This year has been somewhat eventful and not always in a good way. Some notable positive events have come to pass that I’d like to highlight here. Thanks to all my students, fellow teachers, youtube subscribers, readers, and collaborators for all your hard work this year!

• I published three books in 2024! My first edition reprint of The Moeller Book (with ALL the pages put back where they belong, unlike some other editions), my unique study of Italian Rudimental Drumming (the only secondary source on the topic, and the only source of any kind in the past century), and my annotated reprint of the British classic Side Drum Tutor, not available in print for many decades prior.
• The LAHS Topper Marching Band participated in this year’s inaugural NMAA state championship and came back with third place in 4A, scoring within 0.04 points of the winner. It was extremely close. My drumline also placed third in 4A with a score that put them about 9th best in the state, even among larger 5A bands. I’m pretty happy with that result. Work left to do, but a great effort for the first ever state competition. I’m also probably getting 9 of the 10 students back again next year. Watch out in 2025!
• Two of my private students were selected for a New Mexico All-State ensemble in concert percussion. There have not been many Los Alamos percussionists to make All-State in the recent past, so this is a big deal for them and for me. They did a great job and practiced a lot outside of my lessons, obviously. The last one I know of was in 2018, I think. I have been teaching in Los Alamos for 6 years, so the current seniors were in 7th grade when we started working together; the juniors were in 6th grade, of course. Hopefully, more of my long-term students can make the ensemble as they age into the upper end of high school in the future.
• I released my Rudimentia app with Scott Gardner. I have never been involved with an app before, but I think we managed to create a good practice companion for Encyclopedia Rudimentia as well as a generally unprecedented resource for guided rudimental practice.
• I have scaled back a bit on youtube this year, managing to average just over two video per month. I hit 12,000 subscribers and it is still an interesting endeavor, but the revenue is not worth the time invested. I do not have the magic touch that the algorithm is looking for, at least most of the time. I will continue to post videos sometimes, but not with great frequency, especially during marching season.
• I started playing the tuba this year. I have managed to work my way through a couple of beginner books, so I would say that I have achieved a passable 7th grade level of competency. I can play the middle school regional honor band audition music, but not spectacularly well. I cannot get through the high school regional honor band music and I did not even look at the all-state excerpts, so I am decidedly below the high school level. Not too bad for a drummer.
• In my private lesson studio, I current have 19 regular students and a waiting list with several names on it (sorry wait-listers, spots will open up with seniors graduating. Eventually.). My students are in school band from the elementary through high school levels and many participate in Santa Fe Youth Symphony Jazz Project ensembles as drum set players, vibrophonists, or hand percussionists. Six of them made my drumline in marching band this year, including all five flat drum spots, and a seventh was the section leader of the front ensemble. They’re doing really well on the whole.

I am hoping for a good 2025! I will almost certainly publish another instructional drum book, very likely an original rudiment book that dives deeper into each rudiment than Encyclopedia Rudimentia did, though it will have far fewer, and will focus more on contemporary American playing than Rudimental Grand Tour, but will have a little bit of history stashed in it. Its shaping up to be a good method for the less experienced modern player, rather than a world survey or a giant encyclopedia… not that those are bad things!

See you there.