10/24/2009 - Probably somewhere over the middle of Montana, right now. It's roughly 9:15 a.m., Seattle time, and 12:15 p.m., Boston. We took off at 8:00 a.m. sharp from Logan International, and there were no snafus getting into the airport (Alaska Airlines is more than happy to let you take your guitar on board, which sets my mind at ease).
I had a very revealing lesson with Victor, last night--this is all starting to come down to my inability to feel time, or rather to. . . no, feel. The physicality of a pulse is something that is still not happening with me, without overt or intentional foot stomping. Once I'm warmed up, it gets easier, but it's still not good. With an additional backing, it gets a lot better, but the whole idea of being able to support myself on my own is thrown out the window.
We also worked on wrong notes, and how to just let them go. When I hit a bad note, I have a tendency to lock up and choke the note. Some of this comes from still not having a masterful grasp of the fretboard, but a lot of this also stems from being afraid of being wrong, which is one of my more unfortunate traits. This can usually be dealt with by just playing the wrong note, and making it the right note.
We also touched, for a little bit, on the right hand work. Mostly, it looks good, but I still have a tendency to compress and pull in--I'm currently suspecting this is in part due to where the guitar sits or slips to, along with my continued trouble in playing from the spine. Victor has asked me, while I'm out here, to ask Sandra to work with me on learning to crawl.
This week should be very telling.
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Got in at 1:20; Travis Metcalf picked me up at the Inn. Arrived on course just in time for lunch, then helped with cleanup. Claimed my bunk, explored again, sat on the dock (I'd missed it, that morning), practiced, photographed, practiced more, and got a little recording of events done.
Dinner at 7:30. silence twice, for maybe 7-10 minutes each. Inaugural meeting scheduled for 9:30. Have an hour to kill.
There is definitely a different quality in the air, this time around. Maybe it's the chill, or the fact that it's dark before 7. But then, this is before the beginning of the beginning, and I expect it will get interesting from here.
In the cabin: Brad, Sotirios (of Vancouver, and my beginner's course), Jason (began at San Cugat in July), Alex (NYC, also began with Sotirios and me), and Marcello, from Buenos Aires (off and on since 1994!).
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Introductions, tonight. My words: "My name is Brad Hogg, from Boston, MA, and originally Montana. What brought me here was my interest in the Orchestra, as well as the encroaching sense of my own work. My own aims are to be present, and to possibly take something back to GCNE, from this course."
Robert's introduction served to inform us of one extremely important fact: this is no longer a preparatory course for the Orchestra of Crafty Guitarists II. Instead, this is the Orchestra of Crafty Guitarists II, and we have a gig on Thursday evening at 8:15 p.m., at Fremont Abbey.
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