A newsletter for the Portland area Didjeridu player......MAY 2000 Volume 6 Issue 5
Every since I started playing the didjeridu I had reccurring "flash backs" or visits to different times. Years ago, I wrote Randy about this experience which I described to him as though not "real time travel" but so vivid that they included sights, sounds, tastes and feelings. Randy emailed me back and told me that I was indeed traveling in time and that was good work and good playing. This simple validation and support was one of the most important lessons I've ever received about playing the didjeridu. When I think of Randy, I think of one of my most important music teachers. When I reminded him recently of this exchange, he had of course forgotten. But he did offer the following...
" Many people find that an instrument or a sound will transport them back to an earlier age. Psychologically this is important as it is the psyche attempting to heal any traumatic events (real or perceived) that occurred at that time. If we take to time and have the courage to explore these events, we find that very strong emotions may occur, emotions that were far too powerful for our younger psyche to handle.
Our present day psyche can now handle them and attempts to bring them out to heal them. Many people think it not necessary to heal the past, and many more are still frightened of the demons inside of them, yet it takes psychological and emotional energy to keep these things inside of us. When they are brought to the surface, and healed, then we have a surprising amount of new energy to do things, and many old phobias disappear.
The didj is exactly the kind of instrument that stimulates old memories, us to a place that we need to know again. In indigenous societies, this kind of event is known to shaman or healers. It is described in many ways and dealt with in many ways, from possession to curses, etc. There have always been ways for humans to find a way to heal these things, our modern way is called psychology.
There are also many things the didj can do, and some players will open doors to things they may not understand. Most people think that Dreamtime is only a myth, but I have been a witness to healers and elders of different cultures go into their version of Dreamtime, and I must say that things happen there that our Western approach and scientific method cannot explain. In my experience these things are real. I have experienced things that Quantum Physics is only now starting to talk about. When I teach didj, I tell my students that they may open the doors to their own Dreamtime, and to be prepared for it. Not to fear it, but to use it, it is a powerful tool. Not everybody finds it. But those that do certainly know it." Randy Raine-Ruesch
Obviously there are many things to learn from a conversation with Randy. In this interview I hope you'll discover a little bit about this man and will investigate his contributions. - Ed Drury March 2000
[ED] I am curious about your studies in Australia. Specifically where and with what people. Also, did you studied only the didjeridu, or did you learn vocal techniques or other types of traditional performance such as dance?
[R3] My studies in Australia were minimal as I was only there to perform at Expo 88 in Brisbane, for two months. I did take advantage of the Australian Peoples Pavilion, as I think it was called, that was a small but active center for traditional music and dance. I met David Hudson there and took lessons from him, but took daily lessons from his "uncle" and another older man both from Arnhem Land. I also met a young "white fella" there named Francis Gilfedder (sp?) who was VERY helpful in explaining techniques that these traditional players could do, but not explain. I must say that I could blow the didj before I got there, but my circular breathing was not developed yet. This quickly improved within the first week, and I went on to learn some traditional pieces.
As I didn't learn from any young guys, a lot of my technique is older style. So I am not a good rock didj player. I was given a few pieces that I was supposed to be "initiated" to play, like the brolga dance etc., but I saw them performed regularly so I am not sure how taboo it is to play them, if at all. I then picked up more didj lore from people coming through Canada (eg Adam Plack ...) In fact it seems that I have met the who's who of the didj world, almost. The person I most respect though is Stuart Dempster. He studied in Australia in the 60s and he has a similar respect for the instrument that I do. I think this is because we both studied with older musicians.
[ED] What are the responsibilities of World Music artist toward the indigenous peoples in terms of representation and respect for cultural property?
[R3] Difficult question. I initially started to find world instruments because I was attracted to their sounds, and wanted to use them in my compositions and performances. Later I realized it was because there was something in indigenous music that I could not find in the West, and that was a deep connection with life and nature that we have lost in our refined music.
Yet, I also found that I still carried my culture in my music, no matter what instrument I played. It is like speaking with an accent, it is always there. So I could not get that deep connection I was looking for from just playing the instrument. I then started to go to different countries to study (Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines etc....), and then realized how many years of study all of these music require. Even the simplest of instruments has a vast amount of cultural significance that often requires a full understanding of the cultures language, history, social practices, etc..
It short, each instrument has a cultural context that is an inherent part of the music. The result for me was that I had to accept that I was never going to fully learn another culture's music. As my khaen teacher in Thailand said "Technically you are very advanced and have the ability to play anything, but you have no comprehension of village music!" So, I do not represent another culture's music when I play, only mine, no mater what instrument I play. That is unless I am asked to do so by the culture in question or I am playing with someone from that culture.
In this respect, I have played regularly for the Thai community on khaen, and for the Chinese community on zheng, and it is obvious to them that I only interpret their music. I have played ichigenkin with an Iemoto (hereditary Grand Master) in Japan, but again that was in context of a contemporary performance. The reason these communities do accept me is that I have studied the instrument, it's history, cultural contexts, etc. in the country it is played. I have somewhat of an understanding of the instrument, and a respect for its music and culture. This, I think is very important, and I strive to do this for all the instruments I play. Thus, it often takes me over ten years from when I start to learn an instrument, to when I take it on stage, especially if I am going to take the instrument out of its culture. I figure that I have a responsibility to learn what the instrument has done in the past, before I take it to the future. I should say that I have run into severe criticism by playing instruments from other cultures.
In Australia, a woman from the Torres Islands heard me playing with my teacher there, and yelled at me for over 30 minutes, for playing "her culture's" instrument, and as a "white fella" I had no right to play it. She was correct, even though the didj is not from the Torres Islands, or traditionally played by women. The didj is an instrument that initiated males used to play. The initiation, in many areas, included male circumcision as a young adult. I think that very few people around the world that are into the didj, would be interested in going through these initiation rights. I never play a wooden didj on stage, unless asked by someone from the culture. Instead I play ABS didjs. Yes, they don't sound as good, but it is my respect for the tradition that leads me to do this. It may be a mute point, but it eases my conscience.
In Sarawak, I have been doing a lot of work to try to re-contextualize traditional music, from its ceremonial use in now defunct headhunting rituals, to performance music. To do this I consciously performed on a traditional mouth organ called a keluri, on TV, radio, etc. This instrument had almost totally disappeared and local people were not interested in reviving it, as they thought it too "primitive". I demonstrated its ability to play beautiful music and this angered the local community leaders so much that they bought instruments for the young people and found them teachers. Within two years there were 40 new players.
[ED] Have you been struck by similarities between different musical and cultural traditions of the different peoples you have studied in your research?
[R3] Yes and no. There are similarities in many indigenous traditions, but study often reveal links between these cultures, hundreds or thousands of years before. This is interesting, as very few cultures have been isolated, and the links are fascinating ( Madagascar and Borneo, Egypt and Japan, etc...). Many cultures have developed intensely distinct music (Korea, Vietnamese Highlands, etc), even though there are direct links to other cultures, while others are pockets of music that have been preserved from a culture thousands of years before, and thousands of miles distant (Burmese harp, Japanese Gagaku). The more I study the world's music the more it is like Dreamtime, there is no past, no future and no distance. Sounds a bit like Quantum Physics!
[ED] Do you have feelings about the importance or role of a "teacher" in researching traditional music from around the world?
[R3] Absolutely!!! In Asia, traditionally studying with a teacher is not like in the West. In Asia, a single student sits in front of a teacher, the teacher plays a note, the student copies. It continues like that until you know the repertoire. In many places advanced students move into the teachers house (used to be that way in Europe), and clean and cook for the teacher. The point of this is that the student learn the "rhythms" of the teacher's life, as the music is in the teacher's very movements. When I study in Asia, I live with my teachers or close by, and copy every movement of theirs, in life as well as in the music lessons. This seems a difficult way of learning, but it actually is tremendously faster than the Western method.
That is part of the reason why I play so many instruments, I have had a lot of teachers. It is amazing how a teachers way of moving or talking affect the way they play, and how quickly I can learn a technique, if I copy that speech pattern or movement. Remember, music comes from the soul, not from the head.
[ED] I'd be most interested in hearing about your approach to and experience with improvisational performance. Specifically , I'd like to know about your scores. How you design one, what advice you might have for artists wishing to perform one, and so on....
[R3] I have very bad eyesight, even with corrective lenses, my eyes are substantially less than most people. When taking music in school I found that I could not see the music as the staff lines would blur into a mass of waves. I then learned to copy what the person beside me played and went through all of my band classes in school without the teacher knowing that I could not read the score. The result was that my sight reading was non-existent, but I had a great ear. Thus, I went into improvisation as it was a natural progression. I was a player, not a reader. I played with lots of jazz and free-improv with different people when I was young, but I must say that my instrument of choice was an Appalachian dulcimer, which is a diatonic instrument. This created quite a bit of controversy when I attended the Creative Music Institute in Woodstock NY, studying with Jack Dejohnette, Karl Berger etc.. The teachers accepted it, but the students (all young jazz players with attitude) thought I was crazy.
After a few years I focused more on improvisation on world instruments and then really alienated myself because at that time, no one in the jazz world (except the top artists like Ralph Towner or Colin Walcott who gave me a lot of support) related to what I was doing. So for years I did what I did, in relative solitude, making a name as a multi-instrumentalist but not for my own music.
In the 80's I ended up sharing a manager with Pauline Oliveros, and we began to play together. She introduced me to John Cage, and he was so supportive of my work, that I started to show my scores to other people. I felt that Cage was the first person to ever fully understand my music, and it was definitely through meeting him that I developed the courage to do what I do now. My scores are about listening and being totally aware of the music within you and around you, before playing. They are a visual representation of how I play and relate to music. They contain many aspects of Taoist, Zen and Sufi musical practices that I have learned over the years from my many teachers. An intellectual understanding of theses scores is not enough to play them. The player should find an indescribable resonance in their soul, and a player who instantly understands them, and feels it within their cells is ready to play them. However if the player is that aware and sensitive, then they probably have no need to perform these scores. I showed these scores to the Ichigenkin Iemoto in Japan, and she instantly recognized many of the Zen concepts in them. She then apologized that I had come so late to Japan, as the founder of her school would have been very interested in my scores, and we should have met. He had died about 125 years ago.
In Singapore I met a violinist composer who was a child prodigy. He told me that when he was studying with the best teachers in Europe, they taught him the same approach to music as are found in my scores, which I found interesting.
[Ed]
I was quite curious about your use of the ABS didjeridu. While you say that
they don't sound "as good", I understand there are some advantages to using
this material in the areas of intonation and durability. Are there steps
which you do to make these ABS instruments sound "better" than just a piece
of plastic pipe?
[R3] I like ABS for a few reasons, if I lose my didj, I can buy one anywhere, I don't care about dropping it or a truck running over it, and it never cracks! ABS does have a characteristic plastic resonance, so it is necessary to not use a straight pipe. Therefore I create a didj with a number of elbows in it (easily bought at a plumbing supply), so the didj curves around in any number of shapes I want to put it in. I have created didjs that wrap around my body etc. ABS also makes it easier to tune, as I just add more elbows to lower the pitch etc. (This is also an idea that Stu Dempster uses).
I also make didjeribones out of ABS, which I have used in concert with Stu. ABS also allows you to make didjs with multiple bells and any wild shape or idea you want, limited only by your imagination (my imagination has proved wild enough that my ABS didjs are being written about in a soon to be published Australian Journal on didj and technology).
FYI, the didj I played on Aerosmith's PUMP was an ABS didj, which won me the dubious honour of: getting the didj to the largest number of ears worldwide, according to another Australian music journal.
[Ed] You say your list of didjeridu influences is something of a "Who's who" of didjeridu playing and I know you've enjoyed a long friendship with Prof Dempster. Who's the best player you've been able to meet?
[R3] Best player? Well that has to have been the guy who played in the movie "The Right Stuff". I think his name was Wandjuk Marika. He is the uncle to a number of Yothu Yindi. He gave me a quick lesson and let me play his mammoth didj, about 7 feet long and the largest mouthpiece I have ever seen. Unfortunately he has passed away now, but he was simply amazing.
I have met and played with a number of other folks, most whom I consider to be far superior players to myself, as I don't focus totally on the didj (I have another hundred or so instruments that I play in concert or use in other gigs). Steven Kent, I like a lot because he grooves, and the Didjeridudes, as they are quietly crazy. I love Stuart Dempster's work, as he is, by far, the most sensitive player, and has monster ears.
This reminds me of the guy from Reconcilliation that plays the Irish horn like a didj. We were at a festival together, and he was saying that the Irish horn must have been played like a didj because the mouth piece was so big that it couldn't be played like a normal horn, with overblowing. I asked if I could try it and within minutes was playing it exactly like a horn by overblowing. Although he was shocked to hear me do this (blowing his argument clear out of the water), for some reason his story didn't change?!?!?! Nice horns though, and they did sound good as didjs. I also like Stu Dempster's Big Brass Didj, about 10 feet long and a great sound!!!
Contact information for Mr. Raine-Reusch :
ASZA.com - New Directions in World Music
http://www.asza.com ASZA - "The Quintessential World Music Group" http://www.asza.com/ahome.htm
Han Mei and Randy Raine-Reusch - New Directions in Chinese Music http://www.asza.com/mhr3.shtml
Randy Raine-Reusch Composer, Concert-Artist, Producer,
World Music Consultant
Box 1119 Stn A,
Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6C 2T1
T: 1-(604)-255-2506, F: 1-(604)-255-1007, E: rthree@sfu.ca
Questions about this or other articles in this series can be directed
to Ed Drury
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