iDIDJ Australia Didgeridoo Cultural Hub

Hello to all,

I have only been playing didgeridoo for 1 month but am fascinated by the NEAL traditional style already. I have a termite-hollowed hardwood natural finish D-note didge that likes to grumble. I bought it in Cairns for $100 and its kinda halfway between a C1 and C2 on the iDIDJ authenticity scale. I can make variations of the drone, circular breathe with slow rhythms, do the kookaburra, dingo and frog as well as some rough tooting. These are all good fun but I really want to learn the traditional way of playing this culturally significant instrument. I also love that dry raspy sound that you hear when the masters play on youtube eg Larry Winiwini. Is that sound only achieveable from an expensive higher key (eg E and F) instrument? Is a didgeridoo and a yidaki identical? Can anyone teach NEAL style lessons in the Sydney region?

I apologise for the silly questions and the life story, but this is my first post. I am ignorant but very willing to learn. All feedback is very welcome and much appreciated.

Im glad to have found iDIDJ.

Best wishes,

Nick

Hey Nick.... we must be kindred spirits or something. I live in Sydney, I started Didge a few weeks ago, I'm particularly interested in learning NEAL, and maybe a little WAL, to stay authentic to the instrument and it's origins, and I have just bought a natural finish, eucalyptus/termite eaten, D# Didge I got for just under $200...... AND, I posted this exact same question in the playing technique section of the forum, so I'd love to here a detailed answer to this question too!! Good to meet you brother!

Hi Adam,

Nice to meet you too. Yes it does sound like we are on the same wavelength here. I went back and read your other post, it was a very good question. I have also now realised that the questions I put forward have already been asked and answered previously. Oops, no points for situational awareness. Anyway, like you I have wanted to give my didge to an experienced NEAL player to see what kind of sound I can realistically expect to achieve from it and hence whether or not I am whipping the proverbial dead horse. Apparently, there are NEAL teachers in Sydney as enquired by "khannan31" who was answered by "rodeo" who might have specific details on hand. Check it out, meeting a NEAL teacher face to face is probably the way to go at our level as the cd's arent much help if you are like me and have no idea how to get started. Hmmm.....

Welcome Nick, hope you enjoy your time here. You'd be hard pressed to find any trad teachers in Sydney, there are probably a handful of guys there who know a little but your best bet would be Arnhem Land. Don't make the mistake of learning "inauthentic trad" - it takes a lot of unlearning if you start off on the wrong footing, tis good that you're new to didge which means everything ought to be fresh to you, soak it all up

Guan

Welcome Adam and Nick nice to have you here

good to see you have chosen the "trad" path... be warned it's addictive!!! but the ONLY way to play the didge in my opinion

Paul

Hello Guan and Paul,

Firstly, thank you both very much for the welcoming messages.

Guan, you have warned against learning "inauthentic trad" and starting off on the wrong foot. How does an inexperienced beginner identify and steer clear of "inauthentic trad"?

I have since subscribed to the iDIDJ youtube channel and ordered the Milkay Mununggurr hard tongue instructional CD. Acquiring a yidaki is next on the list but it seems not to be an easy thing to do....

Nick

Yes the Milkay CD is a good introduction to learning the basics to trad NEAL styles of playing and you will feel great when you are able to play a couple of dhirrl, dhirrl's in succession, I know I did!!!! It's a long road though but worth every effort as you begin to be able to create trad style rhythms of your own. I generally use Guan's youtube clips for practise as the playing styles, abilities and variations are many and enough for a lifetime of practise. In what way is acquiring a mandapul (current name used for a yidaki now) "not easy"? Financially?, what type/key to buy?, type of sound you are after? You can always mail /phone Guan who should be able to point you in the right direction if you know what you are after yourself. Listen to his sound clips, find something you like and go from there.... good luck Paul

I think just listening to a lot of material at the start helps, it gives you the baseline knowledge. Just listening to one track or watching one YouTube clip incessantly can help too. It depends on how much of a hardcore purist you want to be. At the extreme end you might also want to read everything ever published on the Yolngu and didgeridoo, trawl the web for info (books and journals are still way better than anything on the web though the web is getting better with modern ways of expressing ideas and concepts), and plan a trip to Arnhem Land!

At this early stage, I would avoid any tuition material, that's just going to confuse you. Let the music permeate your being first, "feel" the essence and melodies you hear, the harmonies, the timings, the pauses. Do this for several weeks and make it a habitual thing... if you're an iPod user, you could create a playlist containing just trad music and trad didgeridoo playing. Meanwhile, try to emulate some of the sounds and rhythmic patternings you hear, perhaps record yourself and playback for comparison with original trad. If you haven't got a trad instrument or even a didge, try emulating some didgeridoo patternings with your mouth. Its good practice, Yolngu do it too!

The thing is, the more steps removed we are from the source, the more likely we are going to encounter experiences and material that might lead us astray or down the wrong path, and we wouldn't know any better for it. Its kinda like a Catch 22 situation lol... we need to step out of that to see things from a distance n to get a good perspective. Which is kinda funny too because I had an idea for a project with one of the Arnhem Land greats to produce an advanced tuition CD/DVD package but I'm still exploring what other options might be available as far as distribution and sale of content is concerned, CDs and DVDs seem so out of date lol. Any ideas anyone?

Guan

Excellent suggestions Guan!!!

Not for me their not!!! As an avid hi-fi and vinyl enthusiast I just about embraced CD(more as a convenience really) and will not get roped into streaming music or assault my ears with the compressed drivel that emanates from an ipod. We have cultivated a convenience culture when it comes to listening to music at the expense of quality where "real music" is alien to the modern generation, that's if they can actually spare the time to listen to a full track or album without flicking to and fro picking out the small bits they want to hear. Most top end hi-fi systems have a turntable as the source.. surprising? take the time to listen and you will hear why!!! Having said that, I have no choice other than to listen and learn from you tube clips and CD's but again quality is not really an issue here, what's being played is! So please keep stuff on CD and DVD( I have no problem with DVD as a blind man can see its better than video!) as well as the more popular methods favoured by today's whiz kids..

Paul

Hi Guan and Paul,

Im am very pleasantly surprised at the amount of advice and support you guys are giving. Its excellent and I am grateful.

Paul, I meant getting an authentic mandapul (yidaki) is not an easy thing to do for a number of reasons. Firstly, I live in Sydney and contemporary didges and souvenirs seem to be everywhere but the only yidaki I have come across were in a store that only had two F noted instruments to choose from. Neither of which I felt chose me as their owner but it was fun to try. I would like to try a lot more instruments before I decide on which one is right for me. I havent settled on either an E or F note but these notes appeal to me from what I heard on Youtube. Secondly, I dont believe in buying online, Im very much a try before you buy kinda guy (that rhymes too much). I also dont know enough about the instrument to know why one is $400 and the other $800 when I cant tell them apart. Im in a vulnerable position to spend a large amount of money so mine are very tentative steps.

Guan, its good advice for me to stay as close to the source of authentic trad as possible but a trip to Arnhem Land is sadly not yet on the cards. In the meantime, I guess the internet will have to bring Arnhem Land to me.

When playing the yidaki in the shop I realised how contemporary my playing style really was. I couldnt get a drone on some of the instruments that had incredibly tight mouthpieces. Is this a common thing for beginners? Is this something that you can practice and learn? I have narrowed the beeswax mouthpiece on my instrument to 25mm so I can get used to it. I also play from the side of the mouth which is a habit I need to break out of. I have been told that playing front-on is necessary for clear and well integrated tooting and that it is impossible to play trad side-on. Is this true? Seems like Im starting from the beginning all over again.

CDs and DVDs are good for me. However, an alternative option might be pay per download or live streaming which will by-pass the plastic discs yet still deliver the same information. Just a thought.

Nick..

Side or front ? Frontal playing sure is better, but you can play real good from the side too, even trad I guess.
Though it's true that BlackFellas mostly play straight on the front.
When you'll have your new stick, try to give yourself a rule : not to play this stick from the side.
So you won't be able to compare your old side-on playing style with your new front-on trying-to-play style.
That's what I've done many years ago and it worked well and quick.

25mm is really tight.
Usually, trad-sticks have bigger mouth-pieces... especially magos.
You'd better try to get used to 30mm or higher.
It's easier to play on tight mouthpieces than large ones but you have less control too.
So bigger potential on bigger mouthpieces, even if you'll lose plenty of harmonics in the beginning when you'r lip muscles are getting used to it.
But they'll come back quick (same as from passing from side to front).

Hi Nick, you are lucky, you live in OZ so why not plan a visit to Guan in Melbourne at some point? you can spend as much time as you like then trying out various instruments..


25mm is at the narrower end of the mouthpiece diameter and can be a bit difficult to play, 28mm to 30mm is about ideal for me, if you can get used to a 25mm then a slightly larger one will come easy. As for playing on the side, a few players do play a bit off centre but generally the majority of trad players do play from the front but I wouldn't say it is impossible to play trad slightly from the side if you wish. It is rather annoying that whenever I go to a didge shop when I have visited OZ they try to get me to play from the side when they see me playing from the front, what is it with these people!!!???

Paul

There are quite a few shops in Sydney that have some good yidaki (at least there were last time I was in town). I remember there being a retailer on the upper floor of the shopping mall on George Street and there was a little shop upstairs at Circular Quay as well as two Aboriginal Art shop in the Rocks that had some decent sticks. Look around and I'm sure you'll find something that picks you and isn't too expensive!

Kyle