Monthly Roundup #38 - April '21

April was a fairly relaxed month for me, with the Easter break taking out a couple of weeks of teaching and there still not being a great deal of playing in the diary at the moment, unfortunately! Still, I’m not complaining as the sun has been shining and we were able to enjoy getting out and about a bit more; enjoying restaurants reopening, as well as catching up with some friends and family in our gardens etc, which was very welcome!

As mentioned, with the school Easter holidays, the teaching side of things was a little quieter this month, but I’m pleased to still have 3 full days of teaching a week to have returned to - which is certainly something I don’t take for granted after the year we’ve had! There’s still my fourth and final school which I’m yet to be able to return to due to space limitations, but I’m very grateful for what I’ve got! I was back to school for 3 weeks before Easter which was a nice amount of time to get the ball rolling with some of the students I hadn’t seen for a while, so with the start of the new term I’m looking forward to getting stuck in again and to make some good progress!

Drums, drums, drums! One of the rooms I teach in.

My trusty, portable teaching setup.

Besides the teaching side of things, as I say, there still hasn’t been much playing just yet - although there are things optimistically dotted in the diary for later on in the year, so I shall look forward to getting back to it when the time comes! So, I’ve been continuing to use the remaining downtime as productively as possible - the never-ending practice on the drums, of course, the odd tweaks and additions to my library of teaching material (which I’m enjoying putting back to use with the teaching being busy once again!), and also the bass playing side of things, which I’m pleased to report is progressing nicely!

As you’ll know if you’ve read any of my recent newsletters, the bass playing side of things is very much a passion project (and I’m still a total novice!), but I’ve been having a blast progressing little by little and hope to keep it up as life continues to return to normal! What I’ve noticed is that while practicing the drums can sometimes feel like a slow grind, mostly maintaining and refining the skills I’ve already got, I’m finding the bass practice really enjoyable, as being at a much lower level, I can notice a tangible improvement with each and every practice session, where on the drums that can take months sometimes! Obviously the drum practice still has to take priority, but I’m finding the bass practice can produce a satisfying change of scene as and when I give it some time.

My Sire bass, which I’m loving getting more and more acquainted with!

One chance to get out and play with others did come my way through my church this month, which has now resumed live-streaming it’s Sunday morning meetings from the church building, with a handful of people there in person too. As you might expect, it was lovely to get together and play with people again, seeing as it’s become such a rarity at the moment! Here’s hoping there will be plenty more playing opportunities on the horizon!

The in-house setup at my church.

At our monthly drum hang, this time around we were discussing the topic of home recording. It’s something I’m yet to be able to take advantage of myself (I’ve got the gear, but not a suitable room!), so I was personally very interested to hear how some people had made it work in different ways, at various ends of the budget! It was a great evening catching up with everyone as per usual! We’re still operating online for now, but hopefully it won’t be too much longer until we can gather in person for it!

Our monthly drum hang.

That’s a wrap for my musical comings and goings in April! All that remains to say, is thanks as always for checking in and I hope you’ve enjoyed keeping up with my antics… If you’ve stuck with these throughout the last year (or even few months), I salute you, as I appreciate there’s not been a whole lot to write about!! Hopefully there will be more to report in the months to come as the restrictions gradually relax. Regardless, thanks as always for checking in and all the best - until next time! Ed.