Pat Munroe - 2020 The Year to Reboot!
What a year it has been, where do I start?
My thoughts and plans for 2020 started off quite strong and positive, soon to be mashed up with Corona impacting on my life with great force.
Running my own company, ‘Panetiquette’, hit me hard as I was no longer allowed to bring my services of face to face tuition to schools and colleges and mainly to my adult classes in and around the wider communities due to them not having their own pans or having the use of them at home was a real big issue.
Being also a Peripatetic Music Leader/Conductor with Leicestershire Schools Music Service this issue became real predominant as lockdown meant that I could not go into schools and do my whole class tuition throughout key stage 2 pupils or school bands and my Saturday morning steel orchestra, again with players not having pans at home caused a major problem.
Managing ‘Contrast Steelband’, was probably the easiest but most challenging part of 2020, although we had numerous gigs/ performances postponed/cancelled it gave us time as a band to re-launch ourselves, recording and releasing 5 virtual videos.
Practicing alone on Zoom soon became no fun but it gave me a chance as a performer/player/ instructor/tutor; time to reboot, see and work on my own strengths and weaknesses with Pan and Life as a Whole!
Honestly, I could not have survived 2020 without my Pans and my two sidekicks, Thelma Davis-Simon and Donna Munroe, who are also the voices behind Contrast, but my biggest Praise and Strength is My Mother!
Blessings, Strength and Pan For 2021. X
Pat Munroe
Panetiquette
Steelpan Instructor/Consultant
Leicestershire Schools Music Service Music Leader/Conductor
Contrast Steelband
BAS Regional Representative (Central)