I'm not sure how many of you have heard Brendan Power play his song "Dijeri-Blues" where he manages to make his harp sound like a dijeridoo. Well, when he came through Phoenix about a month a go, he played it at his show. Here's a video I took of him playing it.
Well, most of you probably don't know that the first musical instrument that I learned to play at least passably well was the Didjeridoo (back in college). I've played it for about ten years now, but not a whole lot since I started with the harp. Well, I got inspired by Brendan's song, and I figured out how to make my harp sound like a Didj. I found that I can translate a lot of the techniques I learned to play the didj directly to this style of harp playing. I'm not sure I'm using the exact same technique the Brendan uses (Brendan might pop in and let us know his own technique?), but I've developed what I think is a good technique to do it, and I made a video "tutorial" of sorts to explain to all you good folks who might be interested in learning it. Here it is:
And finally, here is a video where I play an original song I made up using this technique. I call it "Reverberations of the Harp". Enjoy! :)
Another groundbreaker Isaac. I'm just hanging around waiting for your second video to finish processing. YouTube is very slow tonight.
Last Edited by on Jul 22, 2010 1:53 PM
Hi issac. Nice tutorial, after listening to you I had to play my didjeridoo it's also my first instrument I haven't played it in more than a year. when I started playing harp I found that lots didj techniques can be used for harp. I never been realy good at playing the didj but after a few minutes of playing it I noticed that learning the harmonica has made me a better didj player.
Your Reverberations of the Harp vid doesn't work when I try to play it. Love your vids and your playing.
Thanks guys! Heading out to diner with the inlaws now, the video should have loaded by now too. I'll check in tomorrow to see if there are any questions! ---------- ------------------ View my videos on YouTube!"
Thanks Isaac. Hearing the A/B with a real didge was interesting. Didge players do circular breathing; I can't, but it would be handy for this harp facsimile.
I first recorded "The Didgeriblues" on my 'Two Trains Running' CD in 1994. Here's a more recent version with bodhran:
@Joe_L: I think jonlaing covered it (thanks jonlaing!)! I'd add that this is a purely acoustic harmonica technique, and therefore it falls into the category of a harmonica sounding like a harmonica. It's a sound that you can produce with just a harmonica, right? :) Of course, it does not mean that this is the ONLY way to play the harmonica. That would be silly! :)
@Brendan: Awesome! I love the duet with the bodhran. It takes it to a whole other level! Any confirmation that the technique that I'm doing is similar to what you do? And yes, circular breathing is a very useful technique to have. The trick is to use your cheeks as a "bellows" to keep the note sounding while sniffing in a quick burst of air through your nose. The way I learned was using a straw and glass of water. You blow bubbles in the glass through the straw, and then try to sniff in some air while keeping the bubbles going. It only took me about an hour to figure it out, although some other people couldn't get it for months. On the harp, I find that I use circular breathing unconsciously sometimes. It works a bit better on high blow notes than down low. Now if I could do "reverse" circular breathing, where I could blow air OUT while still sounding a draw note. THAT would be super useful! :)
I played once like this on my first harp (an old hohner octave harp "Unsere Liebling"), I still have a tune that we recorded on tape 20 years ago where I use that technique. I can't do circular breathing though, and I used only the first two holes of the harp (superposed holes that is, since it was an octave harp). The idea is to make your vocal cords resonate with the reed. The use of an octave harp can add something, because you resonate with two reeds instead of one.
It works also very well with the half-valved harp. ---------- http://www.buddybrent.be
@train-train: Lucy's playing a modern tunable version of a traditional Irish drum called the bodhran (pronounced 'bow-ron'). In recent years the technical level of the players has advanced a lot, and Lucy is one of the best.
She's also great on the Cajon (pronounced 'ka-hon'):
I's just messin with you J! :) If you have an hour or so, you ought to let Brendan's video load up. Go out and get a cup of coffee, and then come back and watch it! You won't regret it! ---------- ------------------ View my videos on YouTube!"
