Didgeridoo
Other names | Didjeridu, yiḏaki, mandapul, mako, etc. |
---|---|
Classification | |
Hornbostel–Sachs classification | 423.121.11 (end-blown straight tubular natural trumpet without mouthpiece) |
Playing range | |
Written range: fundamental typically A2 to G3 |
The didgeridoo (
A didgeridoo is usually
History
There are no reliable sources of the exact age of the didgeridoo. Archaeological studies suggest that people of the Kakadu region in Northern Australia have been using the didgeridoo for less than 1,000 years, based on the dating of rock art paintings.[2] A clear rock painting in Ginga Wardelirrhmeng, on the northern edge of the Arnhem Land plateau, from the freshwater period[3] (that had begun 1500 years ago)[4] shows a didgeridoo player and two song-men participating in an Ubarr ceremony.[5] It is thus thought that it was developed by Aboriginal peoples of northern Australia, possibly in Arnhem Land.
T. B. Wilson's Narrative of a Voyage Round the World (1835) includes a drawing of an Aboriginal man from Raffles Bay on the Cobourg Peninsula (about 350 kilometres (220 mi) east of Darwin) playing the instrument. Others observed such an instrument in the same area, made of bamboo and about 3 feet (0.9 m) long. In 1893, English palaeontologist Robert Etheridge, Junior observed the use of "three very curious trumpets" made of bamboo in northern Australia. There were then two native species of bamboo growing along the Adelaide River, Northern Territory".[6]
According to A. P. Elkin, in 1938, the instrument was "only known in the eastern Kimberley [region in Western Australia] and the northern third of the Northern Territory".[7]
Etymology
The name didgeridoo is not of
A rival explanation, that didgeridoo is a
".Other names
There are numerous names for the instrument among the Aboriginal peoples of northern Australia, none of which closely resemble the word "didgeridoo" (see below). Some didgeridoo enthusiasts, scholars and Aboriginal people advocate using local language names for the instrument.[12]
Yiḏaki (transcribed yidaki in English, sometimes spelt yirdaki) is one of the most commonly used names although, strictly speaking, it refers to a specific type of the instrument made and used by the Yolngu peoples of north-east Arnhem Land.[13] Some Yolngu people began using the word mandapul after 2011, out of respect for the passing of a Manggalili man who had a name sounding similar to yidaki.[14]
In west Arnhem Land, it is known as a mako, a name popularised by virtuoso player
There are at least 45 names for the didgeridoo, several of which suggest its original construction of bamboo[citation needed], such as bambu, bombo, kambu, and pampu, which are still used in the lingua franca by some Aboriginal people. The following are some of the more common regional names.[6]
People | Region | Local name |
---|---|---|
Anindilyakwa | Groote Eylandt | ngarrriralkpwina |
Arrernte | Alice Springs | ilpirra |
Djinang (a Yolngu people) | Arnhem Land | yiḏaki |
Gagudju
|
Arnhem Land / Kakadu | garnbak |
Gupapuygu | Arnhem Land | yiraka |
Iwaidja
|
Cobourg Peninsula | artawirr |
Jawoyn | Katherine / Nitmiluk / Kakadu | gunbarrk |
Kunwinjku
|
Arnhem Land / Kakadu | mako[16] |
Mayali | Alligator Rivers | martba [citation needed] |
Ngarluma | Roebourne, W.A. | kurmur |
Nyul Nyul | Kimberleys
|
ngaribi |
Pintupi | Central Australia | paampu |
Warray | Adelaide River | bambu |
Yolngu | Arnhem Land | mandapul (yiḏaki) |
Description and construction
A didgeridoo is usually
The didgeridoo is classified as a wind instrument and is similar in form to a straight trumpet, but made of wood. It has also been called a dronepipe.[18]
Traditional
Traditional didgeridoos are usually made from
Modern
Non-traditional didgeridoos can be made from native or non-native hard woods (typically split, hollowed and rejoined), glass,
, PVC piping and carbon fibre. These typically have an upper inside diameter of around 3 centimetres (1.2 in) down to a bell end of anywhere between 5 and 20 centimetres (2 and 8 in) and have a length corresponding to the desired key. The end of the pipe can be shaped and smoothed to create a comfortable mouthpiece or an added mouthpiece can be made of any shaped and smoothed material such as rubber, a rubber stopper with a hole or beeswax.Decoration
Didgeridoos can be painted by their maker or a dedicated artist using traditional or modern paints while others retain the natural wood grain design with minimal or no decoration.
Playing
A didgeridoo can be played simply by producing a vibrating sound of the lips to produce the basic drone. More advanced playing involves the technique known as circular breathing. The circular breathing technique requires breathing in through the nose whilst simultaneously using the muscles of the cheeks to compress the cheeks and release the stored air out of the mouth. By using this technique, a skilled player can replenish the air in their lungs, and with practice they can sustain a note for as long as desired. Recordings exist of modern didgeridoo players playing continuously for more than 40 minutes; Mark Atkins on Didgeridoo Concerto (1994) plays for over 50 minutes continuously. Although circular breathing does eliminate the need to stop playing to take a breath, discomfort might still develop during a period of extended play due to chapped lips or other oral discomfort.
The didgeridoo functions "...as an aural kaleidoscope of timbres"[26] and "the extremely difficult virtuoso techniques developed by expert performers find no parallel elsewhere."[26]
The didgeridoo virtuoso and composer William Barton has expanded the role of the instrument in the concert hall both with his own orchestral and chamber music works and with those written or arranged for him by prominent Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe.
Physics and operation
A termite-bored didgeridoo has an irregular shape that, overall, usually increases in diameter towards the lower end. This shape means that its resonances occur at frequencies that are not harmonically spaced in frequency. This contrasts with the harmonic spacing of the resonances in a cylindrical plastic pipe, whose resonant frequencies fall in the ratio 1:3:5 etc. The second resonance of a didgeridoo (the note sounded by overblowing) is usually around an 11th higher than the fundamental frequency (a frequency ratio of 8:3).
The vibration produced by the player's lips has harmonics in the ratio 1:2:3 etc. However, the non-harmonic spacing of the instrument's resonances means that the harmonics of the fundamental note are not systematically assisted by instrument's resonances, as is usually the case for Western wind instruments (e.g., in the low range of the clarinet, the 1st, 3rd, and 5th harmonics of the reed are assisted by resonances of the bore).
Sufficiently strong resonances of the vocal tract can strongly influence the timbre of the instrument. At some frequencies, whose values depend on the position of the player's tongue, resonances of the vocal tract inhibit the oscillatory flow of air into the instrument. Bands of frequencies that are not thus inhibited produce
Other variations in the didgeridoo's sound can be made by adding vocalisations to the drone. Most of the vocalisations are related to sounds emitted by Australian animals, such as the dingo or the kookaburra. To produce these sounds, the players use their vocal folds to produce the sounds of the animals whilst continuing to blow air through the instrument. The results range from very high-pitched sounds to much lower sounds involving interference between the lip and vocal fold vibrations.[29] Adding vocalisations increases the complexity of the playing.
In popular culture
The didgeridoo has been used by a number of modern bands in various types of music.
It was featured on the British children's TV series Blue Peter.[30]
Industrial music bands like Test Dept use the didgeridoo.
Early songs by the acid jazz band Jamiroquai featured didgeridoo player Wallis Buchanan, including the band's first single "When You Gonna Learn", which features prominent didgeridoo in the introduction and solo sections.
Ambient artist Steve Roach uses it in his collaborative work Australia: Sound of the Earth with Australian Aboriginal artist David Hudson and cellist Sarah Hopkins, as well as Dreamtime Return.
It is used in the Indian song "
Chris Brooks, lead singer of the New Zealand hard rock band Like a Storm, uses the didgeridoo in some songs, including "Love the Way You Hate Me" from their album Chaos Theory: Part 1 (2012).
Kate Bush made extensive use of the didgeridoo, played by Australian musician Rolf Harris, on her album The Dreaming (1982), which was written and recorded after a holiday in Australia.
Cultural significance
Traditionally, the didgeridoo was played as an accompaniment to ceremonial dancing and singing and for solo or recreational purposes. For Aboriginal peoples of northern Australia, the yidaki is still used to accompany singers and dancers in
Pair sticks, sometimes called clapsticks (bilma or bimla by some traditional groups),[31] establish the beat for the songs during ceremonies. The rhythm of the didgeridoo and the beat of the clapsticks are precise, and these patterns have been handed down for many generations. In the Wangga genre, the song-man starts with vocals and then introduces bilma to the accompaniment of didgeridoo.[32]
Gender-based traditional prohibition debate
Traditionally, only men play the didgeridoo and sing during ceremonial occasions; playing by women is sometimes discouraged by Aboriginal communities and elders. In 2008, publisher
Although there is no prohibition in the area of the didgeridoo's origin, such restrictions have been applied by other Indigenous communities. The didgeridoo was introduced to the Kimberleys in the early 20th century but it was only much later, such as in Rose's 2008 criticism of The Daring Book for Girls, that Aboriginal men showed adverse reactions to women playing the instrument and prohibitions are especially evident in the South East of Australia. The belief that women are prohibited from playing is widespread among non-Aboriginal people and is also common among Aboriginal communities in Southern Australia; some ethnomusicologists believe that the dissemination of the taboo belief and other misconceptions is a result of commercial agendas and marketing. The majority of commercial didgeridoo recordings available are distributed by multinational recording companies and feature non-Aboriginal people playing a New Age style of music with liner notes promoting the instrument's spirituality which misleads consumers about the didgeridoo's secular role in traditional Aboriginal culture.[2]
The taboo is particularly strong among many Aboriginal groups in the South East of Australia, where it is forbidden and considered "cultural theft" for non-Aboriginal women, and especially performers of New Age music regardless of gender, to play or even touch a didgeridoo.[2]
Health benefits
A 2006 study reported in the
See also
- Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts
- Alphorn
- William Barton, didgeridoo virtuoso and orchestral composer
- Digeridoo (EP) – song by Aphex Twin
- Djalu Gurruwiwi, master maker and player of yiḏaki
- Erke
- List of didgeridoo players
- Mayan trumpet
References
- ^ Garde, Murray. "Bininj Kunwok Online Dictionary". njamed.com. Bininj Kunwok Regional Language Centre. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
- ^ ISBN 1-86462-003-X.
- ^ "Kakadu National Park – Rock art styles". Archived from the original on 21 April 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
- ISBN 978-0192842145.
- ^ George Chaloupka, Journey in Time, p. 189.
- ^ a b "The Didgeridoo and Aboriginal Culture". Aboriginal Australia Art & Culture Centre, Alice Springs, Australia. 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
- ^ a b c "History of the Didgeridoo Yidaki". Aboriginal Arts. Archived from the original on 3 March 2009. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
- ^ "Retribution". Hamilton Spectator. No. 7567. Victoria, Australia. 24 October 1908. p. 8. Retrieved 28 January 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
- The Northern Territory Times and Gazette. Vol. XXXVIII, no. 2145. Northern Territory, Australia. 17 December 1914. p. 14. Retrieved 28 January 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms: D". Australian National Dictionary Centre. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
- ^ "It's as Irish as – er – didgeridoo". Flinders Journal. Flinders University. 10–23 June 2002. Archived from the original on 19 August 2002. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
- ^ "Are "Didjeridu" and "Yidaki" the same thing?". Yidaki Dhawu Miwatjnurunydja. Buku Larrngay Mulka Centre. Archived from the original on 14 February 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
- ^ a b Nicholls, Christine Judith (6 April 2017). "Friday essay: the remarkable yidaki (and no, it's not a 'didge')". The Conversation. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
- ^ a b "Yidaki". Spirit Gallery. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
- ^ "Didgeridoo terminology: 5- What is the horn, toot, overtone note?". Spirit Gallery. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
- ^ Garde, Murray. "Bininj Kunwok Online Dictionary". njamed.com. Bininj Kunwok Regional Language Centre. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
- ^ Fletcher, N.H. (1996) The didjeridu (didgeridoo). Acoustics Australia 24, 11–15.
- ^ "Didjeridu: Musical instrument". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
- ^ Taylor R., Cloake J, and Forner J. (2002) Harvesting rates of a Yolgnu harvester and comparison of selection of didjeridu by the Yolngu and Jawoyn, Harvesting of didjeridu by Aboriginal people and their participation in the industry in the Northern Territory (ed. R. Taylor) pp. 25–31. Report to AFFA Australia. Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment, Palmerston, NT.
- ^ McMahon, Charlie. (2004) The Ecology of Termites and Didjeridus, The Didgeridoo: From Ancient Times to the Modern Age (ed. David Lindner) Schönau: Traumzeit-Verlag
- ^ "How is a Yidaki Made?". Yidaki Dhawu Miwatjnurunydja. Buku Larrngay Mulka Centre. Archived from the original on 14 February 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
- ISBN 0-7607-6243-0
- ISBN 9789041127211
- ^ "Earth Sounds: The Didgeridoo Stirs Controversy at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival | Soundcheck | New Sounds". Newsounds.org. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
- ^ Graves, Randin (2 June 2017). "Yolngu are People 2: They're not Clip Art". Yidaki History. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
- ^ a b A Baines, The Oxford Companion to Musical Instruments OUP 1992
- ^ Tarnopolsky, A, Fletcher, N. Hollenberg, L., Lange, B., Smith, J. and Wolfe, J. (2006)"Vocal tract resonances and the sound of the Australian didjeridu (yidaki) I: Experiment", J. Acoust. Soc. America, 119, 1194-1204. https://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/reprints/Tarnopolskyetal.pdf
- ^ Wolfe, Joe. "Didgeridoo acoustics/ yidaki acoustics/ didjeridu acoustics". University of New South Wales. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
- ^ Wolfe, J. and Smith, J. (2008) "Acoustical coupling between lip valves and vocal folds", Acoustics Australia, 36, 23-27. https://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/reprints/WolfeSmithAA.pdf
- ^ "Didgeridoo Beat-boxing". Blue Peter. BBC. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
- ^ "Clapsticks: Teaching with Unique Objects". University of Melbourne: Teaching with Unique Collections. 21 June 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
- ISBN 0-207-13863-X.
- ^ "Didgeridoo book upsets Aborigines". News.bbc.co.uk. 3 September 2008. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
- ^ "'Daring Book for Girls' breaks didgeridoo taboo in Australia". The Independent. 23 October 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
- ^ "Women can play didgeridoo – taboo incites sales". Archived from the original on 4 June 2007. Retrieved 25 May 2007.
- CiteSeerX 10.1.1.370.505.
- PMID 16377643.
- (PDF) from the original on 30 December 2010.
Bibliography
- Ah Chee Ngala, P., Cowell C. (1996): How to Play the Didgeridoo – and history. ISBN 0-646-32840-9
- Chaloupka, G. (1993): Journey in Time. Reed, Sydney.
- Cope, Jonathan (2000): How to Play the Didgeridoo: a practical guide for everyone. ISBN 0-9539811-0-X.
- Jones, T. A. (1967): "The didjeridu. Some comparisons of its typology and musical functions with similar instruments throughout the world". Studies in Music 1, pp. 23–55.
- Kaye, Peter (1987): How to Play the Didjeridu of the Australian Aboriginal – A Newcomer's Guide.
- Kennedy, K. (1933): "Instruments of music used by the Australian Aborigines". Mankind (August edition), pp. 147–157.
- Lindner, D. (ed) (2005): The Didgeridoo Phenomenon. From Ancient Times to the Modern Age. Traumzeit-Verlag, Germany.
- Moyle, A. M. (1981): "The Australian didjeridu: A late musical intrusion". in World Archaeology, 12(3), 321–31.
- Neuenfeldt, K. (ed) (1997): The didjeridu: From Arnhem Land to Internet. Sydney: J. Libbey/Perfect Beat Publications.
External links
- The Didjeridu W3 Server
- The physics of the didj
- Didgeridoo acoustics from the University of New South Wales
- Database of audio recordings of traditional Arnhem Land music, samples included, many with didgeridoo
- The Didjeridu: A Guide By Joe Cheal – General info on the didgeridoo, with citations and references
- Yidakiwuy Dhawu Miwatjngurunydja comprehensive site by traditional ownersof the instrument