I've been dealt a blow in bringing my final set together with my bass player telling me he won't be able to play 'Selkies' by Between the Buried and Me. It is a very difficult tune technically, very fast, and it doesn't surprise me he's having trouble. Having put a lot of hours into working on my double bass drum technique largely for this song, I'd like to keep it in the set, but it will now mean finding another bass player to play it or else finding a different piece to play. Either way could be hard at this notice with the performance only about 3 weeks away, and if we choose a different piece it would almost certainly be a simpler one which could take something away from the performance. I'm weighing up and will have to make a decision soon, ahead of our next rehearsal if possible.

Work on my other pieces is going well though. My bass drum technique, although still not quite at the level it would need to be for 'Selkies', has come on quite a lot, and I can play quite comfortably through the Dance of Eternity. I played each of the pieces in my final lesson with Rich, my drum teacher, and he gave me some feedback and areas that I could work on, which I've also been addressing. I've spent a fair amount of time on the fills in 'Sound of Muzak', analysing some of Gavin Harrison's live performances of the track, and developing ideas of my own. Similarly with 'Island Magic', which is really coming along, I've been considering ideas for the drum solo, which is quite lengthy and gives me plenty opportunity to showcase my abilities.

I've also spent a considerable amount of time configuring my drum kit for the performance, and working at acquiring the equipment I need. I've bought a new set of cymbals, including new hi-hats, ride and crash cymbals as many of old ones were outdated, and set them up along with some of my others to create a dynamic setup I'm happy with. I've also taken two of my old cymbals and created a stack that will work well for sections on the Dance of Eternity and Subdivisions, and for effects on the other songs. I'm pleased with the setup I have now, and have found it fits very nicely with the set. The only thing I'm missing is a way of mounting a second set of fixed hi-hats. Although I don't have this at home it will be easy to produce on the day of the performance if I bring my own hi-hat stand and use one of the college's.