iDIDJ Australia Didgeridoo Cultural Hub

I have been really bored with my shoulder injury and looking for some kind of didge related stimulus lately, so have been lurking on the forums. I figure I'll jump in here. The passive voice debate cracks me up, but it is intriguing. I have my own thoughts about based on what I feel happening in my own playing

What I have found is that different instruments provoke different resonances in the throat and the resulting intervals/interference patterns are different stick to stick. If I let the throat open up, most sticks will provoke their own interval, or I can consciously hum a particular tone. Sometimes an instrument will not respond at all to a particular interval. The yidaki that most provoke a real trad sound for me also provoke a minor seventh passive voice. The same instruments support/amplify a hummed minor seventh plus octave. This is the interval heard on the Hard tongue and many of Larry Gurruwiwi's recordings for example. The fifth is too pure, does not have the melancholy bluesy sound of the seventh, and the third is much more characteristic of WA mago type playing. I'll post a few sound clips later

The relationship you describe (minor 7th) is the same as the one I'm talking about as evidenced in the second clip here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_seventh

I was told that the note I added most of the time was the 'perfect fifth' in relation to the respective fundamental, but perhaps that's not the case (although the minor 7th on that wiki site refers to 'inverted perfect fifths'). Anyway, terminology aside I think we're talking about the same thing.

As an aside, I once had a stick that would whistle (throat singing style) when the PV was applied and the tongue moved to the retroflex position and pushed forward a bit. I've never played another stick that produced that sound.

Kyle

Yes, B flat is the minor seventh of C, but I don't get the inverted fifth reference at all. In terms of musical intervals:
-the inversion of C to B flat is B flat to C which is a major second.
-C's fifth is F, if you invert them, F's fourth is C.

Based on the Physics of the didge, a didge minor seventh is probably technically a harmonic not a well tempered interval, but that's pretty much splitting hairs

I'm out now!!!! totally lost in all the technical jargon and music terminology as I have no understanding of these things at all, 5th's, 10th's octaves, intervals, minors, majors etc! Will just keep it simple and try to play what sounds right.

Paul

It is not too complicated Paul,

Sing a major scale, i.e. sing the scale in the Sound of Music's: Doe a deer a female deer, ray a drop of golden sun etc... That song is about the major scale.

For didge, the pitch of the drone technically speaking is the "tonic" note that determines the key. Each interval we are referring to is the number of steps based on a major scale above the tonic or pitch of the drone.

Hence if you have a didge in C, The second is D, third E, fourth F, fifth G, sixth A, seventh B and octave C. This is the major scale DO, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, DO.

The interval between each tone in the major scale is either a half step or a whole step which is comprised of two half steps. All intervals in the major scale are whole steps (two half steps) except E to F, and B to C which are half steps.

Between the whole steps are half steps. These are called sharps and flats. A sharp is one half step higher than the pitch specified, for example, C sharp is one half step higher than C, and a flat is one half step lower than the specified pitch, for example D flat is one half step lower than D. As it tuns out since both C sharp and D flat split the whole step C to D, they are in fact the same half step in between C and D, i.e. they are the same note or pitch.

This note in the C major scale doesn't sound right, so it is essentially skipped over when singing the major scale. If played in a purely C major tonality it essentially would sound like a wrong note or mistake. But I digress...

I used the term "minor" seventh. This means the same thing as the "flat seventh" B is the seventh tone in the key of C, so the minor seventh in C is B flat.

This flat/minor seventh is a note characteristic of blues sound and technically speaking a "dominant" chord tonality, and it is a characteristic passive voice tone I hear in Yolngu Yidaki playing including Milkay's hard tongue recording.

In mago playing often one of the most characteristic and pleasing passive voice pitches is the third which in the Key of C would be E.

I'll post a sound file later today or tomorrow for you to hear the different intervals in use with yidaki and mago. Unless you are tone deaf all this explanation should make sense when you actually hear it.

Hi Ben

Thanks, I think I am getting the idea now?! So, if you have an F yidaki the 2nd is a G the 3rd an A and the fourth a B ??? what then is the 7th? + is there some kind of chart I can use to find the 7th on all Didge keys ie how does the 7th vary if you are using an F# yidaki for example? Sorry to be such a nerd but this is something I have never had anything to do with until I started getting interested in playing the didge. look forward to the sound files

Thanks Paul