If you had asked me on Christmas, 2019, how 2020 was going to go, I would be off by 180 degrees. I would have said I was looking forward to shedding with a Yacht rock group, and looking forward to playing weekly gigs starting around March. We had a good fall of 2019, and gathered a lot of interest, and had already booked some venues well out into September of 2020. I would have said I was looking forward to maybe picking up a few more students (15 at the end of 2019, which was enough with other things I was doing) to get about 20. Basically, global pandemic was not on the list of things for 2020.
Yet here we are. End of 2020. Finally. So, what DID I do in 2020?
I did learn a little bass. I bought a Roland Handsonic to learn how to play some more percussion. I bought a harmonica, and learned a little bit of how to play that. Worked on my pedal board. Practiced. Mostly though, I was one of the very fortunate ones to keep my employment during the pandemic. My “day job” is education, and we got paid through the pandemic. We worked through the pandemic. I got to learn lots of Google stuff (and got several certifications as well, Educator Level 1 & 2, and Administration). I help architect moving one campus to Canvas. I even dusted off the programming skills and wrote a program (script) that pulls enrollments from a state mandated system into our canvas. Evidentially no other school in the state of California has this, nor had it ever been written. Props to me and the hours figuring it out.
I also discovered a WEALTH of YouTube channels. Some saxophone related, some general music related. No real order to these (sorta alphabetical)
- 10 Minute Jazz Lesson and Nick Mainella– Seriously, he needs more subscribers. Great channels, and podcast. Jazz, sax, and improv.
- Alex Hahn – Saxophonist
- Riffs, Beards & Gear – Mostly guitar, but a lot of music gear reviews and I love the rate and roast thing. I’m submitting a picture for it soon.
- Adam Savage’s Tested – Mythbuster still rockin it.
- Internet Today – Internet news and stuff. I like these two.
- Booth Junkie – Microphone, voice over, music tech.
- Podcastage – Another microphone, music tech channel.
- Auralnauts – Funny stuff. Love their takes on stuff, and the Kylo Ren stuff.
- Chad LB – Saxophonist. Good stuff. Needs hair cut desperately.
- Beatbox Sax – Derek Brown…..it’s cool stuff I’ve been trying to learn.
- Business Blaze, Megaprojects, TopTenz, Biographics, Sideprojects, Today I Found Out – Simon Whistler. He has a ton of channels. I can listen to him for days
- ColinFurze – Crazy maker
- CrazyRussianHacker – Crazy tester of things
- Dan Forshaw – Came across this channel late. Don’t like a LOT of the stuff on it, but there is stuff on it worth watching.
- Dave Matthews Band – They had a weekly concert series for a while. So good.
- DeMarius Jackson – He needs to have more subscribers. He does great videos.
- Doctor Thunder – Another who needs more subscribers. He does some great interviews.
- First We Feast – Food related. Hot wing challenge. Good stuff.
- Fraser Cain – Space and Astronomy stuff.
- Insaneintherainmusic – Video/Anime music. Really good.
- Jeff Anoniuk – Great weekly jazz tutorial videos
- Jeff Coffin – DMB saxophonist.
- Leonid Vorobyev – This is a HOT channel that they do Chicago and other arrangements. I think they sound better than Chicago. Well done channel.
- Lockpickinglawyer – I don’t really have a desire to pick locks, but I find this guy amazing. He can just……do magic.
- Rafal Jedruch – He’s more active on Instagram, but he sounds great and has the microphone I lust over (Sennheiser 441)
- Samuel Kim Music – Amazing arrangements of songs. Like……next level good.
- Scary Pockets – The guy who is part of PomplamooseMusic and the founder of Patreon has a band where they do funk. It’s good. Also check out Pomplamoose as well.
- Sharp Eleven Music – They put out some great videos.
- Scott Paddock – Great saxophonist. Good stuff on his channel.
There are probably more things out there too, but these have been a wealth of entertainment during this shitty 2020 year. If you have any other channel recommendations, let me know.
