iDIDJ Australia Didgeridoo Cultural Hub

Having spent so much time focused on NEAL technique, WAL offers a new challenge and distinctive set of techniques. Comparatively speaking, I find that the tongue is much more fluid in the mouth in WAL- moving up and down, backward and forward with the 'impact' inflections and tongued glides.

Any thoughts?

Maybe same directions/movements as in NEAL, only shorter (see Yidaki-documentary), me thinks.

I find the opposite to be true. The musculature used in WAL style seems to be different than NEAL, employing the entire length of the tongue and more action in the cheeks. There might be superficial similarities in tongue movement, but I stand by my thoughts that the motions are rather distinctive between the two regional styles. The action of the tongue 'stronger' in a different manner.

Jason

Hi there

Im no expert in WAL style at all but perhaps the toungue have more room to move because of the size of the bore .The instrument is less reponsive compare to a tight hole yidaki ,so a wider toungue action to create accent .

GGW

I'd say that in NEAL style, the tongue movements are more compact and the attacks sharper and more forceful. You need better control at the front end and back end, a more delicate touch, for NEAL style... that is, at the very tip of the tongue, and also in the back of the throat region for shortening and lengthening the oral cavity: vital for getting those sharp inflections.

In contrast, WAL style has a more fluid tongue movement which is why I call them glides. There is no emphasis on the tip of the tongue.

The other thing I noticed too... in NEAL, it seems the focus is on the 'end result', on creating those sharp compact tongued accents. But with WAL, it seems the focus is more on the 'journey', the process of 'gliding the tongue' if that makes sense.

Anway, here are two audio clips, of Darryl's DD2. I'm trying to play both NEAL and WAL style... the overtone note is a bit tricky to hit as it is so high.

It's good to hear you play a bit, Guan, and we need to hear it more often! Bravo!



I agree with your conclusions. The hard 'stops' of NEAL are indeed the dominant 'points' in the tongue motions, resulting in those sharp 'cracking' accents and 'pops'.

Jason

Here are a couple more recordings, this time of DD6. It is a different type of instrument to DD2 which you can hear in the attempted NEAL style for both sticks.