About Me

Introduction

Hi! I am Solomon and I live in Singapore. My birthday is on the 25th of July - I don't expect anything. I was confirmed on the 30th of August 2009 and I believe God exists.

What I Do

My life mainly revolves around two things. Web developing and playing music. I have been developing websites for more than five years, since my primary school years. I am familiar with programming languages such as DHTML, CSS and PHP. My very first hands on music - not banging around on instruments as a toddler - was in my primary school which had the MiDisarus Music programme and lessons. I also took my Grade 1 music theory under my teacher's guidance. Then I was put in band - clarinet section in Secondary one for half a year before I switched over to flute. So I have been playing the flute for about three and a half years now. I am also currently playing drums for church. I have given up on guitar but I still remember the good times in Nameless Reputation (a band with secondary school friends). Have been drumming for about two and a half years and playing the guitar for about one year. I also learnt some keyboard - pop piano (chord progressions) - from my brother and flew off from there since I already had a fair bit of music knowledge from my primary school years. I have been playing for 10 months if we are talking about chord progression.

Music I Play

Christian

Classical

Pop

Rock

Hopefully can move on to progressive and play Mike Portnoy style!

However, I don't think I will be pursuing my drumming in the metal genre though, so I shall start on jazz and hope I'll be very good at it.

What Music I Listen To
Actually I listen to many sorts of genre from classical - jazz - acoustic - pop - rock - metal. Maybe not really RnB, Hip Hop. Just to name a few, I listen to metal bands, the ones where Mike Portnoy plays in, such as Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment (probably my favourite)

Flute Concertos & Classical Pieces - Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi and many others...

Drummers That Inspire Me

Johnny Rabb

Mike Portnoy

Dennis Chamber

Akira Jimbo

Yes, it's in order.

I hope to...

I hope to be rich financially. I hope to live in a bungalow with music recording studio and a spacious performing hall with good acoustics.

I wish to have...

Roland TD-20, Roland SPDS, Yamaha Clavinova CVP 401, Collection of Gold Flutes These are probably things I'll get in long future for leisure purpose.

I am saving up for...

Korg Ochestral Tuner OT120
I bought it during CityMusic's Year End Sale 2009 for $88.

It's vital for musicians to own a tuner to build up a strong sense of pitch. OT120 offers a wide tuning range from A0 to C8 and many more features which I cannot seem to find any other better tuner than this. I have not checked its price but I think it'll cost above $100 and hope to get it from CityMusic promotions.

Roland RMP-5

Roland's Rhythm Coach, electronic drum practice pad, seems very useful to training up a drummer. A must have for me, but I doubt it can be bought in Singapore. So I'll have to take a look overseas. Probably cost S$500?

Altus 1107 - model: AS-1107ERB

• 958 Britannia silver headjoint and body
• silver plated nickelsilver mechanism
• drawn toneholes
• special soldered C#-tonehole riser
• stainless steel springs
• open holes
• inline G
• B-foot joint

"By using 958 Britannia silver, this flute obtains a wide sound with a darker colouring than the preceding instruments. Because of the modulation capacity of the sound, the notes’ carrying capacity and its dynamic range, the ALTUS 1107 is particularly suitable for the gifted and ambitious futist." - quote from Altus price list pdf. Though this model is not a professional model, but a top end artist model, I will do with it because this model alone would cost €4.865 stated on the price list, but I'm pretty sure the price is not to be converted like that to Singapore Dollars - I've checked, it cost about $6500. I think Altus is a realiable brand because I am seeing good review around the internet and am having good experience with its lowest end flute despite being made of nickel silver. Most of all I really like the design, as compared to Yamaha.

I have already purchase a Mapex QR from drum resources during its clearance sale.

Now that some time has passed, my decision of which drums to purchase has changed. Firstly, I have decided not to get lower end Pearl kits because of a few reasons. Firstly, my drum teacher seems to say that it sounds not so good. Next, I have heard Mapex drums over Youtube and they sound very very good. I have not played on a Mapex kit before, hope to try them out if possible. Currently aiming for Mapex Q as it costs below $1000, without cymbals. Actually, I really liked the Mapex QR but, pretty much out of my budget.

Old Decision: Pearl Drums around $1000. I have checked Swee Lee and come up with three decisions. Pearl Target ($960) with no drum throne but comes with a pair of hi hats and crash. Pearl Export ($1000), does not come with throne or cymbal. I guess my somewhat confirmed decision would be Pearl Forum, going at $1080 with throne, a pair of hi hats, crash and ride. Sides, it uses Pearl's Superior Shell Technology.

I have already gotten my Mapex 10" Popcorn snare.

New Decision: No point buying 2 snares for the sake of cheap. I want my main snare to be for life, or atleast, last for a very long time. So I'll just get the 10" popcorn if it is still on sale and have not been sold.

Old Decision: I'm hoping to get two black panther snares - popcorn 10" steel, 13" lacquered cherry, costing $280, $300, respectively - as soon as I have enough money.

I have purchased my Sabian AAX 13" Studio Hi Hats from Swee Lee's Sale. Original Price was $607.75, got it for $309(exculde GST). I am going to be very open regarding what crashes I'm going to use but as for ride cymbal, I'm going for the Sabian HH Raw Bell Dry Ride.

Newer Decision :: Perhaps I might get either Sabian AA or AAX for its brightness which is to my liking during the Swee Lee clearance sale, if I don't intend to buy 2 black panthers. My favorite part of the drums besides the snare is the hi hat so I need one PROFESSIONAL one. Well, of course I do have budget since I'm a student and I cannot afford a $800 over Paiste dream hats so I'll go for a Professional Sabian.

New Decision :: From all the choices of cymbals below, I still really like Paiste PST5 Hi-Hats, maybe I can get it individually as to getting a set.

I have added a new cymbal set - Paiste PST5 ($704) - 14' Hi-Hats are at $253 and Medium Crash at $173. PST 3 set is at $378, 101 set is at $260. Paiste 201 performance set ($390) vs Sabian B8 performance set ($306) vs Sabian XS20 performance set ($758) - I would prefer Sabian XS20 because it really sounds superb at such a price, better than some expensive Sabian cymbals. It really depends, I need to see if whether I do get stock Pearl cymbals. If I do and I like the ride, I might just buy the first pack (hi hats and crash) instead. I do like Zildjian but not a fan of it, their good sounding cymbals are very expensive such as the As and Ks. I actually intend to get Meinl but it seems that it is very expensive, superb sound though.

Just so happens my mountain bicycle got stolen and I ended up buying a lousy aloeca folding bicycle.

There are rules set to when commuters can bring in folding bicycles onto public transports - between certain times (non peak hours I think) on weekdays. So no point having a folding bicycle.

Old Decision: Foldable bicycle around $200. No way I can get my ideal bicycle at this price. I think I will have to do some searching. My ideal foldable bicycles are around $600 or so.

I'm bored of guitar!!!

Old Decision: I'm thinking of getting a up to standard, sort of higher entry level electro-acoustic, something that sounds real nice, unlike my current beginner, 2nd hand, near to its death, guitar. Aiming for Ibanez AEG8E at $385 (Swee Lee Online Store). Pretty neat guitar and does sound decent.

Electric guitar plus amp around $400. I will try to spend as little as possible on guitars since I already have an acoustic, I just need one to jam electronically and additional frets, but of course, the guitar has to be reasonable. I might add a couple of pedals in future.

Apparently, double glazing my windows require a change to sliding windows and much money is going to be needed, so forget it. I'm going to attempt to construct my own isolation booth from wood to put my drums in.

Old decision: Soundproof and see through windows for my room, I have no idea what's the cost.

I am not into cycling anymore. Although it's still fun and dangerous.

Old Decision: New mountain bicycle around $400. Probably Giant Boulder, I hope can find some people who are into cycling when I get to JC or poly.

I don't think I am going to eat bread at school anymore, but I don't know how it will go after the holidays. With all the money I am spending on music instruments, I might get into the music industry for all I know.

Yes, so I'm saving up for alot of expensive stuffs, so I shall continue eating bread in school. Hah, so pathetic. Uh no, I'm not materialistic or anything. Just listing down things I want to get as time to come so that I won't screw up and waste money on useless things.

Please do note that this particular page should not be relied on to find out the price of anything. It might change overtime and I may not update it.

Last updated on 16 December 2009