Visit to WDR Studios Köln

After the Stockhausen Courses I managed to arrange a visit to the WDR Studios in Köln along with Juan Verdaguer and Ignacio xxxx as a guest of retired engineer Volker Müller.

The studio equipment was rescued by Herr Müller after the WDR closed the studio and wanted to throw it away!!!! Since most equipment was designed so brilliantly and at enormous expense, most of it still works perfectly despite being over 50 years old.

Stockhausen Courses 2011

6th to 16th August 2011 saw my second visit to the Stockhausen Courses in Kürten, and this time I took my synths and all the equipment necessary for a performance of Spiral. I was lucky enough to attend a whole seminar course given by Michael Vetter and Natascha Nikeprelevic on Pole, and Spiral. Michael Vetter performed these pieces dozens of times at the 1970 Worlds' Fair in Osaka and subsequently and has recorded an integral version of Spiral for the Stockhausen Verlag.

A highlight of the courses was getting to work on both Pole, and Spiral with Frauke Aulbert, although sessions were a little daunting to start with since I had to use my voice (which I seldom use in a musical context) instead of my synth.

Here we are working on Pole, using Michael and Natascha's notes projected on the wall behind us.


The other main course that I attended was the Intuitive Music Course run by Intuitive Music Weimar. This inspired me to set up an Intuitive Music group in Edinburgh on my return.