Tuesday, 16 December: There I was at my computer when I’m compelled (I forget by what) to check the inbox of an e-mail account that I don’t often visit because I have mail-forward set up on it. It occurred to me at that moment that the mail-forward function won’t handle messages filtered out into the spam folder, so I go take a peek therein as well.
Jolly good thing I did, too: two weeks previously, a local optometrist (someone who had enrolled his kids in our Suzuki string program years ago) had e-mailed me with an offer of Christmas gigs – lots of them – at the two optometrists’ outlets that he co-owns. “Damn”, I thought, I’d better get back to him, STAT. An hour later, the number of gigs (and the related remuneration amount) had been agreed to, the contract was signed, and Paolo had a slew of well-paying gigs locked in for the week before Christmas. Love it when that happens.
Lessons to be learned: 1) Check your e-mail accounts – all of them, including the spam folders – regularly; 2) Take care of business immediately: 3) Stay on the best of terms with past benefactors – you never know when one of them is going to make your Yuletide bright (and lucrative); 4) Be sure to thank them, profusely and publicly – so: deepest thanks to Dr. Donald (Santa) Williamson of FYI Doctors for the work.
That series of gigs for FYI Doctors marks the end of a satisfactory 2025 in the life of Your Humble Servant. Now that we’re into the season of celebration, culinary over-indulging, and [ahem] Proactive Lawn-Watering (the snow’s gotta go somewhere, right…?), I finally have the time and inspiration to update you all on The Year that Was 2025:
– In January of this year, I was hired by the Manitoba Department of Health as part of their Artists in Healthcare program. Since then, I’ve been playing one three-hour shift a week in Acute Care at the Brandon Regional Health Centre – 1.5 hours in the Cancercare lobby, and 1.5 hours in the Palliative Care ward. The regular gig is great to have, both for the consistency that it has injected into my life and the sense of profound meaning that it brings to my art. There’s something very powerful and yet truly humbling about using your talents to salve the emotions of those going through some of the rawest moments in their lives.
– As mentioned in earlier blog posts, I had a couple of adjudication trips this year. The Winnipeg Music Festival hired me in March for the third time; late July found me adjudicating guitars at the CanWest Festival in Saskatoon. Again, my deepest thanks to the terrific folks of both organizations for placing their trust in my work.
– August brought some sad news from Prince Edward Island: former UPEI guitar professor (and my teacher for two summers in the early 1990’s) Paul Bernard left us after a long, valiant struggle with Parkinson’s – details are on the In Memorium page.
– The 2025-26 academic year is the first in which I’ve been doing the majority of my Conservatory teaching out of my home. Instead of a 5-minute walk from home to the School (which, let’s face it, has been pretty damn convenient for virtually all my professional life so far), I now have a 20-step commute from my kitchen to my teaching studio in (what used to be) the living room of my house. Life in Brandon has been good to me, that’s for sure!
– I paid my first visit to Edmonton in November, for the inaugural national conference of Suzuki Music/Musique du Canada, a recently-formed national member organization under the wing of the Suzuki Association of the Americas. The conference itself was quite satisfying (I presented a session on the Papageno subplot of Sor’s Variations on “O Cara Harmonia”, Opus 9). The drive out there was a bit of a white-knuckle adventure: just east of Edmonton, I was second-guessing my decision to forego winter tires while my Mazda was fishtailing on black ice. Fortunately, there was no traffic in the immediate vicinity, and I kept the car on the road. Suffice to say that the tire situation has been addressed.
– Late last year, I found myself in a largely-country cover band called Kaw-Laija. There have been a few paying gigs since then; I’m also looking at it as an opportunity to play for people who would otherwise not hear me. Will it translate into more students and solo gigs? I guess we’ll see what 2026 has in store…
– Speaking of teaching: the Conservatory guitar program is gradually rebuilding and the teaching schedule is getting refilled. Drop me a line if you want in on it!
All the best for the Yuletide season, my fellow guitar-apes – may 2026 be everything you want it to be.
Cheers from The Guitar Shack;
Paul