Monthly Roundup #43 - September '21

Hello, and welcome as always to this update on what I’ve been up to lately! September has been a nice month for me, getting back to the school drum lessons after the summer holidays, as well as a few more gigs coming in, which have been a very welcome addition!

Getting back to school this September had a few changes for me… In short, there was such demand for lessons at one of my schools in particular, that I was able to take on a second day visiting there each week! It’s been wonderful to get so many new drummers started at once, but sadly the trade-off was that I had to leave another of my schools, which I unfortunately hadn’t been able to return to since COVID first locked us down back in March 2020. However, I’m pleased to at least have been able to pass that school in the direction of a friend of mine who will hopefully be able to fill my shoes as soon as they’re able to accommodate drum lessons once again! As such, my teaching schedule had a bit of a change around this September with a few schools changing days, but miraculously my school’s diaries all aligned and I was able to take on the additional day to make up for the lost one!

“Starter Packs” for some of my new students this September, containing their lesson materials

The trusty teaching kit back in regular action!

While taking on the extra teaching and changing my schedule was obviously great news, the one downside was that it came with a lot of admin time to get everything up and running! As such, for the first few weeks of term I wasn’t able to get loads of practice of my own done, but once things settled into their new rhythms, I was able to get back to it.

I’ve been delighted to have a few more gigs coming in lately as more seems to be going on! This time around I had a couple of functions with Tom Fitzpatrick (one of which was a wedding where the venue had their own legitimate fairground!), followed by a more local one on Eastbourne pier. There were also a couple of rehearsals in September for a show that took place at the start of October - but more on that next time! Sadly, we had a show at the Hippodrome Theatre with Duality which had to be cancelled at the last minute due to a positive covid test, but we’ll look forward to doing one more of those shows next month. Despite the occasional, unwelcome reminders that we still need to be careful while working around covid, t’s been a real delight to get back to regularly making music with a variety of people in a variety of settings!

Setup with Tom Fitzpatrick on the pier for a nice lunchtime function

Unfortunately, due to a combination of the lurgy going around and the fuel situation (no one being able to get their hands on any, that is!), our monthly drum hang was cancelled this time around as not enough people could make it in the end, but we’re looking forward to getting back into the swing of things again shortly!

Thanks as always for checking in and seeing what I’ve been up to lately, and I shall look forward to bringing you more updates next time with some more things lined up in the diary. All the best and catch you soon! Ed.