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How would you notate a didgeridoo? Is it the same as notating a bass clarinet? A tuba? a Bassoon? I'm confused!
:?
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Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo
Posted by Wim Hoogewerf - 15 Feb 07:34AM

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This would be more 'unpitched' percussion: a single staff line with rhythmical values and wavy lines to represent the actual blowing.

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo
Posted by Ian Cugley - 15 Feb 10:52AM

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There are some specific shapes derived from indigenous Australian symbols which are sometimes used to indicate the specific blowing or choking techniques. I imagine these could be turned in simplified graphic shapes for notational purposes, though I know of no consensus about ways of writing for this instrument.

In the scores I've seen there is usually just a line to show where the player should improvise and no indication of what the player should do. I never know who gets the royalties in such as case, but it ought not to be to the sole benefit of the 'composer'.

Here's one example of figurative notation:
http://www.ausbushcraft.com.au/html/Didgeridoo_Notation.html

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo
Posted by Laurence Payne - 15 Feb 10:51AM

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On Mon, 15 Feb 2010 05:17:03, "Annabelle S Morison"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>How would you notate a didgeridoo? Is it the same as notating a bass clarinet?
>A tuba? a Bassoon? I'm confused!
>:?

Ask a digeridoo player. If you don't know one, why does it matter?
:-)

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo
Posted by Annabelle S. Morison - 15 Feb 03:29PM

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> On Mon, 15 Feb 2010 05:17:03, "Annabelle S Morison"
> wrote:
>
> >How would you notate a didgeridoo? Is it the same as notating a bass clarinet?
> >A tuba? a Bassoon? I'm confused!
> >:?
>
> Ask a digeridoo player. If you don't know one, why does it matter?
> :-)
My friend Markus is a didgeridoo player. And you ask me why does it matter? I have a song that I wrote, which includes Didgeridoo, waterphone, tablas, finger cymbals, and sitar.
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Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo
Posted by Laurence Payne - 15 Feb 03:38PM

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On Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:29:30, "Annabelle S Morison"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>>
>> Ask a digeridoo player. If you don't know one, why does it matter?
>> :-)
>My friend Markus is a didgeridoo player. And you ask me why does it matter? I
>have a song that I wrote, which includes Didgeridoo, waterphone, tablas, finger
>cymbals, and sitar.

So it matters! Good. What does Markus say? He's presumably the
person who will have to read the part.

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo
Posted by Jim Druckenmiller - 15 Feb 05:51PM (edited 15 Feb 11:23PM)

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> How would you notate a didgeridoo? Is it the same as notating a bass clarinet? A tuba? a Bassoon? I'm confused!
> :?
> --
----

It's not a very fruitful search, but here's something for now. . .

http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/work/dreyfus-george-sextet-for-didjeridu-and-wind-instruments
(View the Score Sample pdf -- Scroll down to the bottom of the 2nd page to see Sadly, only one staff line of notation).

Wim's suggestion of a single line percussion staff might be better. and perhaps you can focus some of your research efforts on how other ~~'Drone'~~ style instruments get scored for.

Take Care,

Jim

---

I forgot to add in this link in too. . .

http://books.google.com/books?id=hnOOqh6BdYIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=didgeridoo&client=firefox-a&cd=1#v=onepage&q=notation&f=false

(might be valuable to you for other reasons, but it doesn't seem to deal with specific notation practices, so (?) ).

Google books + advanced search option - might have some better results if you have the time to look around for a while.

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo
Posted by Ian Cugley - 15 Feb 06:47PM

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>perhaps you can focus some of your research efforts on how other 'Drone' style instruments get scored for.

I'm sorry to come over all schoolmarmish, but it's not overly polite (and possibly not PC, for those who would endose such a term) to call this instrument a drone — you might well call a cello a drone because it has open strings. I was at the first performance in 1971 of the Dreyfus/Winunguj sextet you linked to and the sounds were anything but drone-like or monophonic. The range of overtones, multiphonics, screeches, growls and rasps is considerable, even with traditional playing styles (which George Winunguj used). What some of the current rock- or pop-oriented players do nowadays is astonishing. Stockhausen would have given his right arm for some of the noises . . .

The score at that link is one of those I was thinking of when I spoke in my earlier post of 'just a line to show where the player should improvise'.

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo
Posted by Annabelle S. Morison - 15 Feb 07:42PM

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Schoolmarmish? That's a fancy word. What's a schoolmarm?
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Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo
Posted by Laurence Payne - 15 Feb 11:22PM

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On Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:42:23, "Annabelle S Morison"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Schoolmarmish? That's a fancy word. What's a schoolmarm?

Remember the opening of "Wizard of Oz"? That's a schoolmarm, on the
bicycle.

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo
Posted by Martin P. Kellogg - 16 Feb 12:11AM

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> Remember the opening of "Wizard of Oz"?

The movie, not the book.

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Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo
Posted by Jim Druckenmiller - 15 Feb 07:47PM (edited 16 Feb 04:16PM)

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> >perhaps you can focus some of your research efforts on how other 'Drone' style instruments get scored for.
>
> I'm sorry to come over all schoolmarmish, but it's not overly polite (and possibly not PC, for those who would endose such a term) to call this instrument a drone — you might well call a cello a drone because it has open strings. I was at the first performance in 1971 of the Dreyfus/Winunguj sextet you linked to and the sounds were anything but drone-like or monophonic. The range of overtones, multiphonics, screeches, growls and rasps is considerable, even with traditional playing styles (which George Winunguj used). What some of the current rock- or pop-oriented players do nowadays is astonishing. Stockhausen would have given his right arm for some of the noises . . .
>
> The score at that link is one of those I was thinking of when I spoke in my earlier post of 'just a line to show where the player should improvise'.
---

Where did the 'Derogatory Overtone' come from in my using the term 'Drone'?

Let me know what you'd prefer to see and I'll go back in and edit my comments if it offends you.

I was trying to suggest that whatever the standard elements of notation are for a similar ________ style instrument, then perhaps it's worth looking at those since examples of notation are a little hard to find currently.

I'm sorry but I don't recognize the criticism that an instrument with a higher overtone series will somehow 'Out Class' one with a smaller range, just in case you're concerned with how PC I actually am (which I don't endorse btw).

Drone, noises, screeches, growls and rasps (as you put it) all fall into the category of 'Enjoyable Sounds' in my opinion.

(Very Glad to see Karlheinz Stockhausen's name, I've been a fan for quite a while.)

Sorry for calling a Didgeridoo a Drone,

Jim

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo
Posted by Ian Cugley - 16 Feb 10:51AM (edited 16 Feb 10:52AM)

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Jim said:

>Where did the 'Derogatory Overtone' come from in my using the term 'Drone'?

I'm sorry. I've fallen into the trap of taking offence on behalf of others. I was being schoolmarmish, though without the bicycle. Cellos have a nice overtone series too, so if I have offended any cellists I'm sorry for that too.

Although I seem to have made the point intemperately, the point still has some validity, though impressions and tastes will vary: the didgeridoo rarely functions as a drone either in (what remains of) tribal musics or in most Western-style music. Much the same is true of the cello.

It has to be admitted that some earlier Australian composers who hadn't heard the instrument except in recordings might have attempted to imitate or evoke the didgeridoo sound with a drone. This convention rebounded on me with a piece of mine which began with that most European of devices, a pedal point, and that most characteristic of Latin instruments, claves. The critics assumed immediately that I was writing 'aboriginal' music, with the 'drone' of the didgeridoo and the clicking of message sticks. I was offended that they assumed that I might think that that was what a didgeridoo was like. Perhaps I'm still smarting from that insult and was more dogmatic in my earlier post than I ought to have been.

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo
Posted by Jody Hughes - 16 Feb 11:36AM

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Ian Cugley wrote:
>Cellos have a nice overtone series too, so if I have offended any cellists I'm sorry for that too.

I'm a cellist and can take offence if necessary, Ian. Just say the word.

Jeremy

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo
Posted by Bill Myers - 16 Feb 02:19PM

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> How would you notate a didgeridoo?

How about a text box that says, "PLAY that didgeri-thing, man!" ? ;)

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Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo
Posted by Annabelle S. Morison - 17 Feb 03:28PM

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> > How would you notate a didgeridoo?
>
> How about a text box that says, "PLAY that didgeri-thing, man!" ? ;)
>
> --
> Sib. 6.1, Digital Perf 6.02,ProTools LE 8, Finale 2008
> MacPro 8core 2.8Ghz, 10Gb Ram 4x150GB HDs, OS 10.6.1
> MacBookPro,2core 2.16Ghz,2Gb Ram,95Gb HD, OS 10.6.1
> loadza libraries, synths, and other stuff...
LOLLOLLOL, Too funny! Funny stuff!
--
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Messages in this thread

Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo - Annabelle S. Morison, 15 Feb 05:17AM

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo - Wim Hoogewerf, 15 Feb 07:34AM

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo - Ian Cugley, 15 Feb 10:52AM

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo - Laurence Payne, 15 Feb 10:51AM

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo - Annabelle S. Morison, 15 Feb 03:29PM

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo - Laurence Payne, 15 Feb 03:38PM

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo - Jim Druckenmiller, 15 Feb 05:51PM

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo - Ian Cugley, 15 Feb 06:47PM

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo - Annabelle S. Morison, 15 Feb 07:42PM

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo - Laurence Payne, 15 Feb 11:22PM

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo - Martin P. Kellogg, 16 Feb 12:11AM

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo - Jim Druckenmiller, 15 Feb 07:47PM

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo - Ian Cugley, 16 Feb 10:51AM

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo - Jody Hughes, 16 Feb 11:36AM

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo - Bill Myers, 16 Feb 02:19PM

Re: Sib. 5.x: Notation Of a Didgeridoo - Annabelle S. Morison, 17 Feb 03:28PM