iDIDJ Australia Didgeridoo Cultural Hub

I really have not been practicing but just want to enter the freestyle fray here. I'll do better, I promise. This is a kind of ridiculous wandering non-composition on a Deep Dish D Didge

http://www.hickssticks.com/sound/freestyle1.mp3

Please cut up the technique and let me know how to do better. I am not actually drunk as much as it sounds so.

Thanks Ben for all of your input into these discussions and of course, the soundfiles, especially for me, the PV thing! Instant understanding! Already been going thru my instruments finding the 7th on them all and probably drove the neighbours nuts!
Wouldn't that D didge be the ideal instrument to try the Dith pop thing on? cos my Bambay D yirdaki which is open bore, thin walled and very light is ideal for this and becoming one of my favourite instruments at the moment.

Paul

The dith accent is intentional as is. Your "pop" on your Bambay is a different beast and is breaking the octave noticeably. The natural inflection (and toot interval which affects the dith accent) on this yidaki is D sharp/E flat. It is only a half step movement, and I am not attempting to raise it to above the octave.

I'll break the octave barrier for you later... on a different yidaki.

I think it sounds good. That stick has a nice deep resonance and the rhythm has a real rolling 'wet' feel to it. By wet I mean that it sounds liquidy and fluid during the rolling bits, which contrasts sharply with the dry diths and toots.

Kind of lazy tongue. Hard thumping dith and somewhat smeared retoflex motions, hence the fluid drunken kind of sound. My time is not so great, it lags a bit here and there, and the composition is totally off the cuff/inconclusive. I'll see what else I can do today.

Hi Ben,

Your technique sounds good to me, the tongue accents are nice!

I wouldn't mind hearing you on other instruments, I think the stick you are playing on in your clip is the sort that is a bit more difficult to play well, Yolngu often talk about "lead", "rhythm" and "bass" instruments and how they are accomplished at one style, "lead" for example, but are not so proficient at "bass" or "rhythm". (Adam Marrilaga is one who is well versed in all 3 styles, that's his claim anyway which to my ears at least seems to confirm this, whereas Laga says someone like Luke Djamanggi can only play "lead" but not "rhythm" and "bass").

In my thinking, "lead", "rhythm" and "bass" do not equate to high-pitched instruments, mid-pitched, and low-pitched instruments respectively, but is something to do with the sort of response elicited by tongued accents. A yirdaki playing in F# fundamental could be classed as "bass" by Yolngu for example.

Anyhow, no criticisms of your style or technique but wouldn't mind hearing you play faster instruments, that could bring out areas in your playing that we could look closer at.

Have a nice weekend guys,

Guan

I am woefully out of practice, been away and back again had a hectic week etc and have not played since the last sound file I posted, but here are a few ditties to troubleshoot. I know what I think is wrong with them, curious to hear if y'all hear the same problems. As requested on higher pitched faster instruments:

http://www.hickssticks.com/sound/e%20cerem.mp3

http://www.hickssticks.com/sound/fsharp-1.mp3

http://www.hickssticks.com/sound/fsharp-2.mp3

Oh, and I guess with what Laga said, I tend more towards bass style vs lead. I am more interested in the depth and texture of Yolngu sound than fast riffs

A few more rock and roll tracks for critque

http://www.hickssticks.com/sound/fsharp-3.mp3

http://www.hickssticks.com/sound/fast2.mp3

http://www.hickssticks.com/sound/fast3.mp3

I am feeling my years after these.

Two more for today, rhythm changes. All figures over a fast walking pace 2/4 beat rhythm. accents on and off beat and laying threes over twos and fours:

http://www.hickssticks.com/sound/rhythmcx2.mp3


And this one similar without the click, and ending on the off beat

http://www.hickssticks.com/sound/rhythmcx.mp3

Hey Ben,

With regard to your first postings (the E and two F# clips), the first one (E) sounds quite muffled, although there are clearer points throughout the recording. Maybe this was due to position or closeness to the mic. The F# clips are crisper and overall, I'd just say you sound 'out of practice', kind of like your mind knows what you're doing but your tongue just hasn't caught up.

I think I'm pretty good as assessing this as this is exactly where I am these days with not much time to pick up the sticks. My son is crawling around and getting up to no good as 1 year old boys do and his older sister is going through an obsessive Lazy Town phase so there's not much time for didj between DVDs and CDs! When I do pick up a stick and have a go it often takes me a fair bit of time to get my tongue doing what I think it should be doing. Also, I find that my playing sounds 'dry' when I don't get to play much, but maybe that's also the stick!

Let me know what you think. I've not listened to the Rock 'n' Roll tracks or the newer ones but will do so soon.

Kyle

Wow, some good material here Ben, thanks for uploading, I'm enjoying listening to these clips! I need to listen more closely to offer useful critique though and I'll have to hold off until tomorrow or the day after, I've just had a rare day's outing and just got back and am feeling the effects of the day which I'm not used to. But thoroughly enjoyable and good for me, even managed to fit in several hours of practice which I haven't done in years... we had a nice little multi-nation gathering in the city playing yirdaki with friends from Japan, Germany-Switzerland, and the USA. Well done Derek if you see this post, an utter transformation in playing similar to Paul's, this is the sort of experience that makes it all worthwhile!

But anyhow, nice job Ben, like I said I'll put my mind to listening more closely and thinking more about it when I get rested in a day or two.

Guan

Thanks guys. I am looking forward to specific technique critique. I know what I feel are the problems, but it is always fascinating what other people hear.

I will say this at this point; When I concentrate on one aspect it is common for another aspect to falter.

Here, here!!!! loads of good stuff here! Thanks Ben and everyone else who has posted some clips, more to listen to and learn from. Like your playing style Ben, makes me want to devote some of my practise time to the slower, more textured styles of play... One of my neighbours has just moved out, wonder if my playing had anything to do with it!!!

Keep 'em coming

Paul

I'll do it one at a time Ben, easier this way

I like this clip of yours the best, nice sounding instrument and good technique overall. What is missing and how can you get better? I think where we can all improve is in better strength and control in the lips, I read somewhere that of all the muscles in the body, the musculature in the lips 'lose their shape' quickest without working them out. I think that's why when I don't practice, the first thing I lose is the ability to sound clean sharp overtone notes!

A drill I would recommend to all players aspiring to playing trad or in a trad-like manner, is to work on a nice drone focussing on the lips. Forget about blowing into the instrument, instead think of it another way... putting an instrument to vibrating lips!

Getting a decent good quality drone is not so easy so play around with different embouchures. I find that despite "playing" or trying to play yidaki for a little bit over 20 years, going back to this very basic step and re-visiting it has been of benefit to me. We make a lot of assumptions about blowing into a didge and I guess I never asked how it is done by Yolngu until I examined and analysed this recently. I've listened to lots and lots of players in the past week, both Yolngu and Balanda aspiring to play trad, and had flashes of insight which I'm hoping to put into practice. There's no non-Yolngu person I've heard who has the right lips and tongue configuration yet, a few are close but too much focus has been placed on tongue to this stage with little attention to lips and I believe lips have a lot to teach us!

So guys, practise, practise and practise, work those lip and tongue muscles, do lots of drills to get stronger.

Guan

I am a great believer in drills (repetitious playing of the same thing over and over) sometimes boring but neccessary and very beneficial in the long term. As regards the lip thing, I have been playing around with this for a while on and off and know what you mean, there is something in what you are saying about the sound you get with the right lip/tongue configuration and as you say... practise, practise and more practise

Paul