Facebook Mail Soundcloud Twitter Youtube
Facebook Mail Soundcloud Twitter Youtube
Didgeridoo Lessons with Didge Project
0

Sound Healing Insider Tips with “Elements of Sound” Author Adrian DiMatteo

By
AJ Block
-
0

We sat down with Adrian DiMatteo, author of “Elements of Sound: A Full-Spectrum Exploration of Sound and Consciousness,” to talk about the transformative power of sound healing. The book and our talk emphasize the importance of sound’s physical and metaphysical aspects, the significance of various instruments, and the role of consciousness in sound meditation, aiming to deepen the understanding and practice of sound healing.

What are the benefits of sound healing?

The close proximity of sound instruments to the body creates a unique experience that transcends mere auditory perception, allowing one to feel the vibrations deeply. This interaction has profound implications for sound healing and meditation practices. The book “Elements of Sound” explores the relationship between sound and consciousness, emphasizing the inner processes involved in conducting sound healing sessions. This understanding is crucial for effective practice.

How can sound instruments enhance meditation?

Sound instruments like singing bowls and flutes offer rich overtones that differentiate them from traditional Western instruments. Their unique sound quality enhances the meditative and healing experience. Instruments from diverse cultures often carry a spiritual or intentional design, enhancing their effectiveness in healing and meditation. Many have been used for thousands of years with deep-rooted significance. The connection between music and nature evokes primal elements of life, allowing individuals to experience deeper listening and relaxation through harmonically rich instruments. Engaging with these sounds encourages a unique mental and emotional integration process. Imagining nature can inspire creativity in music-making, linking human experiences to fundamental elements like wind and rain, enhancing emotional responses to sound.
The quality of an instrument significantly influences the richness of sound, allowing overtones to resonate more clearly, impacting the listener’s experience and emotional connection. Context plays a crucial role in sound perception, as individual associations can affect emotional responses, highlighting the complexity of human interactions with music.

What is the role of silence in sound healing?

Silence is often misunderstood as separate from sound, but it is inherently tied to our auditory experiences. Understanding this relationship enhances our perception of sound and music. The nature of silence is metaphysical, existing only through contrast with sound, making it challenging to articulate. This duality is essential to grasp for a deeper understanding of audio experiences. Hermetic principles such as the laws of polarity and rhythm, are pivotal in understanding sound’s existence. This framework helps simplify complex sonic concepts into more comprehensible ideas (study the “Kybalion” for a deeper dive into these concepts).

What is the role of music theory in sound healing?

Music theory serves as a crucial foundation for sound healing practices, offering insights into how different sounds interact. Mastery of basic principles can significantly enhance one’s creative expression in music. Understanding music theory as a language allows for flexibility in expression across different cultures. It emphasizes the importance of sound in shaping individual experiences and consciousness. Different music theory systems provide varied ways to express similar ideas, akin to speaking multiple languages. This diversity enriches the overall understanding of musical expression. The universal principles of music, like notes and intervals, are foundational across cultures. These elements form the basis of many musical traditions worldwide. Integrating the mind, body, and emotions is crucial for achieving a balanced inner state. Practices such as meditation and yoga help cultivate this integration through sound. The use of sound meditation can help individuals connect with deeper aspects of themselves and confront their inner thoughts and emotions. Engaging with music activates various brain functions, promoting mental and emotional healing. Sound meditation can assist individuals in addressing fears and aspirations that may have been neglected, fostering self-awareness and personal growth. This deep connection can lead to transformative experiences.

Different cultures utilize various instruments for sound healing, including drums, flutes, and bowls, each contributing unique vibrations and tones to the meditation experience. This diversity showcases the universal nature of sound healing. The process of sound meditation is not passive; it often involves active participation through playing instruments or vocalizing intentions. This engagement enhances the therapeutic effects of the practice.

The book “Elements of Sound” emphasizes the importance of becoming more conscious of our sonic environment and how we relate to sound and music. By fostering awareness, we can enhance our well-being and communication. Being mindful of what we hear, including music lyrics and conversations, can significantly influence our emotional state and personal growth. This awareness allows for positive integration of experiences. Sensitivity to sound can lead to intense reactions, but recognizing this allows us to manage our responses better. Mastering our senses is essential for emotional balance. Protecting our hearing in loud environments is crucial to prevent physical damage. Using ear protection and monitoring sound levels can help maintain our auditory health.

 

Sound healing can significantly impact the nervous system, causing stress or damage if not approached thoughtfully. Practitioners should consider context and the dynamics of sound for effective healing. The importance of context in sound healing is highlighted, where loud sounds can be beneficial in some situations but overwhelming in others. Practitioners must gauge the room’s energy and adjust accordingly. Tension and resolution are central to music, as expectations can create tension when unfulfilled. This dynamic plays a crucial role in how sound is perceived and experienced during healing.

Proximity of instruments is vital, as sound intensity increases significantly the closer it is to the listener. This effect influences how sound vibrations are felt physically in the body. Sound meditation utilizes different frequencies to help individuals focus and dissolve their thought patterns. By incorporating various instruments, a rich sound texture is created that enhances the meditative experience.

In sound meditation, high tones serve as attention grabbers, similar to how ginger cleanses the palate between sushi flavors. This allows participants to better focus on the experience. The combination of low, middle, and high frequencies creates a depth and richness in sound. This diverse sound spectrum promotes a more immersive and relaxing environment during meditation.

Art is seen as a way to decorate space, while music decorates time. The arrangement of notes over time influences the overall experience and emotional response to sound. “Elements of Sound” aims to empower individuals interested in sound healing by integrating scientific and spiritual perspectives. It seeks to demystify the practice and enhance public understanding of its benefits.

Understanding sound healing involves addressing common questions about its nature and effectiveness, which can vary based on the audience and context of the discussion.

Yucca & Agave Didgeridoos Are Lightweight and Resonant

By
AJ Block
-
0

18 new agave and yucca didgeridoos have landed in our store. Made by Myke Gomezmaicas, Ben Hicks and Sam David, these instruments are great for sound baths and stage performances which require the player to walk around and move the instrument. Enjoy the video and get yours while supplies last.

How To Use Energy Chimes In Sound Baths and Healing Sessions

By
AJ Block
-
0

Energy chimes are highly resonant instruments comprised of aluminum bars strung over wooden blocks. Emitting high frequencies rich in harmonics, energy chimes can fit in with many different instruments as they pierce through other sounds, often being heard clearly even when a lot of other instruments are being played. Energy chimes have become a staple instrument in our sound baths with Dream Seed as they seem to be handy instruments for transitioning from one array of instruments to another. They are a great opening instrument to play when coming out of complete silence, as they are so pleasant on the ears. They are amazing to hold in the hand and walk around the room with, allowing us to easily wave these beautiful frequencies towards each individual participant.

Energy Chimes can be used in a number of ways for healing work:

  • They can be played in harmony with other instruments such as crystal bowls, shruti boxes, didgeridoos, handpans and other instruments that establish a sonic environment.
  • You can hold one in one hand and the mallet in the other, tap the bar with the mallet and wave it around the recipient.
  • You can hold 2 to 4 chimes in one hand and play them while waving them around a person.
  • You can put one chime on each side of a supine person’s head and tap the chimes lightly to create a stereo effect
  • You can put them on top of a supine person’s energy centers associated with the chakras and play them (see photo below)
Demonstration of using energy chimes on the chakras, or energy centers, of a recipient.

Ultimately there are no rules about how to play energy chimes correctly, however it is good to be mindful to not strike them too hard near a person’s ear. This can create stark swells of sound that could be painful to the ear drum. Master energy chime maker and healer Elvina Munir recommends to let the mallet simply drop onto the aluminum bar and not to forcibly hit it, especially when in close proximity to a person.

We guarantee you’ve never heard energy chimes that have such resonant  long-sustaining vibrato as the Elfen Harmonics energy chimes. The set featured in this video, the Elfen Chakra Chimes, is built in the C Major scale (plus a low A) and tuned in the A = 432 hz tuning system. See our video on doing healing work with energy chimes:

For more info on energy chimes, be sure to watch our video above and check out the Elfen Chakra Chimes now available in the Didge Project store.

 

Didgeridoo For Kids: Elementary School Presentation

By
AJ Block
-
0

In this school performance at Cornwall Elementary School in Pennsylvania, AJ taught about how traditional didgeridoos are eucalyptus trunks hollowed out by termites and he taught the students how to make many of the basic didgeridoo sounds by buzzing the lips, squeezing the cheeks, moving the tongue, using the voice, and pumping the abs. He got the kids singing the twangy “wee-you” sounds which characterize the overtones of the didgeridoo drone and, of course, he gave them lots to dance about.

The same day at Cornwall Elementary, AJ conducted four Make and Play Didgeridoo Workshops for 100 5th graders who all took home their own didgeridoos to keep!

Here’s a shorter edit of “The Outback Dance”:

Dance along with the sounds of the didgeridoo in the “Outback Dance”

Here are the moves (watch the beginning of the video for a demonstration of each):

  • Hop like a kangaroo
  • Flap your wings like a kookaburra
  • Howl like a dingo
  • Get down low

Traditional aboriginal didgeridoo playing is inspired by the sounds of the bush. Here the didgeridoo imitates the sounds of the kookaburra and the dingo and plays a rhythm for the “hop” of the kangaroo. AJ Block learned these sounds from aboriginal didgeridoo artist Lewis Burns and put together the Outback Dance as a way to teach about Australia in his didgeridoo performances for kids.

Special thanks to our stage assistants Freedom and Cedar Flowers and our camera operator Chad Mummert. Extra special thanks to the Cornwall PTO for bringing us to Cornwall Elementary School!

*Book AJ Block to come to your school or community: info@didgeproject.com // 347-871-3866

Instrument Feature: The Mamaquena Flute of the Andes

By
Jerry Walsh
-
0

Listen to the harmonic overtones of this very special flute from the Andes mountains in South America, the Mamaquena, in our video above.

mamaquena flute la rosa didge project 1
mamaquena flute la rosa didge project 5
mamaquena flute la rosa didge project 4
mamaquena flute la rosa didge project 3
mamaquena flute la rosa didge project 2
mamaquena mamaquena flute la rosa didge project 6 - size comparison
mamaquena flute la rosa didge project 1
mamaquena flute la rosa didge project 5
mamaquena flute la rosa didge project 4
mamaquena flute la rosa didge project 3
mamaquena flute la rosa didge project 2
mamaquena mamaquena flute la rosa didge project 6 - size comparison

Mamaquena Bamboo Flute by La Rosa Flutes

Price range: $265.00 through $295.00

SKU: N/A Category:

Description

The Mamaquena is the “mother of all flutes” according to the La Rosa family, a large version of one of the most popular Andean flutes, the quena. The quena is characterized by it’s slit-like mouthpiece, usually carved into the wooden body, that splits the airstream and created the sound generating vibration. The mamaquena has particular been used by Tito La Rosa and other exponents of the andean sound school to create a deep, warm and rich tone that is extremely responsive to the breath of the player. The quena sound is also characterized by harmonic jumps, which can be manipulated with the intensity of the breath.

Watch our video demo of the Mamaquena:

These mamaquena flutes are available in two keys: A Minor Pentatonic and B Minor Pentatonic. These are 5-fingerhole flutes on which it is quite easy to play up and down the scale. The A Minor flute is overall larger and plays lower tones. The B Minor flute is smaller and easier for beginners to play.

Scale: A Minor Pentatonic
Notes: A C D E G A

Scale B Minor Pentatonic
Notes: B D E F# A B

This photo shows a size comparison of the A Minor (larger) and B Minor (smaller) mamaquena flutes:

Additional information

Weight 3 lbs
Dimensions 32 × 4 × 4 in
Model

A Minor Pentatonic, B Minor Pentatonic

Reviews

There are no reviews yet

Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.

Q & A

Ask a question
There are no questions yet

Related products

25 New Hardwood Didgeridoos Added To The Didge Project Store

By
AJ Block
-
0

Check out some amazing new didgeridoos that have landed in our store and can be yours! Each one is a unique one-of-a-kind instrument that is available on a first come first come basis. Get the didgeridoos in this video in our online store or come up to our store in the Catskills in Upstate New York to pick one up in person.

*Order these didgeridoos here:

Most of the aboriginal didges shown here are made from termite hollowed eucalyptus wood and most are quite substantial in weight (average of 10-15 lbs.). The non-aboriginal hardwood didgeridoos are predominantly from US makers, most notably two of the finest didgeridoo craftsman in the US: Chad Butler and Ben Hicks.

6 Steps to Mastering Circular Breathing on Didgeridoo

By
AJ Block
-
2
circular breathing on didgeridoo mastering lessons tutorials class training
Photo by Courtney Averett

Circular breathing is a wind instrument technique that allows the player to sustain a tone for an extended period of time. This is accomplished by storing air in the mouth (inflating the cheeks) and using this reservoir of air to inhale through the nose while air is still coming out the mouth. People always ask me if it is difficult to do circular breathing on didgeridoo and I usually reply that it is just a slight variation on normal breathing.

Circular breathing is key to didgeridoo playing because it allows for the continuous drone to remain unbroken, forming a strong foundation for the complete sound. Learning to circular breathe is like going to the gym in that you are working to develop muscle tone, flexibility and control. While it may seem challenging, practice of the following exercises you will give you an understanding of how the mechanics work and how to successfully master the art. Some people find it easier to learn circular breathing by playing the didgeridoo but you do not need an instrument to practice these exercises.

***If you are new to playing wind instruments, be sure to first read How to Strengthen The Breath and Expand Lung Capacity for Wind Instruments and if you are new to didgeridoo, first watch our video on How To Play Didgeridoo For Absolute Beginners.

1Breathe through your nose with inflated cheeks

Fill your cheeks with air so they are puffed out and hold your lips tight so no air escapes. Inhale and exhale naturally through the nose, keeping the cheeks filled with air the whole time. Inhale slowly. Exhale slowly. This first step serves to establish independence between your breath and the air in stored in your mouth reservoir.

2Spit water

Fill your mouth with water so that your cheeks are bulging out. Gently squeeze your cheeks and bring your jaw up as if biting so the water streams out. Maintaining a constant stream, inhale and exhale naturally through your nose. Your goal is to have an uninterrupted flow of water coming out of your mouth as you breathe. This exercise can be practiced each time you step into the shower.

3Inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth with inflated cheeks

Start with your cheeks inflated and mouth closed. Inhale through the nose, keeping your lips sealed and your cheeks inflated. Then exhale through your mouth, keeping your cheeks just as full. On your next inhale, seal your lips again. Continue with this cycle maintaining inflated cheeks throughout.

4Inhale through the nose while squeezing air out of your mouth

This is the first stage in what will become a full breath cycle. Start with your cheeks inflated. At the same moment you begin to inhale through the nose, squeeze the air out of your mouth by bringing your jaw up and tightening your cheek muscles. You should strive for a strong but quiet inhale through the nose. With some practice you should be able to synchronize the flow of air coming in your nose and the flow of air going out your mouth. Practice this until you get good at it.

5Add the “HA”

Start with exercise 4. After you simultaneously inhale through the nose and squeeze air out your mouth, make a strong exhale from the lungs by saying “HA”. This out-breath should come from deep in your core so be sure that your diaphram is engaged and abdominal muscles are tightening to push the air out. This exhale should also push air back into your cheeks.

6Find the rhythm

Once you have combined steps 4 and 5, repeat them over and over again until you start to feel the groove. Make the repetition as musical as you can. The goal is to get air constantly coming out of your mouth with no gap between the inhale and exhale. With practice you will be able to blend the air flow from the two sources (mouth and lungs) into one rhythmic cycle, the circular breath.

After you have mastered step 6 and completed the cycle, you’ve done it! It is time to pick up a didge and put your new circular breathing skills in action.

Ready for further training on circular breathing? Want to see how to put all the pieces together? Sign up below for a free video class on circular breathing exercises you can try at home.

Nitrided Steel Handpans vs. Stainless Steel Handpans: The Differences and Similarities (plus Octave-Steel Tongue Drums for comparison)

By
Jerry Walsh
-
0

In this video we look at the difference between what are often regarded as the two top quality handpan materials: stainless steel and nitrided steel. Stainless steel often renders a gold or copper finish and a bright, rich sound. Nitrided steel, which is probably the most widely used, often renders a gray or blueish hue and the tone is usually seen as a bit darker and moodier. The steel tongue drum was added to the mix in this comparison to give context to the range of instrument styles and pricing. Enjoy the comparison!

Stainless Steel Handpans, Nitrided Steel Handpans, Raw Steel Handpans and Steel Tongue Drums for sale in our store:

One great stainless steel handpan we have in stock and ready to ship:

Professional Handsfree Didgeridoo Stands now available in the US and Worldwide

By
AJ Block
-
0

Play it standing or sitting, free your hands to play other instruments, mount it on stage, or bring it to a drum circle: anywhere you bring the professional handsfree didgeridoo stand by Meinl you will experience a sense of ease with your didgeridoo setup.

Learn African Rhythms with It’s All About Rhythm’s Kevin Nathaniel

By
Kevin Nathaniel
-
0

In this rhythm tutorial we show you everything you need to level up your rhythm by learning syncopated rhythms known as claves. What is a clave? A clave is a short rhythmic pattern which get repeated and lends itself to many other rhythmic variations.

This video is from It’s All About Rhythm, a course for musicians at any level. It is the best rhythm tutorial you can take if you are struggling to keep the beat or play with other musicians. Check it out at didgeproject.com/rhythm.

Rhythms featured in this video:
  • The Carribbean Clave, found throughout the Caribbean, Africa and Latin America
  • The Son Clave, also known as the “salsa” clave
  • The African 6/8 clave, found in African music, funk music, and others

Why learn from a rhythm tutorial video?

No matter what instrument you play, or even if you are a vocalist, learning clave patterns will help you bring your music to the next level. By practicing these relatively simple patterns, you will gain a better rhythmic feel and improve your sense of musical timing.

A clave is a short rhythm that actually tells you how a whole rhythm structure moves. Often times, when you hear rhythm, you hear it as moving but you don’t quite know how it moves. The clave tells you how it moves.

Again, if you are looking for a great rhythm tutorial, It’s All About Rhythm is a wonderful study tool that can help you take your playing to a higher level. Check it out at:

didgeproject.com/rhythm

123...19Page 2 of 19
Learn to play didgeridoo and master the technique of CIRCULAR BREATHING
Learn to play didgeridoo and master the technique of CIRCULAR BREATHING

Most Popular Articles

Load more
Didge Project Home
A website with simple tips to help you shine with your music.

Subscribe

 to our mailing list for the latest posts, courses, events and downloads.
Contact us: info@didgeproject.com
Facebook Mail Soundcloud Twitter Youtube
© 2024 Didge Project. All Rights Reserved.