Entry 4: Xymox Reserve Snare Pads

Are you more of an advanced drummer? Do you prefer playing traditional or drum line type material? Do you prefer getting quality hardware over cheap hardware? If you are thinking yes to any of these questions I think you should keep on keep ‘in on with your reading of this blog! Today I will be discussing the Xymox Reserve Snare Pads from Xymox Percussion.

When I first saw this practice pad was when I was teaching one day, it was as if the room was a whole new color. When I turned to look it was solid glossy, fiber-glass material in the center where you strike it which I thought was odd at first. The rim and the body of this particular Xymox pad where a nicely matching neon yellow and white with black bolts, which was something I had never seen before. I questioned the student who owned it and he told me about it and I was astonished to hear it was custom pad that he had chosen all the colors for including the sponge on the bottom. It looked similar to the one below but with the Kevlar head.

After teaching that day I went home and did some research on this amazing practice pad and was blown away at the color options for each particular part on the pad. The options to make it a Kevlar or carbon fiber head, the night sky finish on the base, or the option to make the rim mango colored are all so new to the whole experience of buying a snare pad. There are also snare beads that you can get with your pad to make it sound even more like an actual snare pad and this is what made me fall in love. It seems anything you want they can make some variation of that will shock people when they see. The possibilities for creativity just expanded through the player and to the actual snare pad.

There is a cheaper version licensed by Xymox but it is made by Ahead. It has some of the same features included it is just obviously a cheaper product because the metal rim and the single option of white and black. They look very similar but the Ahead version has a rim that absolutely destroys sticks and the snare beads are not as loud throughout the entire surface of the pad according to multiple YouTube review channels. 

Other YouTube channels showcase the Xymox snare pads exclusively while showing off their chops. 

Videos like this make me want to stop all my school work, forget about every assignment, and practice. Kids that can shred like this make me so jealous with the amazing Xymox drum pads and insane amounts of stick tricks that never cease to amaze. Not only is the player in the video a great drummer (Garret Kimmel), but the snare pad itself shines so bright in this video because of the amazing combination of hardware. One can find a bunch of videos like this if you search Xymox Reserve snare pad. If you are a tenor player they have something fro you too so check it out.
These new practice pads are fresh and sound great to play on. If you are looking to spend a little money, now would be a great time to check these bad boys out. 

Entry 3: The Technology I Use

Most think of technology as the smartphone or computer you are reading this blog on, or the GPS that gets you to point B, or the microwave that cooks frozen turkey breast in 5 minutes. The technological spectrum goes way beyond these few items. For instance, as a drum-kit player the new electric drum set technology is so amazing compared to some of the cheaper models. This Roland TD-12S V-Stage  kit with the a pretty nice console that had more sounds and less plastic that made it a bit more realistic to play on is fair piece of equipment . I have played on these for more than 5 years at my job where we teach on these particular sets. My boss Brett Frederickson and I think these sets are great, although some of the wiring components have shorted out after the 10 years of constant abuse. They still play very well and help the user to feel more comfortable on an electric set. We all want to play the acoustic but let’s be honest; you can’t stay up to late or in a dorm/apartment with an acoustic set.

Picture of the Roland TD-12S V-Stage. 

The new sets are nicer looking but they lack feeling in the rim and content available in the console. Some of the new technology available is better dynamic range, downloadable sounds though USB, more sounds, and DI (digital input) capability for recording and playing live. This new Roland TD-K V-Pro has a very fresh feel to it that makes it even more similar to your regular acoustic set. The look is more appealing with the different toms and cymbals but the big difference is the range of sound when trying to articulate high and low in a song.

Roland TD-K V-Pro

The High Hat cymbal is now two pieces and you can open and close it without any skipping or missing the trigger. The accuracy of this new High Hat makes for a much more realistic drum sound that you can hardly ever find in electric drums. I would love to convince Brett into getting a couple of these to teach on but he likes his TD-12S enough to hang on to. New technology inspires new creativity and I am very excited to see a new generation of technological drummers. One can easily slip away into a groove with no intentions of coming out. All the hope in the world to make silence means nothing as long as there is a beat. From that beat there is life and happiness, intellection and drive to become the best. From all this you have a new age go technological drummers. 

Entry 2: Superbowl time!

Taking a break from the regular grind of teaching Rug rats is nice every once and a while but this time there is food...And lots of it. The Super Bowl is an awesome time in American history where everyone gets together like a holiday to eat and enjoy an amazing game. Except for last year when Payton Manning and the Broncos were blown away by the Seattle Seahawks in a 43-8 point defeat. Hopefully this year will be a bit different considering both teams are expected to do well. It is hard to believe the number of people that watch this one game because not too many people watch the regular season.  According to Anthony Riccobono in his online article, How Many People Watched the Seattle Seahawks vs. Denver Broncos? 111.5 million People were watching Super Bowl XLVIII, which means more than a third of the entire U.S. population were watching the last game of the season.  But how many of those people watch the actual season games? Even more than that, most would not even pay attention to football if their home team was not winning. Why do we, as Americans (although not all Americans) feel the need to become attached to the winning teams although we do not even follow the sport?

Most just like to feel better in sharing success with a team that is somehow related to, whether it be because they were born their or because they have family from there or they just like the colors on the jerseys. It gets very irritating when people are very nonchalant about the regular season until week 16, and it is like they have been a fan since birth. In my opinion if you don’t like the sport enough to watch it until the last game then don’t bother watching the last couple games cause you already missed that team play so much already. Some might not have the time to devote to follow a team all season but if you are not watching the games why bother pretending to care about the sport. I can agree that it can be very boring sometimes to watch a football game now with all the commercials and pauses of the game, but the athleticism is something to be admired. Players are so devoted to their teams and people are making a mockery of their hard work by only tuning in to one game a year. Ironically, this year I was not so into football due to the fact that I had other things I preferred to do with my time. It is funny to think that just last year I was playing fantasy football and following player injuries, yet this year I barely managed to hear how my own team, The Packers, made it to the playoffs again.

If you ask me why I am going to watch the Super Bowl this year it is only because I want to see the Seahawks lose, because they always manage to get lucky and beat the Packers when it matters most. Now I can kind of understand the reasoning behind watching the last game of the season but I still believe appreciating the players who play the sport as well as the sport itself. Do you watch every game of the season? Are there people in your life who only like to watch the Super Bowl, or are you one of those people yourself? Let me know in the comments below.

Entry 1: Blog Reviews

Today in my English 101 class, our professor issued an assignment to look up some blog accounts and give our opinion on the blogs as well as our opinion on blogging as a whole. In doing this research I came across multiple blogs that I liked and did not like, yet still came upon some that were extremely fascinating. I found myself stuck on one blog account for almost an hour looking at pictures and reading all the crazy/amazing things people are talking about.

In my opinion blogs are great! For most it is an outlet of the authors humor, a way to talk to peers in a non-direct, yet professional manner or some are just information that people should defiantly know about. Whatever the case may be, I strongly believe that blogging is a healthy way to write, and can be used for so many reasons that can help tons of authors reach out to millions people. Because we live in such a high-tech society, there is not a better way to communicate with the amount of people that hop through the Web. For instance, Jenny Lawson is a highly successful blogger/author who has been blogging for years on a multitude of things. Including motherly advice, a game similar to Scrabble called Crapscrabble, and videos/photos of her cats and kids. What is important here is her freedom to write whatever she feels without any restrictions for anyone to see. This is a very healthy activity that I am so glad to now be apart of. 

The first blog I came upon was The Bloggess and I was stuck for nearly an hour reading about someone's life who I knew nothing about. I now know the names of her cats as well as a common family game she plays when she has company. Feeling as though I have been friends with this women for years now, I began to sense a a type of reader/author relationship with a women who does not even know I exist. I feel this way because she has given so much insight into her life and I can relate to some of the kooky family stuff and enjoy reading about her hilarious cat stories. What really kept me reading was the fact that none of the entries were too overwhelming in length and she never strayed from talking about one of the things that matters a lot to me: family is a very important aspect of life.

The next blog I am going to discuss was not as interesting. This blog was written by Mark Gurman, the senior editor of 9to5mac, who has done some very amazing things, and is only in his freshman year at collage. The man's credentials are not what makes this blog crappy because trust me he is impressively knowledgeable of computers and all Apple related material. What made this blog "not so great" in my opinion was the lack of personality that the blog had as well as the fact that it did not relate to me in any way. I am sure there is an audience that would actually find the weekly Apple updates fascinating, but that is just not for me. I am a bit smarter when it comes to OS X Yosmite 10.10.2, but I do not think i will ever be applying this to any conversations or problems I am faced with. Especially since I own an android product. 

Finally, the last blog I am going to report is on World War II written by Martin Cherrett. This amazing blog covers just about everything that happened in the second world war day by day. Cherrett's blog is full of fascinating details about the war that they do not teach you in history class, as well as videos and pictures from the 1940's. For example, I learned that the people who arrived at Auschwitz were divided into groups: strong, weak, and then young children and old/impaired were just exterminated, but not before the weak took their clothes and shoes for sorting. Watching the videos and seeing the images really helps you to understand the gravity of how terrible the Nazi army actually was. I enjoy reading about these thing because it is something that happened to America and war is never a boring topic.

I am actually grateful to have started this assignment on blogger and intend to use it after this eight week course is over. The blogs I found that I did like were worth coming back to so intend to do just that. For those of you who have not had a chance to check out some of these amazing blogs I recommend you check some out at The 25 Best Bloggers, 2013 Edition or at The Top 50 Blogger Powered Blogs to start your blogging journey. I can almost guarantee you will like this more then whatever social media website you are stuck to and ever so tired of.

 Have a merry blogging experience!

Introduction to my Blog

Hello! My name is Roger! I am 19 years old and  I live in Phoenix, AZ. I attend Glendale Community College. I am majoring in Communications, and minoring in music. I want to become a drum teacher of my own because I already teach drums for my original instructor, but there is no real money in that unless you start a private business of your own like my boss Brett Frederickson. I linked Brett's website at the bottom if you are at all interested. The first lesson is free! My hobbies include playing the drums, writing drum music, teaching drums, and watching Netflix with my girlfriend and hanging out with her amazing family(as shown below, this is just a few of the many relatives that I have been so reluctant to meet). Family is very important to me, as well as my education, so i plan on taking this assignment head on. I hope that some of you can relate to me and my blog, and my wacky drum filled life. http://www.drummersrule.net/