May 1, 2021

Our self-doubt is greatest when we’re confronted with a significant challenge that we’ve never encountered previously. There’s no precedent we can look to in our experience which would otherwise persuade us that if we’ve done it before, then, we can do it again.

Friday, April 31. 7.30 am: Bluebells (the droopy, British variety) carpeted Plas Natur Penglais. In a certain light, they appeared like a gaseous haze upon the forest floor. It was like walking through an impressionist painting.

8.30 am: I made ready for a morning of one-to-one online tutorials with my Art/Sound tutees to discuss the ongoing progress of the assessment submissions. This would be our last timetabled class, and the last time this module would run in its present form. So: ‘Everyone be on their best behaviour, then!’ 1.00 pm: Class closed.

1.45 pm: I indulged a little resourcing research in anticipation of the hardware and software required for the next CD project. 2.00 pm: My ‘Sound’ site came back into focus. The tasks were mechanical rather than mental. In the background, I fielded queries from third-year and postgraduate students. For the next month, responsibilities and tasks — across research, teaching, and admin — that would otherwise proceed serially, will be superimposed. The ‘Sound’ website project was pursued well into the evening.

Saturday, May 1. 8.30 am: The Saturday morning Park Run, which used to circulate Plasgrug Avenue, had been mapped onto the whole town — or so it seemed. I ducked n’ dived oncoming joggers as I made my way at a sedate pace in the contrary direction. And, as I walked, I thought to myself: ‘I would not wish to return to any point in my past, other than as a visitor on a short-term stay. (Which is of the essence of remembering former times.) Now and tomorrow (maybe) is where it’s at’.

9.30 am: Back at the mixing desk and the Sound and Studium websites, I continued rationalising recordings of the compositions. Some were transferred from the former to the latter, others either deleted or hidden from view (for there are things that one should take back, having ‘put them out there’), and yet others streamlined. The objective was to apply a stricter quality control; cull the good but slight; and better match types of composition to types of website. Those works that are stylistically music concrete and diaristic in orientation no longer sit comfortably within the evolving identity of the Sound site. ‘Show Sound‘ (2016) is one such and, as such, was moved to the Studium website. It’s a track that I’ve returned to over the passed few years, in order to remind myself of those glorious periods when students and staff at the School of Art worked together to produce something quite remarkable.

The composition entitled ‘Graven Image II’ (2013) on Sound was conceived primarily as a functioning illustration for my book, entitled The Bible as Visual Culture (2013). Since the composition’s URL is referenced therein, it must stay where it is on the Sound website for as long as the book is in print. The composition fulfilled its function. However, the endeavour was, to my mind, superseded by the application of its underlying processes and concepts to the development of the ‘Image and Inscription’ suite, on the The Bible in Translation (2016) CD.

1.30 pm: After lunch, I attended to proof reading, regularising the punctuation style of the compositions’ texts, and untagging the Studium website. 4.15 pm: I made a cursory survey of the ‘Spoken Word‘ website, with a view to establishing what else could usefully be added. 5.00 pm: Closure.

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