter notes pattern in the feet: Left Right

Stop the feet.

Quarter notes pattern in the hands: Left Right Right

We count 3 bars of 4 and 4 bars of 3 on top of it.

Put the hands and the feet together - this is impossible. So we establish what is possible, and gradually move towards this. While the feet are going we just tap on first out of three beats: Left. Then add the second one, and finally third one. There's a short moment when we 'have it', and there's a modest sense of accomplishment.

ca 85 BPM

Feet tap with the metronome.

We count in 5.

Then tap on 'one'. Then move to internal count - possible.

Tap on 'four'. Then move internal count - possible again.

Tap on 'one' & 'four' is impossible, so we just go back to 'one' and work towards integrating in the body the compound rhythm produced by the feet and the hands tapping together - this is possible.

Review some parts of Music For a Found Harmonium. Pawel asks a very good question about the left hand, which leads us to reviewing the 1st Primary and looking at how this can be practiced. This is very clearly needed at this point.

May we have more of such quality questions - this is useful not only to the person asking it, but contributes to the process and is useful and available for all.

We look at 3421, 1234 & 4321 permutations.

We complete with listening and then acknowledging the other members of the London Guitar Circle and also other active Guitar Circles in the world.

* * * * * * * *

We have lunch together, then Pawel has to quickly leave to work, but there's time for a quick photo.

At least the faces are not all that count:



At the moment there are three people from the Paris Circle that are planning to join us for the Circulation Day this Saturday. This is good news!

Circulation Day

Dear Team,

The London Guitar Circle is approaching the end of its current commitment. We have worked together for almost 3 months now, and we are going to mark the completion of this period with a Circulation Day. This meeting is open to other Crafties who wish to join in.

The Circulation Day will be held in London (exact location TBC), on Saturday, the 19th December. We will begin at 10:00 and complete at 16:00

The work on this day will be lead by Tywi and Jacek. It is open to anybody with the prior GC Course experience.

The expenses will be modest and will only involve covering the renting of the place somewhere in central London. Lunch will not be provided.

If you wish to attend, please contact Jacek at jacek_kaleta@tlen.pl

Best Wishes,

LGC