School of Electronic Music

In November 1988 I embarked on a five week course that was intended to teach me to how to code in Cobol. This was a little ambitious as, at that time, I didn't know how to code in anything at all but, like a good grammar school boy, I came top of the class even though, by the end, I still didn't fundamentally understand what I was doing.

The course took place in some basement offices on Tavistock Square in London and my abiding memory is of an excellent sandwich shop just around the corner that resulted in me battling with carb fatigue most afternoons. 

This morning, I returned to formal studying for the first time since then; just  over thirty years later. It was the first day of a course in music production at the School of Electronic Music in Salford. The ten of us taking part had to be there at eleven o'clock for induction, so by a quarter to we were all gathered in the coffee shop downstairs.

Even at the ripe old age of fifty-four, I find I am as averse to these situations as I've ever been although my discomfort today was exacerbated by the anxiety that people would assume I'd come to drop off my son or daughter.

I also don't enjoy 'ice-breaker' sessions but I can 100% see the value in them and the one that kicked off the lesson, today, absolutely served its purpose in relaxing us into one another's company before we enjoyed the first day of the course, which involved us programming drum patterns in Ableton*.

We had a late break for lunch so I wandered up the road to Acton Square, which is just around the corner from the new house (which we are scheduled to complete on next week!). It was a lovely spot to sit in the autumn sun and eat my lunch.

*This is software for recording and producing music (often referred to as a 'digital audio workstation' or DAW).

****
-10.3 kgs
Reading: 'The Vanishing Half' by Brit Bennett