WFH: DAY 41/LENT 10. 6.30 am: Proof of presence: 7.30 am: Studiology. To begin, each of the tracks comprising ‘Throw Stones Out of the Water’ was adjusted for tonality, compression, volume, and stereo-field position. The more I learn about mixing, the slower the process appears to get, the longer I take to resolve the outcome. ‘Optimisation’ is today’s key word.…

WFH: DAY 40/LENT 9. 8.00 am: To my desk and a clutch of emails that had dribbled in after work yesterday. Thereafter, I set up my stall for the morning’s Art/Sound sessions, and established my itinerary for today’s and tomorrow’s adventures in mixing. 9.45 am: I prepared the ‘room’ and my equipment, just as I would in a real-world lecture…

WFH: DAY 39/LENT 8. 7.00 am: 7.45 am: A communion. 8.15 am: Preparations for the day ahead, which would comprise third-year painting tutorials (chiefly), a lunchtime staff meeting, and further preparations for the week ahead. Making and consuming lunch would pose the biggest challenge of the next six hours. 9.00 am: Tutee #1: This week, my general aim has been…

Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me (Psalm 139.11). WFH: DAY 38/LENT 7. 6.30 am: There’re days when the dawn cannot come soon enough to vanquish the night’s terrors. 5.45 am: I awoke, too early, from a dismal dream in which I was ‘closing in on death’ (to quote Lou Reed). The bed in…

WFH: DAY 37/LENT 6. 7.00 am: The wind buffeted the house; casements rattled; birds were blown off course; and the trees bristled like a cat’s hair. But it sent the dark clouds packing. An hour later, a Spring-like day prevailed. Likewise, turbulent periods in our lives can bring clarity and resolution in their wake. 7.30 am: A communion. 8.00 am:…

Unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid (The Book of Common Prayer). WFH: DAY 36/LENT 5. 7.00 am: Proof of presence: 7.30: A communion. 7.45 am: The week ahead promised to make considerable demands on both my time and energy. There’re some possibilities I daren’t entertain; some files, I’d rather not open;…

But only one thing is necessary (Luke 10. 42). First image of the Martian surface from the Perseverance rover (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons) WFH: DAY 35/LENT 4. 7.45 am: A communion. 8.30 am: Studiology. ‘Is there [sound] on Mars?’ I look forward to hearing this (as I’m sure Bowie would’ve too); NASA states: The Perseverance rover carries two microphones, letting…

WFH: DAY 34/LENT 3. 7.00 am: The musical accompaniment to the morning’s ablutions included a composition by the Tudor composer William Fox. It’s the only composition we have by him. Moreover, we know nothing about his life, other than the date that he died. I could find no reference to either him or the music on the Internet. His perpetuity…

WFH: DAY 33/LENT 2. 8.00 am: A communion: 8.30 am: Preparations for the day that presented itself. Thursdays are always singular — devoted to one task: tutoring my third-year painters. 9.00 am: The first tutorial: I forget that students can still be laid low with all the other commoner illnesses that were hanging in the air long before Covid-19. One…

WFH: DAY 32/LENT 1. Morning: 8.00 am: A communion. 8.30 am: MS Outlook has an unhelpful way of marking ‘unread’ mail as ‘read’, when items above or below it are clicked. Thus, everyday I have to review the preceding day’s deliveries in order to check whether there’s any outstanding correspondence that requires a response. I’m not persuaded, Facebook. You may…