Yet another day of not really being able to work on RPM. SO frustrated! I just want to work! But, alas, the headache has been awful today. I think it’s starting to subside, and I’ve been able to focus for longer today – more like 2 hours than 1 at a stretch – but it’s been really uncomfortable. I felt this morning that I’d really done all the plain thinking I should do for RPM – any more and I’d start to over-theorise and the whole thing would be a disaster.

So instead I tinkered a little with Mixtikl for iPad, which looks interesting but I think not for the slide guitar piece as I’m imagining it, plus in my weakened mental condition I couldn’t work out how to export the sound I recorded. Will try again when sane.

And after that I figured that, no, brain wasn’t ready for making actual notes today, so instead I tackled a layout project that’s been lying around for far too long. The American harpist Shana Norton asked me to do a harp arrangement of Pieces of Eight late last year, and I did actually do it pretty quickly, but the pedalling bugged me and then I started to procrastinate, trying to think of things I might have missed that would improve the pedalling, instead of doing the sensible thing of sending it off to her and saying “I’m a twit! Help me!”. With the end result that the arrangement was done, but it never got laid out. So today I finished the layout, which was about the level of thought I was capable of – ooh! that doesn’t line up! And now it’s been sent off to her for harp-assessment, so we’ll see what happens.

Overall, in spite of injury, I’m seeing huge progress in the way I’m working and thinking about my work from starting the RPM Project. It’s only been about a week, but I’m finding I’m actively looking for musical ways to fill in my time now, rather than procrastinating as much as I usually do. I just hope this brain-fail clears up quick-smart before I lose all that momentum…

10.20pm update: I managed to get the iPad connected to Logic pretty easily (using Network MIDI this time, instead of Pd & Soundflower) and have been messing about with some sounds in there and layering effects to give the sort of gritty, violent feel I’m after for the slide guitar piece. Almost scaring myself with the brutality of it. I’m thinking of using another of the recordings from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project, and am hoping I can head out to a building site or similar next week with my little microphone and do some recording there of clangy and bangy sounds to go with it. SO good to actually get some work done at last, but now I really need to put it aside and rest. G’night!