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Not Gonna Do It: 2023 Year in Review

Shall we just rip the Band-Aid off? I'm not going to make my overall playing time goal in 2022. This has been an especially up-and-down year, as I've gone through equal measures of glut and famine when it comes to my musical endeavors. 

My main goal this year was to get back into good practice habits. Unfortunately, I've struggled to find consistency. 

I knew at the outset that aiming for a combined 250 hours of playing time on banjo and fiddle was a foolhardy mission. As of this writing, I'm three hours short of even reaching the halfway mark on my goal. With just two days remaining in 2022, it's pretty clear I won't even achieve half of my goal. 

Despite my struggles this year, I'm not all doom and gloom about my playing. I've made some excellent progress with Michael Ismerio's All-Access Online Fiddle Course, learning 10 new tunes over the past 12 months. 

On banjo, I have only learned four new tunes, but I've also tried to continue to get more comfortable singing some banjo songs. That's an area I would like continue working on next year, if possible by acquiring a new instructional book to help. If you have any suggestions for a banjo tab book with lyrics, please let me know in the comments. 

I managed to attend two great local festivals, in the Lake Erie Folk Fest and Music Along the River, where I got to play tunes with some of my favorite people. I wanted to attend a new jam, but wasn't able to make that happen. I'm hoping to do so in 2023. 

In my previous post, my stated goal was to play every day until the end of the year, and so far I have managed to keep up my current streak. I'm confident I'll be able to keep this streak rolling into the New Year. 

The one area where I found some consistency is posting on a monthly basis on this blog. I appreciate all of you for continuing to follow along in my journey. I hope I have managed to provide some level of entertainment this year. I'll strive to do better in 2023.

Please be sure to subscribe to The Old-Time Herald and keep a lookout for my reviews. I turned in a handful write-ups that will hopefully be in the next issue, and I'm working on two more before the end of the year.  

Enjoy the holidays and have a happy New Year! Below, please find my highlights of 2022. 

Glory-Beaming Banjo's Best of 2022

Best vinyl acquisition: Ward Jarvis et al, Rats Won't Stay Where There's Music

Best new album: Nora Brown, Long Time to Be Gone

Best book recommendation: Well of Souls, by Kristina Gaddy 

Best YouTube series: Tune Talk, by Spencer & Rains

Best Glory-Beaming Banjo post: Remembering Christian Wig

Best Facebook post: John Brown's Dream

Best Instagram post: Step Around Johnny

Best fiddle tune learned: Roses in the Morning

Best banjo tune learned: Martha Campbell 

Best discovery: Pisgah clawhammer banjo strings

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