UK COVID Regulations Update

To all my students,

        An update based on the new COVID regulations released today:

                   For remote students: business as usual!    

                    For in-person students: be cautious, but business as usual!

        With Nottinghamshire being placed in "Tier 2", the updated restrictions apply to social gatherings rather than businesses (shops, pubs, restaurants, myself) – and in the higher “Tier 3,” shops and educational facilities would stay open where leisure facilities and hospitality businesses will close. The government is highlighting the importance of maintaining education services through all this, and so I'll be doing everything I can to safely keep things running even if Nottinghamshire or Erewash moved up to “Tier 3” in future.

Although some of my students are Nottinghamshire-based, my studio is located within Erewash, so I'm technically under “Tier 1” restrictions, which is the same 6-person rule as the rest of the country - although I encourage my Nottingham students to take extra care while the virus is at large.

        As such, I will continue business as usual for the foreseeable future – although majority of you are remote students, the minority that wish to come to the studio will still be able to while following the same social distancing guidelines I've had in place the last few weeks. I'm still disinfecting the studio between students, and making sure no in-person student are back-to-back to reduce any risk of transmission. You've all been fantastic at keeping distance, wearing masks, and cancelling lessons if you or somebody close is showing symptoms - although I normally have a late-cancellation fee, I'll be waiving this for any illness-related last-minute cancellations while the virus is looming – better safe than sorry! If I or someone near me starts showing symptoms, I'll immediately cancel all in-person lessons until I've taken a test, and then update from there.

I am confident that there are more curveballs in store, so it's possible that I'll have to post out another update if the guidelines are updated, or we move drastically beyond “Tier 3,” but hopefully this clears the confusion in the mean time. If you have any questions or concerns, you can always let me know.

As always, stay safe, stay indoors, and remember: perfect practice makes perfect!

                        All the best,

                                    Dan

Back to the Grind

    In a bit of an anti-twist, my brief foray into game sound design didn't quite pan out, although I'm very happy for the reason: I'd had a few calls, but by the time I was able to get into interviews, I suddenly had too much teaching and technician work come flooding in - so it looks like I'm back to business as usual, although I'm still composing for Inspiratio Studio and for another project that hasn't yet been announced.

 

    The studio is looking good! I've still got a few last bits to do before I can finally end my career as a painter/ decorator, but it certainly feels great to have a musical home! I'm in there every day working on something or other, but not much student footfall - although I'm now teaching in-person again (with masks, disinfectant, and social distancing), a lot of my students have embraced remote teaching from the comfort of their home! It's not quite the same, but it certainly has it's advantages! I've got a narrow few slots open at the minute, so send me a message via the Contact page if you're interested to know more!

    I don't have too many upcoming projects to discuss - my production work is functionally on hold while I reground myself with some slightly less bonkers working hours, and that unfortunately means my own music is also on hold - the Radio Eroticism - Earth Drowning record is sounding better and better, but doing a bad job of honoring "Early 2020". There's another Radio Eroticism album on the way too - but I'll talk about that next time (maybe).

    It's important to stay humble - what is easy for me can be a nightmare for my students, and "just do this" is never a good enough answer from a teacher. With that in mind, I've decided to tackle a new instrument to remind myself about those grueling beginner practice hours, with a guitar that my students have described as both "awesome" and "totally evil". It's a 9-stringed Ibanez RG9, and it certainly feels both to play... Though having the range of an entire piano (!) on a guitar is quite something! Not that I have the time to play it at the minute...

    Everyone told me that after the first few years running a business, you get to start having days off and sleeping more than 60 seconds a night again - I can't wait to find out what that's like...! As per usual, if you're interested to more about my work or availability, you're welcome to get in contact with me. In the mean time, back to the grind!

Through a Door Upwards

It feels like I'm starting to arbitrarily begin these posts with a lament about how overdue it is - anyone who tries to keep up with me by email knows what a bad habit I have!

I've contacted all of my current students already, but for anyone who doesn't know yet, this COVID business hasn't meshed with self-employment very well, and so I'm jumping in as a game development gun for hire within the broader Nottingham community! I've been cutting my teeth as an audio over the last 2 years with several projects, most notably with Inspiratio Studio for the last 18 months, but I'm interested in reapplying some of these skills in a larger team. I spent the month of May building a small playable demo I'll hopefully release soon once I've fixed a few minor bugs, but there's a video below!

Playable CV Video

I'm still teaching, but it's moving over to my secondary income stream - my biggest priority is keeping the lights on, and I feel that the best way to secure that in the long run is to admit that life has changed quite dramatically in the short term! I'm not sure quite how it'll all integrate together, but I appreciate you all persevering with me in the mean time - I think we're all struggling with the pervading uncertainty!

The studio (Degan Studios? I should probably christen it with it's own name at some point) is certainly staying open, and slowly getting closer to looking "finished"! It's certainly a space I feel very comfortable and at home in, so as it approaches it's 6-month-iversary, here's to 6 more, hopefully slightly less turbulent months!

Merry Christmas, and a busy new year!

Quoth Ferris Bueller, life moves pretty fast. I blinked for a second, and suddenly everything's turned upsidedown and I'm months behind updating my to-do list, to say nothing of my "done" list! I've just moved to The Loft in Long Eaton, where I'm currently teaching piano, guitar, drums, composition, theory, production, and so on! I'm still pretty much booked out during the "rush hour" hours of 4pm-8pm, but I've got daytime slots left for any adult students who aren't constrained by the usual 9am-5pm shift pattern!

My drumming is on the way up - I finally got around to taking my Grade 8, which I passed with Distinction, so I can finally get to working on my LTCL degree-level drum qualification - which mostly means getting to grips with Gavin Harrison's incredible material with 05Ric! I've only got the one recording session booked in at the minute, as drummer for Kyros alumni Samuel Higgins, for the as-of-yet-unlaunched band The Great Manta. The material is hard as hell, so I'm looking forward to the challenge!

Once I've cleared the immediately pressing to-do list, I'll be releasing Earth Drowning From Soil To Sky, the third Radio Eroticism release, which finally features new players and vocals! I'd previously expected to finish the 2nd Aurigae album this year, but that looks to be a long way off - I may well delay that in the Autumn while life gets in the way.

As always, I'm always up for just one more project, or just one more student, so if you're interested, send me a message and I'll find a way to fit you into my schedule! I'm hoping to get a whole lot more music made in the new decade, so if you can help me toward my goal, I can't wait to get back to work!

Success, Stress and Waiting Lists

Having survived the immediate post-graduation aftermath, I've been operating pretty successfully as a teacher and player! Thanks to a surprisingly overwhelming demand, I've now had to implement a waiting list for new students during the "after-school" hours between 4pm-8pm, since I'm totally booked up! I'm still taking new students during the daytime, but you might want to contact me to find out for sure! Since I don't update this blog very often, you should probably ask away anyway, since it'll surely be out of date by the time you read this!

I've got the occasional live and studio session coming in, and a few other projects on the boil, but have been in the grinder as far as time and energy managing the usual turmoil of life. Once that simmers down, I'll be hitting 2020 pretty hard as I gun for a bit more mixing work and video editing to fill out my daytimes, besides the usual rehearsal time!

There's not much to report at the minute - most of my band work is in stasis while we brew material, and all of the teaching work doesn't leave much to report on, although my FirstTutors reviews suggest my students are pretty happy with me! I'd better keep cracking on with that, but I'm hoping I'll have slightly more to report by the time I check in next!

First Class Degree and Finally Full-Time

After much tribulation, I'll be graduating this month with a 1st class Music degree from the University of Nottingham! On top of that, I'm very happy to have been awarded the Music Technology prize for the year! I'm pretty proud of the whole debacle, even if I'm not that bothered by an expensive piece of paper and swanning around in a goofy dress to graduate. That being said, I'll try and update this post with a picture from the ceremony next week for posterity - whoever she is...

 

Right: myself, at odds with looking so resplendant. 

Left: Richard Needham, shortly before discovering he's a trombonist.

I've been juggling a LOT of teaching work at the minute, and have very few slots left at time of writing! In order to cope, I may have to instigate a waiting list of sorts - although once I'm driving by mid-August, that should give me a few extra hours in the week for stragglers. This may have all changed by the time you're reading this, so make sure to send me a message via my contact page!

I'm overhauling the site at the minute and trying to keep everything updated. I've added one or two more old transcriptions, but will be completely removing my "composition" page, and replacing it with a "portfolio" page which will have a selection of my compositions, my drum performances, and my academic writing on game music, including the dissertation which everyone seems interested in!

I played a great session for Michela Woods' alter-ego Wilted Flower for her upcoming album Grow in the Dark last month, and am really looking forward to hearing the singles as they trickle out in advance of the album release in late September. The material already sounds fantastic, so the finishing touches should really polish it off!

I'm still writing and recording with Koyot (formerly Ambugaton, formerly Huragan, formerly NDK). Once we finally take a name, surely the world will follow - but it's some very nasty, complicated instrumental prog-metal that I'm excited to perform soon! A few clips will ooze out in the next few weeks.

My peers are highly amused that I've been playing with a local Pirate-themed covers band, Pirates Rock, at the minute. A good laugh is nothing to sneeze at  - but I unfortunately have no pictures of my outfit yet. I'm sure it'll be worth the wait, arrrrrrrrrrrr!

I've also started rehearsals for two more metal projects - and will be announcing them as they come together a little more, but I'm very excited for the material! Managing all the projects, teaching, making sure I'm above the breadline and generally staying alive is proving as tricky as I expected it would be, but I'm pretty content to say that by sustaining all this, I'm living the dream. I'm a little too antisocial for working in pubs and clubs, but I'm still amazed every time someone gives me money just for rambling about music!

The next 6 months will be the real test of my mettle as a musican - but I'll let you know how it goes! If you want to help out, hire me as a drum, piano, guitar, theory, composition or production tutor - or as a session drummer! I'm always happy to carve out an extra hour in the day if it's fitting in more music work!

Spring, Summer and sooner!

At long last, my music degree is finally drawing to a close: after a very successful winter term, I am on the cusp of submitting the last few bits of music production work and my 12,000 word dissertation on sound design in multiplayer first-person shooters - which will be available to read very shortly! I'll hopefully know my degree classification by July, but I've got a good feeling...!

Teaching has picked up dramatically, so I've only got a handful of afternoon slots left - although plenty of time for morning lessons, for any early risers! My FirstTutors streak of 5-star reviews remains unbroken at time of writing - accusations include 'friendly, approachable, knowledgeable, patient, trustworthy,' and the most damning of all, 'a natural teacher.' I must admit, I do enjoy it - particularly when it means pushing other people toward the music  and musicians I admire most!

Gigs and recording work have cleared up a little since Christmas. The upcoming Shadow of Acolyte album is morphing into something strange and new, and while I won't be hitting drums on the album, I can already confirm that the material is excellent - and that there are a few very interesting names attached to the project! The Sakura material has shifted back into the capable hands of the guitarist, and so I'm back on the shelf until the situation moves back toward live performance. It isn't all bad news, though - Ambugaton have been recording some very complex, dark and serious music - as evidenced by a particularly dark and serious photograph below. Some recordings should appear in the coming weeks - hopefully for real, this time.

I'll be taking on a lot more recording and gigging work over the next few months. Thus far, I've been hauling drum gear on the bus, which is NOT FUN AT ALL - and so I'll be very happy to be driving in the next couple of months!

I've got a few more projects up my sleeve, which I'd do better to cryptically keep secret until they're slightly closer to completion - but not all just straight music projects! Watch this space - and my project list - for more information coming soon!