Essay On Didgeridoo
Write short introduction for your paper
I was excited to have the experience of going to Australia, to see some traditiona aboriginal performances. I was assigned to record and write about some of the performances I witnessed.
A narrative describing your first video including the following:
Review all of the feedback regarding the videos in Assignment 6.2. Make sure have the correct information on Allocation of Performers, Texture, Melody, Beat, Instrument Classification, and Tone Color. Also, review what others in your group wrote regarding other sounds and visual elements. The narrative should seamlessly blend musical and visual observations.
The first thing I noticed during The Crane dance was that the allocation of the performers …show more content…
was a small group that has 6 performers with no other designations. I noticed there was a didgeridoo played by one of the members you can see this instrument most clearly at 0:37, this lip vibrated aerophone, was what provided the drone in the texture.”The didgeridoo produces a continuous drone that a skillful player can modulate to produce a variety of complex rhythmic effects and even achieve melodic enhancements.”(What Is A Didgeridoo?) The other instrument that was a part of this performance was a concussion idiophone, this helped keep such a strong beat during the performance, you could tell the beat was strong because all of the dancers were able to keep time together, this is especially noticeable at 0:54, They are very synchronized, however, it definitely sped up around the middle. The melody was made up of a short repetitive singing pattern with a narrow range. There seemed to be only one performer singing, while the others just danced or played their instrument. The tone color of the singers sounded a bit fast paced, and the didgeridoo has a nasally quality to it. All the members were wearing a lyophilize and traditional beige paint on their face “The colors used originate from a range of earth-based pigments. These give the artists a full range of tones, from white through beige and brown to yellow, rust red and black.”(Aboriginal Body Painting).
When I watched the Fire dance I noticed that the allocation of performers was slightly smaller than the other performance.
This performance only had 4 performers however it was similar in the fact that it had no other designation also. The texture was also another difference I noticed, The didgeridoo does not provide just a drone in the background. It is creating it’s own pattern making this texture a rhythmic polyphony “A didgeridoo player can add complex rhythmic effects to the didgeridoo's drone by manipulating his lips, tongue, cheeks, glottal muscles, and diaphragm; some particularly skilled players can even play a rhythm and counter-rhythm simultaneously” (What Is A Didgeridoo?). This rhythmic manipulation is most noticeable at 0:00 the very beginning before much else is added to the performance. However that texture changes at 1:25 when the performance becomes monophonic. The beat is faster in this performance but it stays consistent and strong throughout the piece. The tone color also seemed fast paced and the instruments had a nasally quality to them. The performers in this piece seem to not have a specific melody at the beginning instead they seem to be chanting rhythmically along with the digeridoo. At 1:25 one of the performers begins to sing instead of chanting in rhythm. This is most noticeable at This performance reminded me of a dreaming story about two brothers who had tried to escape flames by climbing to the top of the mountain, they became constellations
when the ancestors took pity on them when they were about to burn. “ Just as they started to burn, the ancestor beings took pity on them and gave them the gift of flight. They flew high up into the night sky, where their camp fires can still be seen today.” (The Dreaming)
The texture seems polyphonic in this one, the instrument that just provided one long note in the last piece is now playing its own melody in addition to the singer’s melody.
The performers are not singing throughout the piece like in the last video, it seems like they are mostly chanting sporadically throughout the piece.
I was excited to have the experience of going to Australia, to see some traditiona aboriginal performances. I was assigned to record and write about some of the performances I witnessed.
A narrative describing your first video including the following:
Review all of the feedback regarding the videos in Assignment 6.2. Make sure have the correct information on Allocation of Performers, Texture, Melody, Beat, Instrument Classification, and Tone Color. Also, review what others in your group wrote regarding other sounds and visual elements. The narrative should seamlessly blend musical and visual observations.
The first thing I noticed during The Crane dance was that the allocation of the performers …show more content…
was a small group that has 6 performers with no other designations. I noticed there was a didgeridoo played by one of the members you can see this instrument most clearly at 0:37, this lip vibrated aerophone, was what provided the drone in the texture.”The didgeridoo produces a continuous drone that a skillful player can modulate to produce a variety of complex rhythmic effects and even achieve melodic enhancements.”(What Is A Didgeridoo?) The other instrument that was a part of this performance was a concussion idiophone, this helped keep such a strong beat during the performance, you could tell the beat was strong because all of the dancers were able to keep time together, this is especially noticeable at 0:54, They are very synchronized, however, it definitely sped up around the middle. The melody was made up of a short repetitive singing pattern with a narrow range. There seemed to be only one performer singing, while the others just danced or played their instrument. The tone color of the singers sounded a bit fast paced, and the didgeridoo has a nasally quality to it. All the members were wearing a lyophilize and traditional beige paint on their face “The colors used originate from a range of earth-based pigments. These give the artists a full range of tones, from white through beige and brown to yellow, rust red and black.”(Aboriginal Body Painting).
When I watched the Fire dance I noticed that the allocation of performers was slightly smaller than the other performance.
This performance only had 4 performers however it was similar in the fact that it had no other designation also. The texture was also another difference I noticed, The didgeridoo does not provide just a drone in the background. It is creating it’s own pattern making this texture a rhythmic polyphony “A didgeridoo player can add complex rhythmic effects to the didgeridoo's drone by manipulating his lips, tongue, cheeks, glottal muscles, and diaphragm; some particularly skilled players can even play a rhythm and counter-rhythm simultaneously” (What Is A Didgeridoo?). This rhythmic manipulation is most noticeable at 0:00 the very beginning before much else is added to the performance. However that texture changes at 1:25 when the performance becomes monophonic. The beat is faster in this performance but it stays consistent and strong throughout the piece. The tone color also seemed fast paced and the instruments had a nasally quality to them. The performers in this piece seem to not have a specific melody at the beginning instead they seem to be chanting rhythmically along with the digeridoo. At 1:25 one of the performers begins to sing instead of chanting in rhythm. This is most noticeable at This performance reminded me of a dreaming story about two brothers who had tried to escape flames by climbing to the top of the mountain, they became constellations
when the ancestors took pity on them when they were about to burn. “ Just as they started to burn, the ancestor beings took pity on them and gave them the gift of flight. They flew high up into the night sky, where their camp fires can still be seen today.” (The Dreaming)
The texture seems polyphonic in this one, the instrument that just provided one long note in the last piece is now playing its own melody in addition to the singer’s melody.
The performers are not singing throughout the piece like in the last video, it seems like they are mostly chanting sporadically throughout the piece.