Iain Cameron's Diary
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2002-09-17 - 11:24 p.m.

I put another three articles up on the kwase-kwaza.org News section today � one especially alarming one about the gender imbalances in the incidence of infection. I try to vary the tone of the material � fortunately there was a positive story about a schools debating competition to go alongside it. (I joined a news group about HIV-AIDS .) There�s also an interesting article about a Nationalised Industry in SA adopting a workforce AIDS treatment programme � part of the interest is in the summary of the continuing South African Government AIDS policy � which seems to be so unhelpful. I am beginning to wonder whether there isn�t an undercurrent here in terms of the political antipathies between the national government and the region which has the highest level of HIV infection � Kwazulu Natal. The article also mentions that BP has been a pioneer in AIDS workforce treatment � their programme has been in place for over 18 months.

There is a sympathetic review of the Barnet Newman exhibition in today�s Guardian. The reviewer is a bit harsh on Newman�s ideas I think � I really like learning about what Pollock, Rothko and Newman thought their paintings meet. The reviewer makes out that the value of the works lies partly in the handling of the paint � the colour fields and the hard-edged transitions. That seems to be a very post-Min viewpoint � based on the idea that in these works what you see is what you see � that the painting is its own ultimate reference and doesn�t go outside itself. This is always a trick in my view � the painting is always seen as a move in a series of works � by this artist and by others. Its only really intelligible as a further step along a path.

For a while I had the idea that I might use the Newman template for composition � especially the limited number of dramatic vertical marks. I suppose, now � this week, I might use the term �graphic score�. What would a work be like that used these paintings in that way? I think this was when I had just completed the first two or three drone works. Today�s thought is that in interpreting the Brown score I have had to negotiate the key issue posed � an interpretation of the vertical mark.

I found the article by Billy Name. Between Lamont Young and Warhol he went back to hairdressing � isn�t that charming? He talks about the Factory time being the end of Romantic Bohemianism � the period when people didn�t worry that much about money. He obviously liked Andy W a great deal � the same is true of John Cale (liking AW). Andy comes across a bit like Miles � someone who is very influential creatively on a great number of people but not all that much through volumes words - more through activity and short personal statements. I read somewhere that Miles said he stopped playing My Funny Valentine because he enjoyed it so much.

As is so often the case, I found the Warhol book because I was looking for something else � in this instance the book about Celtic Christianity which we are studying tonight. I haven�t found it yet � and if I don�t it won�t be the end of the world � I read the first few chapters once and some elements stuck in my mind. There was a good programme last night about on Radio 4 about the letters of St Paul. This one was about Philipae � which is where the first baptism of a European took place. The oldest copy of the letters is in Dublin � they are about 200 AD � and they tend to have an enormously powerful impact on people who see them. They were written at the time when there were no spaces between words andsothetextiscontiuouslikethis. What a difference leaving the spaces out makes � it already begins to look like Greek.

Last night driving home I picked up a pirate station � FM 103.1 � I think it was someone on-air live with a Roland 303 � that kind of very electric drum sound and interesting bass timbres. It was quite fast � maybe 140 bpm - and quickfire rapping over the top � very very exciting.

For some reason I started to think about Four Fifths while I drove along � a different set of relationships � actually between fourths � but generating the same eight notes.

I have discovered how to post MIDI files on the other diary � the one in the FORUM section of kwase-kwaza.org. The first thing to go up was a rather weak interpretation of one of Schoenbergs Op 19 piano pieces � not mine. But then I got really excited by the possibilities and put up Four Fifths � and quite an old and over-extended arrangement of a Bartok Mikrokosmos piece.

In fact I went on a MIDI binge across the net � initially looking for rhythm loops. But then I got into the idea that you could track down (more) really interesting modern serious pieces. So my tally includes:

All 4 movements of Boulez 2nd piano sonata and one movement of the 3rd sonata

The first of Schoenbergs three Op 11 piano pieces

Music for Mallet Instruments by Steve Reich

In fact I went so far as experimenting with adding some guitar to the Boulez 3rd sonata movement � and switching the instrumentation from piano to string bass. Are there no limits to my effrontery? This is a carefully worked out by of total serialism � does it really need some gestural guitar? Only time will tell.

I used one of the rhythm track as the basis for another foray into the four fifths domain. This needs a bit more work but the octatonic scale was really good to work with.

Robin is so right about what producers are for. I also recognise the situation that Andrew describes in the other diary � getting the preparation and anticipation out of balance with the actuality. Maybe I am moving into that zone myself just now.

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