Hollow Sticks - Resources for Didgeridoo Players in Seattle

This Blog Is Dead

2007-05-31T13:39:00.001-07:00

I've retired this one, and moved myself to http://spudsalad.blogspot.com.

Friday Random Ten

2007-03-16T20:45:00.000-07:00

Ash Dargan, "Baiame" from Stories of Wind
Gjallarhorn, "The King and the Enchantress" from Ranarop: Call of the Sea Witch
Gordon Lightfoot, "Summer Side of Life", from The Complete Greatest Hits
Whit Hill, "50 Miles from Detroit" from We Are Here
Lee "Scratch" Perry, French Connection, from The Singles Collection: Anthology 1968-1979
Michelle Shocked, "That's So Amazing" from Deep Natural.
Cliff Perry, "Going across the Sea" from American Fogies, Vol. 2
Albert Collins, "Black Cat Bone" from Alligator Records Anniversary Collection
Hortense Ellis, "Just One Look" from The Singles Collection: Anthology 1968-1979
Robert Johnson, "Love in Vain" from Delta Blues Legend

Honda Daewoo (it's a rhythm, not an ad)

2007-01-23T06:52:00.000-08:00

1     2    3    4
Honda Dae  WOO
e  e  q    h

(breathe on WOO)

1   2   3   4
Hon da  Dae Woo 
q   q   q   q

(breathe wherever feels comfortable)

Discussion Forum on RainCityRhythms

2007-01-16T07:03:00.000-08:00

New discussion forum for Didgeridoo players in Seattle.

Rhythm tracks

2007-01-16T07:01:00.000-08:00

ok, I've recovered from the long walk... back to regular posting.

For those of you, like me, lazy enough that you only listened to the first CD of the 5-CD Playing The Didgeridoo CD, but ambitious enough that you're craving new rhythms to play to, skip straight to the 5th CD! CJ played it at the didge circle last Monday, it was excellent. Many of the rhythms come in fast and slow variations. I find it much more relaxing to play when I'm not worried about losing the beat.

Peace Is Every Step

2007-01-11T07:16:00.000-08:00

I took a two-hour walk in the snow last night!!

Here's a timeline of what I went through:
4 PM - wife calls to tell me it's snowing and hailing hard in Seattle. Nothing in Redmond yet, but I decide to bail anyways.
4:30 - ST545 bus arrives at Overlake Transit Center and I get on. Hail falling hard.
~5:00 - ST545 bus slows to a stop and can't move any farther forward, going uphill on 51st st towards the freeway (545 usually goes across 40th, but that was blocked by another bus). Bus driver tells us all to get out and meet her on the other side of the hill. She backs up to the bottom of the hill to try again. We disperse.
5:45 - After a long time walking around Overlake looking for a likely way to get home, I end up at the bus stop on the ramp from 40th to the freeway. Three of us decide to walk to the Yarrow Point bus stop, much closer to home and with many more bus routes.
7:45 - We make it to Yarrow point! Our ragged band has expanded to six, all Microsofties.
7:50 - The luckiest moment of a very lucky night. French guy with a van pulls over at the Yarrow Point stop, picks us all up, turns out he lives in my neighborhood (so does one of the other folks I was walking with). He drives me (and another of the walkers who lives near me too) all the way to two blocks away from my house. Another short walk in the snow, and I'm home at 8:15.

Now, some stories and impressions from the walk - not necessarily in order:
Ramp from 40th down to the freeway had a good half inch of fresh, undisturbed snow on it. The only thing that marred it were the tracks of what was clearly a bus that had skidded. This is the main ramp for Microsoft main campus, to see it so pristine and with no traffic on it was incredible.

At 148th, Police were attempting to clear all traffic off 520, I'm not sure why. But nobody could make it up the ramp, so all the traffic was just sitting there in one lane going nowhere. After that, 520 was empty for a half mile, except for a mail truck on the left side trying to get over to the right.

Fresh fallen snow everywhere - crunch crunch of my footsteps in the snow and the sound of one car with snow tires driving over snow brought back a lot of memories from childhood in Rochester NY.

One office building had perfectly clear sidewalks in front of it, and the smell of fresh baked bread. The sign on the building said VoiceBox. If I ever get bored of working at Microsoft, I'm definitely applying there.

Coming down near the top of a steep hill, a lady in a sporty car calls out to us for help. Michael goes over and talks to her - she's in a little car with sporty tires and she's skidding, and can't get out of the skid. Michael tries to help her, but they can't get her moving without skidding. We all call out to her to park the car, it's not worth the risk to try and make it down the hill. She calls back out to us "But I've got a 15-year-old dog in the car!". She parks anyways.

A few times, we pass stopped cars and I want to push but my legs and back are so tired from walking up and down hills I'm afraid I'd hurt myself. I did push one car, with lots of help, right after we got off the bus at the beginning of the evening.

I started realizing just how bad things were, standing at the bus stop at 148th and 51st, and realizing that even if a bus came, traffic was going much slower than I could walk. On the walk down to 40th, every intersection was gridlocked. Later, walking along 24th st, several people called out from their cars to us asking what was going on.

I heard one man talking to another, their cars had clearly just run into each other. He said "You should just park - if you keep driving down this hill you'll just get into another accident like this."
Walking up the last mile or so, from 108th to Yarrow Point, we were on an unlit street in a very peaceful residential neighborhood. Lots of trees covered with snow, felt like we were in the country.

More stories and pictures from another of the walkers at http://mc.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!D720347CD7BF8F70!3644.entry. I'm on the left in the picture of us at the bus stop at Yarrow Point.

Here's what was waiting for me on the front porch when I got home:

Bring Water Next Time!!

2007-01-09T07:08:00.000-08:00

Man my throat was dry last night. But I had a lot of fun. Next Monday, we'll be giving a short performance, so I need to remember to come on time too.

Didge Playing Workshop with Ben Hicks

2007-01-07T07:47:00.000-08:00

No point updating the old post, since almost all the information in it was wrong. The workshop will be Saturday Feb. 10th, 1-4 PM. $45 advance purchase, $50 at the door. Lake City Community Center,12531 28th Ave NE, Seattle (same place as the weekly didge circle). More info and ticket purchase at: http://www.hickssticks.com/schedule.html

Didgeridoo Meetup group

2006-12-31T15:30:00.000-08:00

Someone named Greg Reed has started the "Northwest Didgeridoo Tribe" on meetup. Go to http://didgeridoo.meetup.com/13/ to learn about it. He's planned a meeting for Jan 11th. His apt is just a few blocks away from the monday lake city didge circle, so I wouldn't be surprised if the two groups merge once we all get in touch.

That's all I know for now, but I'll get things up to date once I learn more.

HUUH tikada dee

2006-12-27T08:07:00.000-08:00

All the rhythms I'd been playing were 4/4, so I was playing around with 3/4 rhythm one day and came up with this one. Everyone I play it for seems to really like it. My three-year old says "I like that rhythm daddy". Pete at didge circle says it "sounds authentic".


1     2      3
HUUH  tikada dee
q     s s e  q

Take a bounce-breath on the first beat. For variety, you have a lot of room on that last beat to change things up. Instead of just dee, you could say "deeyoo", or even "deedledee", or to add some real syncopation deeyu-HU and bring the bounce-breath in early. I like to take a big bounce-breath on the third beat, and then throw in a vocal instead of the bounce-breath on the first.

More rhythms!

2006-12-21T07:23:00.000-08:00

Last week I figured out that a bunch of rhythms I enjoy playing have the same underlying pattern. Think of it as an eight-beat measure divided up into blocks of 3, 3 and 2. Here are the three basic rhythms.

First line is the count. If you're using clap sticks, clap on the odd numbers.
Second line is the syllables, lined up under the count so you can get the rhythm. ^ is a breath. Capital HOO is a bounce-breath.
Third line is a poor excuse for musical notation (q=quarter note, e=eight note, s=sixteenth note, q.=dotted quarter, ^e = eight rest)

Here's one taken from the Arnhem land Popular Classics CD. Take a lot of air on that first HOOO, you're going to need it. Add some vocals near the end to mix it up.


1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8
HOOO  da hooo  da hu da
q     e  q     e  e  e

the next one is two parts, so go "HOO HOO HOO didgeridoo didgeridoo" and repeat. The cool thing about this is that the first measure both builds up a lot of air and stresses the rhythm, so you can improvise in the second measure a lot, do some vocals, and then come back to the first to get the rhythm and your oxygen back.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
HOOO HOOO HOO
q. q. q

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Dijeri doo dijeri doo
s s e q s s e q

And here's another:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
deeda ^ deeda ^ da ^
e e ^e e e ^e e ^e

Notes from Monday Night

2006-12-15T13:15:00.000-08:00

Monday night, we listened to a few CDs. First off was Arnhem Land Popular Classics. It's field recordings, very beautiful. I was totally entranced by the first track, to the point where I had to leave the room when the second one came on so I could write down the base rhythm. More about that in a later post about rhythms. The performer produced some beautiful vocals and variations on the rhythm that are something to study if you're trying to answer the question "how do I take a plain old rhythm and turn it into music?"

Then we listened to a track or two from Ondrej Smeykal's "Didgeridoo Solo" CD, available from L.A. Outback. If you like techno, you'll like this.

Friday Random Ten

2006-12-01T07:03:00.000-08:00

Alison Krauss, "Let Me Touch You for a While"
Suzanne Vega, "The Queen and the Soldier"
Albert Collins, "Black Cat Bone"
Dennis Alcapone, "Africa Stand"
Lee Scratch Perry, "Bucky Skank"
Eileen McGann, "Bonny Portmore"
Bag 'n' Pipe Hoppers, Untitled Track (track 3) (band that was playing on the sidewalk at Folklife last year and selling CDs. This CD was a recording of their St Patrick's day show but they didn't put any song titles in.)
Michelle Shocked, "Forgive to Forget"
Sigur Ros, Untitled Track (track 4 I think)
The Beatles, "Long, Long, Long"

Luminaria Walk

2006-11-27T08:03:00.000-08:00

Feel like a peaceful walk around Greenlake? At night? With music? Check out the luminaria walk. My wife will be playing in a recorder quartet there. Rumour has it that didge player Joan will be there, playing ukelele.

Saturday Dec 9th, 5:30 to 8:30, Rain or shine.

Wouldn't it be cool if...

2006-11-26T09:14:00.000-08:00

At the Lake City didge circle, we've been talking about how to expand our simple rhythms into more complex ones, and how to expand our more complex ones into more structured pieces of music. Last night my wife and I went to a great concert of German baroque music presented by Gallery Concerts. My favorite piece was a Telemann piece with some fantastic recorder playing by Vicki Boeckman.

Now baroque music is great in lots of obvious ways, but as Vicki was recordering away I was tracking the rhythms and appreciating for the first time the subtlety and intricacy there. Wouldn't it be cool to play a Telemann piece on the didge, using breath and intonation to move the rhythm along in the way the melody does on a multi-pitch instrument like, oh, just about anything else. It could sound really lame, but I would have some fun trying. If I get around to it, I'll post the audio. If you do, let me know...

Travel Didges

2006-11-24T17:11:00.000-08:00

I found a site that sells a lot of didges - very intrigued by the portable ones at http://www.didgeridoostore.com/didgeridooproductsmodern3.htm. The Didge Box is two feet long. The Travel Didge is full length, but unscrews into four pieces. Has anyone tried these and if so what did you think?

ha ha hee, ha ha HOO

2006-11-16T15:54:00.000-08:00

Here's a rhythm we play a lot at the monday Lake City Didge circle. It's basic, but easy to elaborate on. It's a four beat measure, the hee and HOO are two beats each. HOO is a bounce breath. Enjoy!

Friday random ten

2006-09-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

Since this is a music blog, I might as well join in the friday tradition of listing 10 random songs (or other audio) off of my music player.

The Wailers, "Ten Commandments of Love". From "Trenchtown Days: The Birth of a Legend".
Mary McCaslin, "Circle of Friends". From "Way out West".
Dar Williams, "The Babysitter's Here". From "The Honesty Room".
Michelle Shocked, "Psalm". From "Deep Natural".
The Beatles, "Day Tripper".
Dar Williams, "Traveling Again". From "The Honesty Room".
The Beatles, "Sun King".
Eva Cassidy, "Who Knows Where the Time Goes". From "Imagine".
Michelle Shocked, "Fat Brown Snake Dub". From "Dub Natural".
Simon and Garfunkel, "Why Don't You Write Me". From "Bridge over Troubled Waters".

Apparently the Rio is in a mellow folky mood today.

Ash Dargan concert and workshop in Seattle

2006-09-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

Ash Dargan is a top-notch didge performer and teacher from Australia. He's performing in Seattle on October 8th (my birthday!), call East West Bookshop at 523-3726 for tickets. And then he's giving a workshop on the next night (my brother's birthday!), Monday October 9th at the Lake City Community Center. Go to http://raincityrhythms.com for more info, or call CJ at 206-334-6527.

Recording (first of many?)

2006-07-19T17:54:00.000-07:00

Soon, real soon now, I'd like to have clips of me playing my didge up on this site. But first I need to figure out the whole recording thing. Posting audio files on some public file-sharing service seems simple based on what I read on the blogger help forums. But getting the mp3 file in the first place is still mysterious to me.

One of many questions I have:
(the next few sentences are copied from a comment I made at forum.serioussticks.com as part of a larger thread on recording) If I'm going to plug a mike straight into my laptop, how much of a difference does the quality of the sound card make? I've got a dell laptop with cheapo sound card (was bought before I started playing didge), so if it makes a big difference, I'd have to go with a bulkier and more expensive option, like a portable recorder or an external sound card.

My Didges

2006-07-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

My didgeridoos - the one on the right was the first one, purchased from John's music in Wallingford, but made of Eucalyptus in Australia. It's more or less a C#, but varies nearly a whole tone up and down. The one on the left was purchased from CJ at Rain City Rhythms, he made it out of yucca with a maple mouthpiece - it's a D. As soon as I figure out how to record and post audio clips (subject of a whole post of its own), I'll put up sound samples.

Upcoming Events

2006-07-13T21:32:00.000-07:00

Saturday July 15th is the Seattle Rhythm Festival at Seattle Center. CJ Bastron (Seattle-based didgeridoo maker and cool guy) will have a booth there, and be teaching a workshop at 3:30, room 311 in the Center House. John Groves will also have a booth there.

Monday, July 17th (and every monday) 7-9 PM. Didgeridoo and Drum Circle in Lake City (NE Seattle). $5 donation requested to pay for the room. Address and directions at http://www.raincityrhythms.com/.

Lots more events coming up this summer, listed at John Groves' Didgeridoo Gallery

If you know of other stuff going on this week, add it in the comments section...

Goals

2006-07-13T17:38:00.000-07:00

I promised hopes and dreams, here they are. Apologies for the corporate writing style, after years in the workforce I can't help but think in prioritized lists:

1) Let didge players in Seattle share news & information & generally keep in touch with each other.
2) Give my far-flung friends and relatives a chance to keep up with my didgeridoo playing through my stories and sound clips.
3) Provide useful information and encouragement for novice didgeridoo players. So far I'm doing none of this yet. Hey, the blog's only 20 hours old so far...

Welcome to Hollow Sticks in Seattle

2006-07-12T21:52:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. As long as I could remember, I thought the didgeridoo was the coolest instrument in the world. Last Christmas, my wife bought me one, and I've been honking on it ever since. So far my didge world revolves around a weekly didge circle that meets in Lake City every monday (see http://www.raincityrhythms.com for more info). I'll write up a post later that talks about my hopes and dreams for this blog. If you stumble on this, have some patience, I'm just learning how blogger works...