Monthly Roundup #34 - December '20

Like many others in my line of work, December was a strange one this year - while it’s normally one of the busiest times of year with Christmas and New Year celebrations and so on, this year it was obviously very different! That said, I was delighted to have a couple of chances to play with others, making the most of the opportunities that came my way in the form of church Christmas events (both being videoed as oppose to with a live audience), so it was great to get out and play - even if it was just a little!

As I’ve said a few times over recent months, with the lack of playing opportunities at the moment, I’ve been more grateful than ever to have my steady teaching base. December saw me visiting 2 of my usual 4 schools each week, with the other 2 remaining online for those students who wanted to. Unfortunately, reading this in January you’ll now know that schools have once again had to shut their doors to the majority of students, so it looks like I’ll be getting back to filling my week with online lessons once again!

As mentioned, I was delighted to have a couple of opportunities to play alongside other musicians in December, both in the form of events streamed from churches. The first was a live streamed Sunday morning service from my own church, which was the first time they had put on a fully live service since the pandemic hit (essentially, delivering a full church service to a camera in an empty hall!), and the second was at another local church for an evening streaming some Christmas songs which a friend called me in to play on - which was also a pleasure to be a part of! In each case, it was wonderful to have the chance to play with other musicians again!

Setup for a live stream meeting from my church

A fun little setup + confetti for added Christmas cheer!

Enjoying playing some Christmas tunes!

Once again, up to Christmas I continued using some of my downtime to go through my archived gig footage. It’s one of those jobs I never seem to find the time to keep up with in “normal” life, so it’s been fun to get caught up with and go through all the footage I’ve got! Especially with the remarkably quiet year we’ve all had gig-wise, it’s been really nice to look back on things - it’s made me all the more keen to get back to it when things eventually settle down! I also continued to enjoy using my downtime to get some good practice done and write out a few more ideas for my bank of teaching material.

“Thy Kingdom Come”, June 2019

"Just One Of Those Things" with Tom Fitzpatrick at the Tiddly Proms, September 2019

Here's a clip from a gig with the Alter Eagles in September 2019, performing Eagles song, "Victim Of Love".

I was also very pleased to make a drum purchase! For a little while I’ve been keeping an eye out for a 13” tom to add to my Gretsch Brooklyn setups - specifically, my Burnt Orange Oyster kit which is in 12/14/16/22 sizes. Well, much to my delight I got a notification from an eBay watch list, and it turned out a nice chap in Lithuania was selling one in mint condition for the budget I’d had in mind! That arrived safe and sound, and I shall look forward to playing it alongside the rest of the kit as soon as the opportunity arises. The one downside is that the Burnt Orange Oyster kit is in a limited edition finish, of which Gretsch only made a handful of kits. So, this 13” tom isn’t an exact match in terms of finish (Grey Oyster), but never mind that - I can live with it if it sounds good!

The new 13” Brooklyn tom to add to the collection

As always, we also enjoyed our monthly drum hang, which once again took place via Zoom. We had a great time catching up and discussing all manner of drumming related topics! Needless to say, I’m hoping that 2021 will see us return to our drum hang in person, as while Zoom has served us well to stay in touch, it’ll be wonderful to be able to get together in person again and compare drums etc, as we do best! Watch this space!

Our December drum hang - what a fine bunch of chaps!

That wraps it up for 2020, so you’ll be reading this in 2021! Despite the continued madness, may I wish you a very happy new year, and I hope you had a lovely Christmas. Here’s hoping that this year things will improve before too long and that we can get back to all the things we’ve missed last year - particularly, making music! All the best and thanks as always for checking in! Ed.