as i write this i am sitting on a balcony overlooking the paiva river in Nodar, Portugal....I am here to record, to capture moments along the river as part of a residency project....I never loose sight of the fact that i am extremely lucky to have these opportunities....

there have been many times in the last 30 or so years that i have had conversations & even heated discussions with other artists (field recordists / composers / musicians specifically) about subjects such as John Cage, Morton Feldman, Microphone placement, technical knowledge, 'learning' & I suppose I have, to some extent, been unable to fully express my personal view before bumping into defences (mine & those of others)....it is something that happens of course in all conversations on subjects where there are passions and paths of understanding forged over the years....

I realise that I come to the point I am at now in the contrary way that many others who work in the same very broad area (field recording, composition, improvisation) have....if Cage, Schaefer,

amm, feldman, electro-acoustic theory, precise technical knowledge can be seen as the big cities of this creative landscape, the place where many people head for at first - to find a footing, a clue, a sense of a foundation for exploration - then I am lucky in that I had no knowledge of these places for the first formative years of my interest & by the time I did I was too interested in other places, in the small villages, hills & valleys of this creative landscape. I arrived at those cities with all of that passion, all of that exploration in me....if I am to be critical then I would say that it is not at all important to know of Cage or Schaefer or indeed of how to place a microphone - it is not important to know the difference between this model of microphone or that - it is not needed to do things that way when one first ventures out into this world....for me what I love about exploring the creative landscape & the world is to be an innocent in part at all times....to be amazed & to hear a sound (created or natural) & to feel a sense of joy or desire to go further into it - or indeed to experience it & then move elsewhere, returning perhaps at another time....

so, my advice to anyone at an early age, an early point in their own creative journey is this; you might be told of these big cities & you might be told they are important to know about before you begin perhaps....well, for some that might work but it is not the only option & if at all possible visit the smallest villages first if you have that chance....why not ?