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 theatre or seminar venue. The principles are the same in that respect. 10.00 am: ‘Camera. Sound. Action!:’

11.20 am: ‘Workshop 1’, which was focussed on providing an overview of the essay submission. This is a multimedia presentation involving images, sounds, and texts (written and spoken). In the ‘old world’, prior to the pandemic, this was considered a rather exotic mode of assessment; now, it’s become the norm. The skills will stand them in good stead when they enter the wonderful ‘world of gainful employment’. (A term I prefer to that of the ‘world of work’, which might imply that students don’t yet know the meaning of work (as they say); whereas, the vast majority certainly do. And a great deal about the meaning of gainful employment too, alas.) 12.15 pm: Uploads completed and follow-up emails dispatched. 12.45 pm: A shift in gear and of emphasis, as I orientated myself to the afternoon’s project.

1.45 pm: I returned to the reconceived ‘Throw Stones Out of the Water’ and ‘This Sweet Bell Ringing’. Volume contrasts were established throughout, elements muted, and the logic of the compositions’ progression tightened.

4.30 pm: Out and about:

7.30 am: Back to ‘Throw the Stones Out of the Water’, which now had a dismal undertow added. The piece no longer sounded so bald or stark. The process of waving the new ‘yarn’ into the fabric had begun. It had never sounded so good. Which meant that the arrangement was heading in the right direction, at least.