29th December 2009

At 18.30 meet with Marcin at his place, preparing the space... The ECP meeting formally begins at 19 o'clock, but in fact it has already begun, the process is already in motion. We gather together at 18.55

EXTENDED CIRCLE MEETING:

There are 15 participants with Marcin as a guest.

We take time to enter the ECP space. Relax the body, let go on the out breath. Give attention to the feet and the contact with the floor and accept the support it offers. We acknowledge the Extended Circle , those who are participating tonight, and those who are not, but are part of the project. Jacek speak out their names and locations. We visualize the group as a whole, working together despite the distance limitation between us.

We pause every half an hour: 19.00, 19.30, 20.00, 20.30 & 21.00. When pausing we come back to our feet and give attention to the contact with the floor. We also acknowledge the Extended Circle.

We begin with the Practice of Doing Nothing.

19.30 pause.

Tuning. It takes time.

Before we play the first intentional note of this meeting, we give attention to certain body points and see if we can observe any unnecessary tensions and let go of them. For example the contact of the thumb/first finger with the pick, muscles of the face or our back etc. How much is necessary?

2nd Primary on the A string. Whole notes.

20.00 Pause. See if we can directly experience our feet without thinking about them, or having emotional reaction to them.

The Division of Attention exercise:

Picking one string.
Feet tap Left Right Right etc.
Count 3 bars of 4

All these in quarter notes.

We direct attention to individual parts.

Then we keep it all going and double the picking speed (8th notes) Observe if there are any changes in the body.

Picking 8th notes.
Keep going with L R R feet tap.
Now we count 3 bars of 5.

We also alternate between LRR & RLL every 3 bars of 5.

What is necessary? What indeed...

19.30 break

Left hand work. Observe what pressure is sufficient to press the string. Work on each finger individually

We play EC-AAD 28 bars (aka Tremolo) for SW.

Acknowledge the completion of the Extended Circle Project, which has ran for 3 months. Tonight was the 12th meeting.

The key words of tonight: directing the attention, observing unnecessary tensions - effortlessness, division of attention.

It was our 4th meeting with Marcin so far and the strongest one in my experience.