DidjeriNews
A news letter for Didjeridu players Sept. 96
Volume # 002 Issue 4

Harmonics -

In the book "Healing Sounds", Johnathan Goldman writes, "As you become aware
of harmonics, your listening patterns change". Certainly, as didjeridu players,
we have become more aware of the effects of harmonics. We become more astute at
discovering them in the sounds we hear and play. Goldman goes on to say, "
...and as this [awareness of harmonics] occurs, so does your consciousness."
The different harmonics are made audible on the didjeridu by changing the
shape and volume inside the mouth. This can be practiced by mouthing different vowel
sounds while playing the basic drone. Playing the basic drone, shape your mouth
exactly as if you were pronouncing the letter E. Continuing, change your mouth
shape to that of the letter O. As you do this you should concentrate on the
area of your mouth where the vowel sound resonates. With some concentration,
you should "feel" the resonance most through the sinus cavities as you
pronounce the vowel E and the skull as you shift to the vowel sound O.
Voicing - By adding the voice to the didjeridu, we can hum notes which are
harmonics of the fundamental note of the instrument. To practice this, we would
do well to enlist the aid of a tuned instrument like a guitar or piano. If you
don't have such an instrument, perhaps you can enlist a friend who is
proficient enough of a concert tuned instrument to play one at a time the notes
of a major chord in the key of your didjeridu. For this discussion, I'll use
the example of a piano and a didjeridu in the key of C. The notes we are after
are : C (dominant note of the didjeridu), E (this is the Major third) and G
(the fifth). Locate middle C on the piano and strike the key. Now locate E
above middle C and strike both middle C and E simultaneously. That harmony is
what is meant by the term "Major Third". Now keep striking the E key on the
piano and try to sing the same exact note. Once you feel you have it, play the
basic drone on your didjeridu and hum your E note. Experiment with the loudness
of your voice relative to the volume of the didjeridu. Also experiment with
your mouth shape while humming your note. The harmonics of both can be shifted
by shaping your mouth as if you are pronouncing the various vowel sounds while
the basic "interval" (the distance between the C and the E) remains a major
third.
Go back to the piano and locate the note "G" above middle C. Play middle C
and G together. This interval is called a fifth because G is the fifth note of
the C major scale. Now practice singing or humming the G note until you
feel you have it and then grab your didjeridu and hum the note while playing
the basic drone. Again, experiment with the volume or loudness of the
humming. Also, experiment with the mouth shapes from the discussion on
harmonics.
What we are doing with these exercises is "chording". We are using the
combination of voice and drone to form chords on an instrument which is often
mistakenly thought to produce only one note.

Major Triads - What follows is the major triads for each didjeridu. To use
this chart, find the key of your didj and locate the major third and fifth next
to it to find the notes to hum with it to make a perfect harmony :

Didj Third Fifth
A C# E
A# D F
B D# F#
C E G
C# F G#
D F# A
D# G A#
E G# B
F A C
F# A# C#
G B D

Notice that as each note in column 1 increase one half step, the third and
fifth also increase one half step. The relationships are completely linear.
Hence, the relationship between the key of any didj and the notes which will
form this type of harmony is going to be the same. With a little practice and
careful listening, you'll be able to hear the interval or relationship between
the notes in any key.

Octaves - So far, we've been talking about intervals as if we only had one
octave or eight notes available (e.g. A to A). Using our example of a C didj,
middle C on the piano is two octaves or 16 steps above our fundamental
didjeridu drone. But because the relationship between the primary note and the
intervals is directly proportional, we can add a voiced note in any octave to
create the same harmony. Which octave or register you sing in will be
determined by your vocal range, both normal and falsetto. While voice lessons
are beyond both the scope of this newsletter and this author, investing some
time with a keyboard or guitar in discovering your vocal range is well worth
the effort. This will help you make your vocals sound more "in tune" or more
accurately, in harmony.
In our next issue, will explore the keys of various didjeridus on popular
recordings and how didjeridus are combined with other instruments.

Didjeri News is published by Australian Originals 28 SW 1st, Portland,
Oregon 97204 (503) 228 4484