I recently saw a trio of didge players, IndigoTriangle, and they were quite good. The didge seems more like a percussion instrument than useful for melody. Is my perception accurate? Anyone out there playing what might be considered melody on a didge?
I did a few searches and found this snippet:
"The lips, tongue, voice and breathing combine to create energetic rhythmic patterns. From invoking these rhythyms, drones and sounds, Aboriginal didgeridoo players are said to reach a trance-like state called ‘Dreamtime’. As you may already know, the Aborigines were also telepathic, using their minds on a higher level to communicate with spirit beings. "
Sounds cool, as I often get to that “sweet spot in time,” when playing whistles. As regular readers know, I mostly perform original tunes solo. Someone else suggested that I get a didge so that I can progress on stage from the high whistle to low, to the super long didge.
The didge is indeed a low-pitched instrument and it would be hard to play recognisable western melodies on—much harder than tuba for example. It has a quite distinctive sound; it isn’t much 'like anything else that comes to mind. In a band setting it can, and has been, used as an undercurrent for layering sounds over. Standardly, didge players employ circular breathing.
It is commonly used in Australian rock bands with an Aboriginal feel and has even been used by the Finnish (but ethnically Swedish) band Gjallarhorn to rather good effect. They give some idea of what it might sound like grafted onto a celtic setting.
I agree with Wombat that it’s not really a melody type instrument.
However, I met a guy who made a sliding didg out of two peices of PVC plastic. He was able to play the Hockey Night in Canada theme.
If you’re thinking of getting a didg, try making one out of ABS or PVC pipe from a hardware store. I’ve found that a bamboo didges will crack, and some of the cheaper wooden ones aren’t hollowed out enough and produce a very muffled sound. Plastic on the other hand, produces a fuller tone and seem more responsive. Of course the really nice eucaliptus didges do sound much better, but they’re harder to find in North America and will cost an arm and part of a leg.
Go to a sporting goods store or Wal-Mart and get one of those plastic tubes used to separate golf clubs in the bag. They have a slightly flared end and can be used as an instant dig’ for about one dollar.
This is definitely more of a drone or rhythm instrument-- you can get some Bodhran-like tempos out of it.
Didges make cool drones, which is probably why they have found their way to the fringes of ITM–our love of pipe drones.
I made two out of five-foot PVC and parafin (for the mouthpiece). One was (I think) four-inch pipe and the other 3 or 3.5. The smaller one sounds fuller–possibly one of those ratio thingies whistle makers know about.
Also, at five feet it comes out as a B-flat. A D should be just about 48 inches.
Gaelic Storm sometimes uses them. I play a little not enough to be on my list of stuff I play it is a lot harder than it looks especially circular breathing which is nearly impossible (it must be possible people do it).
I use didge on stage sometimes – I have a “real” one made of eucalyptus hollowed out by termites that’s a bit over five feet long and I play it with all kinds of funky effects, including a wah pedal. I’m pretty crap on it, although I can do circular breathing and the “barking dog” type sounds. We just use it as a drone or a sound effect with a cool visual aspect.
Last year at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival, one of my partners played a bamboo didj as backing for the pipe-and-drum group “Tartanic”. Sounded amazingly in-place in that venue. I personally have six of 'em, one eucalyptus/termite from the Tandanya Museum in Adelaide, gifted to me by a true friend, the others are variously bamboo, two in PVC, ABS, and stainless steel (which sounds surprisingly much like the eucalyptus one). Tunings are all over the map, and I can usually find one that sounds good with whatever’s going on.
Cheers,
Bill Whedon
Serpent Music
Definitely worth having around, that Didjeribone…or alternatively as a “party trick”; I usually play the vacuum cleaner - take off the hose part, but keep the carpet cleaning attachment on…for some reason it makes a better sound!?!
You can even play a the cardboard “roll” that Christmas gift wraps are rolled in…sort of like a giant toilet roll
Tuning traditional hollow wood didjes are via…a wood saw
I don’t know how many people are familiar with the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfiield KS (warm up weekend going on as we speak), but part of the phenom is the camps set up during warm-up time. The most whistle-friendly camp is Carp Camp (google them), where dij’s are played in the jams off and on. Awesome sound capable of overcoming even an army of hammered dulcimers playing Music for Found Harmnonium (Carp Camp’s theme song). The jams at Carp Camp during festival week will swell to 100 +players and many of the contest winners will slip by for a tune.
I’ll start another thread about Winfield with links.
why not take one of these instead:
