Monthly Roundup #23 - January '20

Welcome back to the first instalment of my monthly blog for 2020! I’ve been doing these monthly updates for coming on 2 years now, so I just thought I’d start the new year by mentioning why I do all this! There are a couple of reasons really, which I’ll touch on below…

Firstly, it’s just as a simple way to keep my website up to date with my recent activities. Where some of the other pages might stay the same for a little while before I update them periodically, this blog section is one where I can let people know where I’ve been playing and what I’ve been up to lately. Simple!

The second reason has a little more to it, in that I wanted to let people in on what my working life looks like from one month to another. When I was getting started as a “working drummer”, I had a certain idea in my head of what it ought to look like to work as a freelance musician, and I would often compare my own journey to that of others, which sometimes left me feeling a bit deflated if I felt like there were other areas of work I “ought to be” getting into, or that I should be working more etc… The truth I’m learning as I continue in this line or work is that every single musician’s working life looks a bit different! And so, that’s the other reason I wanted to do this… I wanted to give an honest insight into what my working life looks like, so that people - whether that’s students of mine, my peers, or even non-musician friends who are curious about what I actually do with my time(!) - could get an idea of what my day to day looks like. I’m sure this won’t come as a surprise to any other working musician’s reading this, but if you happen to have been reading this for a few months, you’ll have seen that there are months that are really full on, and then there are months that are very quiet! Again, where there was a time that those quiet times would get me down a bit, I’ve been encouraged to learn that that’s perfectly normal in this line of work, and like I say, I wanted this to be an honest insight to what my working life looks like for those looking in. Anyway! Now that I’ve covered that, let’s get on to what I’ve been up to through January!

After the Christmas holidays I was back to my teaching. I’m very grateful to have four full (or almost full!) days a week doing drum lessons in schools at the moment, and that provides my day to day work the majority of the time. I teach a mixture of primary and secondary school students, from beginners to those getting a bit higher through the grades, and I really enjoy helping young drummers to develop a passion for the drums as I did back in the day!

My teaching setup in one of the schools I visit

The first few spots of playing of 2020 (besides new year’s eve, I suppose!), consisted of a variety of church events - some at home, some away. The first week there was a regular Sunday morning meeting, followed by a midweek meeting the second week, both of which were at my home church. Then over the third week, I had a few days away playing at a conference (Fresh Streams) with Pete James and the guys, which was a nice few days! When we got back, we then had another event which happened to be taking place back at my home church, so I’ve been playing there a lot throughout the month!

Setup at my home church

My setup for Fresh Streams

Over the last week of the month, there was our monthly drum hang (of course!) and then a gig with Tom Fitzpatrick. With the drum hang, it was actually our first anniversary since we started in January 2019, so that was a nice milestone to reach! Who knew it would last a year?! (I thought/hoped it might!) This time around, we took some time to hear some stories of group member Terry Mabey, who’s playing career has spanned many decades! He had some great stories about how he got started, and eventually ended up playing with the likes of Roy Orbison and Dusty Springfield, rubbing shoulders with some serious legends along the way! It was great to hear of his experiences over the years, and what’s more, his wife made us a birthday cake - even better!

The gig with Tom Fitzpatrick was a nice, local, midweek one, which combined with a brilliant band and a good bunch of punters, made it a real pleasure of an evening! Well - that and bagging a parking space directly outside the front door of the venue, which is enough to get any gig off to a good start! This one was part of the “Take Five Jazz Club” that Tom heads up, which is a monthly jazz night (last Thursday of the month) taking place at a couple of local venues. Sometimes that’s music from Tom himself (like this one was), and sometimes it features other guest acts. It’s a great thing that he’s got going on, providing a brilliant opportunity to catch some quality, live music in the week - go check it out!

Setup with Tom Fitzpatrick

There we have it for January! It’s been a steady start to the year with a few bits and bobs on, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of the year holds… there are plenty of bits in the diary, but there’s space for plenty more things should they come my way too! Thanks as always for checking in, and I wish you a (somewhat belated) happy new year! All the best, Ed.