Monthly Roundup #40 - June '21

Hello all, and welcome back to another instalment of what’s been going on in my world drumming-wise! Since this latest relaxation of restrictions I’ve still not got back to gigging just yet (watch this space!), but the teaching side of things has been going wonderfully and I’ve been loving being able to see more people in various musical capacities (and beyond)!

First up, as mentioned I’m pleased to report that the teaching side of things has continued to go from strength to strength, and there’s been an influx of new enquiries at one of my schools in particular. As such, there’s been so much demand at this particular school that it’s prompted me to see if a second day there each week might be possible from September, and believe it or not, between my own diary and the availability of the schools I visit, it’s all worked out! Sadly, doing so has had to come at the expense of another of my schools which I’ll unfortunately no longer be able to offer drum lessons at, but as I’ve been unable to return there since March 2020 when we first locked down (due to it being a small school with limits on available rooms), it was an unavoidable change. I’ll be liaising with that school and another drum teaching friend of mine to try and ensure that there’s someone ready to fill my shoes as soon as they’re able to accommodate lessons once again though!

On the playing side of things, while I’ve not had any recent gigs to write about just yet, one step in the right direction came in the form of a rehearsal for some upcoming shows at a theatre here in Eastbourne across the summer season. Unfortunately the June date wasn’t able to go ahead in the end - rather, we’ll be aiming to start in July - but it was so good to see some familiar faces at this rehearsal! Some of these folks I hadn’t seen since before covid first cancelled everything, so it had been a while to say the least! The rehearsal went really well, and I can’t wait to do the shows when they get started! I’ve also been chatting with a few other folks about some potential gigs coming up later on in the year, so hopefully things will continue to pick up!

Lovely to get back on the drums outside the house!

Some upcoming show dates

A laptop trade-in (for a model I’d been keeping an eye out for on the refurb market) prompted a lot of time consuming hard drive sorting, and slightly frustratingly that ended up filling a lot of my free time this month (when I’d much rather have been practising etc!), but having that sorted is a bit of a weight off my mind… Having sorted that as well as secured plans for September with my new teaching schedule, I’m looking forward to getting a lot more practice done again in coming weeks! That said, I haven’t been completely useless on the practice front this month - I just haven’t been able to do quite the usual amount I’m used to doing!

One night, a friend and I had a fun evening comparing our snare drum collections and putting them under the mics. He was interested to see what a few of the drums in my collection could do and how they recorded, so I was only too happy to bring a boot-full of snares over for us to have a play with! It was a great excuse for me to get reacquainted with some of the snares I’ve not had the chance to use for a little while too, and while there are lots of lovely ones, we both agreed that on listening back to the recordings, the Ludwig Black Beauty came out on top!

Comparing snares with a friend - a fun night!

One milestone this month was a return to doing our drum hang in person! We had a great turnout for it, and it was great to catch up with everybody, especially as it had been such a long time since many of us had seen one another in the flesh! We mainly left this one as a chance to catch up with one another, but also threw around some ideas for things we’d like to do in the coming months. Watch this space! Quick disclaimer - the venue we met in had a capacity of 15 for indoor group gatherings, so we weren’t limited to the usual groups of 6/2x households we’ve all been stuck in for so long - which made a very welcome change!

Back in person for our drum hang!

That about wraps it up for June’s drumming activity… As you see, things are gradually continuing to move in the right direction, and I can’t wait to get back to what this all centres around soon; playing music for people to enjoy! Thanks as always for checking in and I shall look forward to catching you next time. All the best! Ed.