Forums > Social Chat > Any poi'ing didge players out there?

Posted: 8th Oct 2001
Ive been playing the didge for years now (I lost track of how many) Ive been poing for two years. I'd love to see if its possible to play whilst spinning or swinging. I just got the idea to do a fire themeed didge. Ive been wondering how to add a wick to one (a plastick one) but what about painting one with a fire/spinning motif. hmmmm Anybody else?-PSM------------------"One can only see what one observes, and one observes only things which are already in the mind."-Alphonse Bertillon

One can only see what one observes, and one observes only things which are already in the mind.-Alphonse Bertillon

Posted: 8th Oct 2001
I've been playing the Didj for about a year now. Although I should say dabbling, I don't really play as much as I would like.Still haven't even picked up Circular Breathing yet! But I absolutely Love the sound of it and when I do pick it up I play until my lips are numb!Oottat------------------It's only funny until someone gets hurt.... Then it's a COMPETITION!!!

It's only funny until someone gets hurt.... Then it's a COMPETITION!!!

Posted: 8th Oct 2001
There is a didj community in Houston and in Austin too. I've been acting like I was going to learn how to circular breath for years now. I'm pretty good at making it make proper noises and all, but if you got any pointers on the breathing part Gruff, let's hear 'em!

-v-

Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 8th Oct 2001
Circular Breathing -Well, the way I got taught was by getting a drinking straw, chewing the middle of it to give a little resistance, and then learning how to blow a continuous stream of bubbles in a glass of water through it. (puff up your cheeks with air and then practice not exhaling with your chest, and only using cheek pressure, then work your way up to inhaling through your nose while exhaling through your mouth). Also - some Didges are shitloads better for getting a good seal and being able to play a continuous tone.I saw one on Haight st that was just a piece of plastic tube with a mouthpiece, but it was amazingly easy to play. I shoulda bought it. oh well...live and learn. I'm making up for it today.HTH,Josh

Posted: 9th Oct 2001
ive been playing for about 3/4 years...started when my folks went over to australia and brought me back a nice one...learnt the circular breathing by taking a mouth full of water puting a straw in my mouth and blowing out the water slowly whilst breathing in thru my nose......similar 2 josh's i guess..took about 3-4 days to pick up the circular breathing...but i wasnt doing it constantly...practice makes perfect anyways...byegoafire

Posted: 9th Oct 2001
Well i guess ive been playing the didj for about 2 years (on and very off) have pretty much got the circular thing and can do some cool other stuff, but i have only been twirling poi for about 3 weeks (though im getting pretty good, im still strugling with my five beat weave but thats cool.anyway i just found it interesting to see that there are only two aussies on here who have said they play didj and about a squillion people from the states and ukinteresting.Cheers

Good on usGood on us all

Posted: 9th Oct 2001
Sweet I didn't think anybody else played the didj onthis site. I guess you just had to ask I've been playing for about six months and I just started to learn ho to make my own.Good call starting that thread.PeaceMatty

Posted: 9th Oct 2001
I have been playing for 4 years now and love it, i love anything with indigenous/native symbolism, my method to learing circular breathing was the same as josh's.Mick

Let's just say I was testing the bounds of reality. I was curious to see what would happen. That's all it was: just curiosity. (Morrison in Los Angeles, 1969)

Posted: 9th Oct 2001
Hey I don't didge personely but my friend does and he also does poi, I think I might start to learn the didge because I love it, is it hard to learn the circular breathing?------------------Where there is sorrow I seek the Flame - Rumi

Where there is sorrow I seek the Flame - Rumi

Posted: 9th Oct 2001
I bought a didge about 2 months ago and got the drone sound pretty quickly.The circular breathing's much harder though, I think it's probably because the mouthpiece on my didge is really wide - I find it much easier on my friend's didge that has a much smaller mouthpiece, and I can do it with the straw and cup of water too.I'm hoping that I'll crack it as soon as I find some beeswax suitable for making the mouthpiece smaller.------------------King of all things Walrus

But there's no sense crying over every mistake. You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.

Posted: 9th Oct 2001
OOPS! Forgot to tell you bout me and my dribblestick!Been playing for about a year now but I actually learnt to circular breathe before I got my first didge cos Im a poor pennyless student and I had to save and sacrifice a few pints to get one, so I learnt while I was waiting!! (even then I ended up playing a peice of spray painted plastic drainpipe)Im now onto wooden ones which are much better for wocals an other crazy stuff like harmonics.Does anyone find that didge playing really relaxes you? does anyone out there own a slide didge? Im thinking about getting one so I can play with a band but wouldnt mind a bit more info.keep dribblingGruff

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 9th Oct 2001
yo, Ive got a slide didge, I got it from www.slidedidge.com and its not bad, good clear vocals, big mouth on it, good for trumpets, dosnt have quite the same resonant qualities as wood but pretty good and fits in a backpack at about 5kg, i think. might be a little pricy tho on export, very pretty and sparkly tho.one word, dont use them as baseball bats, the bottom gasket of mine is ****ed from inpacts.how do you get the harmonic thing? I can overtone, but its something else?ruff

Posted: 9th Oct 2001
Auspoiboy observed not many aussies play the didj and poi.I was taught the didj is mens business. As a women I can never play it. Don't know if that sheds light on it for you?Ade

Posted: 10th Oct 2001
...there is quite a lot of debate over whether women should play didge... I can play (including circular breathing an' all) but choose not to in public in case I offend anyone. (Elke, my sister, had an experience playing her slide-didge at Woodford Folk Fest and one of the Murris stood up and abused her and had her in tears...she hasn't touched it since)I have an indigenous friend who has absolutely no problem with women playing it at all - he encourages us if anything... and the tradition was that in most tribes who did play didge (only some in the Northern Teritory by the way, not all over Australia) it was just that men played, and women didn't - not that they weren't alowed... in some traditions women sang through them (rather than playing them like we are used to) and in others they played to bring on female fertility... so there are a lot of different views on it... but obviously it can be delicate and it is important to respect that some indigenous people believe that women shouldn't play, and to be sensitive to this......but twirling at the same time? I don't think I could be that co-ordinated... but I have heard of people trying...

Posted: 10th Oct 2001
Harmonics on the didge is when youre playing the basic drone and then for example you make the vowel sound "e" down the didge like a vocal but singing to a note if you know what I mean.Then you need to keep on the same "note" but change your mouth shape as if to make the sound "o". Can you hear the change in tone? it should fall and make a noticabley different sound. This is a harmonic.It probably is the same as an overtone its just that sometimes the same things are called by different names.(like "the weave" in poi is called "the forward cross-follow" in clubswinging yet the moves are exactly the same its just youre twirling clubs instead of poi! CRAZY!!) Gruff

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 10th Oct 2001
Does anyone know the specific reason it is offense to some that women play the didge? Being from Canada, noone has confronted me about it yet. Heard it had something to do with the universal sound of a women giving birth that men were trying to recreate with didge...or something to that extent.

Posted: 10th Oct 2001
I dunno if this is on or off topic giving the run of the last few posts. if you had some way of supporting the didge couldn't you use it to do wraps?just a suggestion from someone who does'nt really have a clue.FirePoi-boy

Posted: 10th Oct 2001
Well to settle the debate on whether women should or should not play didj is as simple as this.The tribe that first started playing the didj and from where it originates do not let women play the didj......BUT they also don't let the didj be played outside certain social events such a corroboree's and the like. Therefore as everyone else is using the didj in a fashion that is not found "acceptable" i don't think it really maters if women play the most mysterious and wonderous instrument, that is the didjeridoo (i think i may have even got the spelling right....i can see why more often than not it is simply just the didj).Cheers[This message has been edited by Auspoiboy (edited 11 October 2001).]

Good on usGood on us all

Posted: 16th Oct 2001
I did the math, and I think Ive been playing about 7 years. And I can only circular breathe on occasion. I suffer from horrible allergies most of the years, and as a consequence, my sinuses are rarely clear enough to get a good snif in. As I recall several of us have made mention of playing over the years, do a search, and check the old boards.-PSM

One can only see what one observes, and one observes only things which are already in the mind.-Alphonse Bertillon

Posted: 15th Oct 2001
Ha! I just aquired a real didj yesterday, so no more practicing through a carpet roll tube. The real thing is actually much easier to play (who knew?), and I can almost do the circular breathing thing with it too (just barely have a pause in the sound).

-v-

Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!

Posted: 16th Oct 2001
I just saw this thread and I'm so excited. I, too, play the didj and poi. I have been playing only slightly longer than I have been twirling. I love them both. Unfortunately, I live in a small apartment with thin walls and low ceilings. With my work schedule it's practically impossible to practice the didj (I work from 10am until about 11pm, oh, the joys of theatre) and with winter coming on, it's getting more difficult to practice twirling. I'm just going to suck it up and be cold to practice twirling, but the didj is a bigger problem. I don't want to be evicted. Any one have any suggestions about muting the sound of the didj? ------------------The trick was to surrender to the flow. -Phish[This message has been edited by hrh_tela (edited 17 October 2001).]

The trick was to surrender to the flow. -Phish

Posted: 17th Oct 2001
I was taught to didj and poi by my ex-gf. She told me one Aboriginal legend as to where the didj came from. This guy was lost in the outback and having nothing else to do started blowing on his penis and invented the didg. I would have thought this was an excellent reason for women to play. Superstition (depending who you listen to) says it either makes you sterile or pregnant.To me it's just a piece of wood (or cardboard tube, or garden hose, or vaccuum cleaner hose, or a piece of stainless steel pipe from an old milking machine) that makes cool sounds. Now........has anyone tried didj massages? Lay on the ground and have someone play their didj over you. Most relaxing.------------------Don't dream it, be it.

Don't dream it, be it.