INTRODUCTION The drummer's world is an interesting one, with many choices. From pedals to sticks and heads, stands, gloves and all sorts of accessories, we're pretty much spoilt for choice when it comes to things to hit. One such example is the practice pad - basically a rubber pad on a solid surface, practica pads come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The Cherub DP-900 Electronic Drum Pad is a new offering by the manufacturer Cherub. Basically an electronic practice pad, it incorporates many features for the student and professional alike, making stick practice and rudiments entertaining and effective, all in one package.

OVERVIEW The drum pad is basically a single unit, combining a metronome, rubber pad, speakers and a sensor below the pad. Made out of black plastic, the yellow rubber pad makes for a striking contrast and it is lightweight enough to be carried to school or classes. The unit has a small screw at its base for use with any standard cymbal stand which allows it to be mounted. There is also a volume control for the metronome, a headphone out jack and several buttons to control the LCD interface. FEATURES The Cherub DP-900 Electronic Drum Pad comes with 2 built-in features; a metronome and a "train" mode (you'll understand when I go through it). The metronome feature is basically what it is, a metronome so you can practice in time and tempo. The BPM is adjustable from 30 to 280, and you can select quarter notes (crotchets), eighth notes (quavers) sixteenth notes (semiquavers), triplets and a bunch of mixed articulated notes. The beat can also be selected from 0 (no strong beat) to 11 (11/4 time signature for the more, um, rhythmically-insane).
An interesting feature is the "train" feature; this mode calculates each beat on the head - sort of a stick meter to measure your speed. In this mode you can select up to 4 different times (15 seconds, 30 sec, 45 sec and 60 sec) and the timer begins after the first stroke registered. This is an excellent way to train your sticking and even makes as a challenge among friends or students! My personal record stands at 254 beats in 15 seconds (which would average out to 1,000 beats in a minute) - a long way off from Mike Mangini's record of 1,247 in a minute!
CONCLUSION
The Cherub DP-900 Electronic Drum Pad is indeed an economical way to build up stamina and speed
at the drums. For the student, this is an invaluable practice tool that every serious drum
student should own; for the teacher this serves as a mobile, portable practice surface that
can be taken from class to class (might even create some rivalry among students...!) and is
worth at least taking a look at to augment their teaching material.
The Cherub DP-900 Electronic Drum Pad can be purchased at Mama Treble Clef Studio located at Lot 3015, 3rd Floor, Endah Parade, Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur or visit their website at http://www.mamatreble.com.my for more information. Now go hit something!

The song "Rasa Sayang" is a folk song in the Malay language, familiar to all, yet is the subject of much debate and discussion. Writing this from a Malaysian point of view, anyone who has spent their childhood growing up in Malaysia surely knows the song. The lyrics are as follows;

Rasa sayang, hey!,
Rasa sayang sayang hey,
Hey lihat nona jauh,
Rasa sayang sayang hey!
Buah cempedak di luar pagar,
Ambil galah tolong jolokkan,
Saya budak baru belajar,
Kalau salah tolong tunjukkan.
Pulau pandan jauh ke tengah,
Gunung daik bercabang tiga,
Hancur badan dikandung tanah,
Budi yang baik dikenang juga.
Dua tiga kucing berlari,
Mana sama si kucing belang,
Dua tiga boleh ku cari,
Mana sama abang seorang.
Pisang emas dibawa berlayar,
Masak sebiji di atas peti,
Hutang emas boleh dibayar,
Hutang budi dibawa mati.
The structure of the song is a "pantun" (pronounced parn-toon) which means a rhyme in Malay. Basically the first verse is a sort of chorus which is repeated after every pantun, each spanning 4 sentences (in this case the pantuns used are some of the most popular Malay nursery rhymes).
The song itself is in the public domain as a traditional song and does not have any copyright, no estate, no composer - which is where the controversy begins. As of recent the origins of the song have come into dispute, with Indonesia claiming that the song originates from their country and Malaysia claiming that the song is theirs. To be honest, as my teacher said, Malaysia is the fusion capital of the world when it comes to music. From Javanese to Indian, Arabic to Chinese, Malaysia is probably the only country in the world to have such a diverse and rich cultural background. Our wayang kulit and kuda kepang, while similar are actually two very different cultures. The rhythms used in Indian music here vary vastly from the ones from India, and even the Chinese culture here is very different, down to the architecture.
It is entirely possible that the song might have originated anywhere - it could have been a Javanese folk tune, a Thai folk song, maybe even from Burma or even India - who knows, really! It is also highly likely that the lyrics have been changed, the structure and ryhthm have been changed and that the song could be entirely different altogether, over time, handed down to generations. The song enjoys equal popularity in both Malaysia and Indonesia and is taught in elementary schools and kindergarten in both nations - I believe that it's an amalgamation of both cultures and we're all brothers and sisters, really. Why the dispute is beyond my comprehension!
Having said that, this is an original arrangement (yes we own the rights to this particular arrangement - it originates from Malaysia!) by the jazz-fusion band JUNK. This is a fusion of Afro-Cuban, Funk, Javanese and Malay styles all in one. Enjoy our work!