NST Weekend, first full day

Friday: NST Weekend, Colrain MA.
Woke with MB around 6:15, but didn't get out of bed until 6:30. A wait for the bathroom. Someone taking a long shower eventually exited, looking surprised that people were waiting. Shower. Some morning practices, before sitting.

7:30 sitting in the Library. Victor took us through the relaxation exercise. I wished I had brought a mat to sit on. My right foot felt squished. Some clattering around outside was a bit of a distraction. There are challenges like this on the course.

8: Breakfast. MB has volunteered to do breakfast set-up for the three mornings of the course. Poached eggs, English muffins, soy sausages, spinach, Hollandaise sauce. Very tasty. Even the coffee is great here. Victor discovered a spice in little set of hot peppers named "African Bird." I asked for three volunteers for clean-up, and volunteered myself for lunch set-up. Some time remained before the next session, so, morning practices back in the room.

9:30 Circle with guitars. The first primary, and the principals of the left hand. Healthy skepticism was evidenced. Good. Sometimes the only answer can be "give it a try."

11:00 Alexander Technique session with Stephanie. A general discussion about AT, and her experiences. Talking about 'startle' and a little work with releasing from it. Some chair work. I asked a question about getting in and out of a car. Then a lie-down.

12:00 Guitar Circle was scheduled, but AT ran a little long, so Tony suggested personal practice until lunch. Since I was on lunch set-up, I only had about fifteen minutes. Some more daily practices. At 12:35 I went and helped set-out lunch, and empty the dishwasher.

1: Lunch. Another winner! Hummus, baba ganoush, cucumber salad, tabouli, little pitas. I asked for the African Bird. Tony blocked out most of the afternoon for personal practice and meetings. I spent some more time on daily practices, then around 3 picked up the guitar in the main space and began working on first primary variations. The puppy romped through as I was taking a break and we wrestled a bit. Later on, I found that he had torn off and carried away the little padded door to my guitar case compartment. But, his heart is in the right place, without a doubt. I worked on first primary permutations, setting the metronome to 200, and playing one note on every tick, making each note as staccato, and on-the-beat as possible

4: Tea. Some lovely pecan cookies with a dusting of confectioners sugar. I asked some of the new people about their meetings with Tony. He showed up a little later. Questions were asked. It's interesting to me to see how things that seem mysterious and arbitrary, possibly even sinister, to folks just getting acquainted with Guitar Craft, are so completely practical once you've been around the block a few times.

4:30 Personal practice, while a few of those with more experience had meetings with Tony.

5:30 - Circle meeting. The right hand and accompanying principals were introduced. Tony used the 'shake my hand' technique for demonstrating the basic direction. The second primary was briefly touched on.

6:30 Quiet time. I took a walk out and about. Up to the end of the driveway, and then to the barn. I said hello to the goats and chickens.

7:12 Dinner. Another amazing meal. African nut stew with sweet potatoes (but no bird) on rice plus condiments and bread. Silence came knocking. One time it was brushed aside. The next time it stayed for awhile. Victor gave an interesting talk about approaching the wholeness of the course. I remarked on the necessary discomfort when holding who you are in contrast to what you might be. Tony said "Jim said it all: 'my right hand works, why change it?'" We almost ran out of time to eat dessert, which was a yummy apple crisp and ginger ice cream. Almost. Tony pushed the circle meeting later by 15 minutes so we might not offend our hostess.

8:20 Cleanup began. I began typing up the day to avoid a multi-hour diary session in the late night. MB did some drumming.

9:15 Circle with guitars. Circulations changing directions. A three against two, two (and a half) part diddy. A thrackish chord sorta thing with three parts. The new folks are doing pretty amazingly well. But, there's a lot of experience sitting in the circle. Circulation in C Major to end the evening. A performance challenge was issued for tomorrow. The GCNE will play a bit for Bekki tomorrow night. I showed Alex and Martin the bass to Intergalactic Boogie Express. Tomorrow's an early day, so bed soon. 1:03 AM.