Digery Don't
I came across a Digery Do at the world market and contemplated picking one up. I am not musical in any way, shape, or form, but the annoyance factor for the neighbors was pretty strong motivation. One problem, how do you make it go? The family line, being rather thin on aboriginal blood of any type, means the secret to playing the thing was never passed down. I love the near brown-note noise the thing pumps out when in the hands of a professional, and I know my neighbors would love to hear me crank the thing up at sunrise every morning – Ms. Phos won’t let me have a cannon, my other option for greeting the sun each day.
Then a thought came to me – a lot of my visitors are from the land of the upside-down and may be prodigious Digery Do players in their own right. Hell, they might even have some sheet music! So if you are from the bottom of the world and hold the secret to Digery Do mastery, please pass it along so I can entertain the neighborhood!
posted by The Phosgene Kid @ 10:12 AM
17 comments
17 Comments:
COOL! I LOVE those!!!
One of David's friends back in England was brilliant at playing them. David tried it but couldn't catch on. Said the trick was 'circular breathing'. Inhaling & exhaling at the same time constantly. He said if you can make that work, you can play it. Supposedly practicing with a straw in a glass of water works. You inhale thru your nose while simultaneously exhaling thru the straw.
D said there's one drawback that you'd best not tell mrs. phos about...when you really get going & it starts to sound really good...your salivary glands start a-flowing...um...evidently all over the place. D said there would be a puddle on the ground after this guy finished!
Just think...you could take it with you to parties!!!
:-)
p.s. Have you ever listened to the British group The Levellers? They use it a LOT on thier album 'Levelling The Land (October 1991)'. Great stuff!
I have the drooling part down...
hi to you too! thanks for stopping by once every often...
G'day Kiddo!
So now u dropped ur guitars and picked up a didgeridoo ha? cool!
Go here:
**http://aboriginalart.com.au/didgeridoo/trad.html
I have no idea how to play it LOL! But there r some ppl who play it near my office...in the streets...it's really nice to watch them and listen to it.
Keshi.
sorry no help from me byt make sure to tape your efforts so we can enjoy them too!!
I think your neighbours will really appreciate hearing you practice month after month. I understand the digery do is best played shortly before sunrise.
Well, phos, I think it's absolutely the same to play like the "Alphorn" here in the mountains... so you'd better ask a swiss guy how to play it ;)
No, serious: I bought a Digery Do years ago in AUS. And a pretty good little manual for circular breathing and stuff like that. If I find it, I'll try to scan and send it your way.
Sounds like fun if you can learn how to do it. The breathing exercise would be good for your lungs at any rate.
Our neighbor kids have a garage band(a basement band, really) They play alot of different instuments but no didgeridoo. I'm not going to suggest it, either. Anough caterwauling going on over there.
After a long search mission in my cellar yesterday night I found the booklet. Unfortunately it's in german... (sorry, I didn't know anymore)
I have never in my life heard of a digery do, you learn something new every day though!
Thanks for all the info. I will have to work on my circular breathing, after I figure out what it is, that is...
Kid, it's really fucking hard to get this thing the right sound. One of my friends can with the bird noises and everything. But you pretty much have to put your lips together and blow like a horse does (loose lips) and circular breathe (in through nose and out of mouth). You can practice with just a thick cardboard cylinder and see if you can get the right sound.
I can't play it and my description is pretty lame but it's a start!
Just a thought: I wonder if dei murane were to scan over his german book to you, if using something like BabelFish could translate it automatically for you?
EC: It might be easier learning "circular breathing"...
The link that keshi gave before has instructions on how to play. This looks like the direct link:
http://www.aboriginalart.com.au/didgeridoo/dig_background.html
We have the 2 Fast and furious out here. The Phoenix council wanted to hold a race in downtown phoenix, little realizing the already have one every evening.
Post a Comment
<< Home