The low tone is working well. Running about 90% or better on getting the drone and keeping it.
About a dozen practice sessions throughout the day. Starting to experiment with shaping the sound while playing the low drone.
Also started work on the circular breathing thing. There are several good tutorials on youtube. I’m working with one from the guys in Didgeridoo Dojo. Continue reading
Today I’m practicing in short 10-15 minute sessions spread throughout the day. So far five of them. The goal this morning was to just get a drone out of the didge. Thankfully that worked out pretty well. Meaning, I managed to get a drone for part of the ten minutes. Don’t use a clock, that’s just about how long I can go before getting light-headed.
I suppose the getting light-headed part might be something to look into — wrong breath, wrong technique, mucho pollen, plastic bag over my head — I’m sure there is something that will need to be changed. But, later for that. Right now my only goal is to get on the drone as quickly as possible. Continue reading
The first of two didgeridoos arrived on Friday. Both from LA Outback.
The first one is made from Yucca and is low Bb. That’s it on the left. Continue reading
Let’s consider for a moment what it means to use the Om Mani Padme Hum App.
First you find the icon on your phone or tablet. Then you tap on the icon to open the app.
Following this you select the “flavor” of prayer you want to run — that particular day. After this you manually activate each step of the process — frame by frame, intentional moment by intentional moment. All of this on behalf of another, or on behalf of all beings everywhere. Continue reading
To illustrate a point, I’d like to represent one’s inner world as a pond. For me when I think of a pond I am reminded of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden Pond. Off the topic at hand, but if you have never encountered the book you may want to give a few portions of it a read.
In any case, we started with the notion of using a pond to represent one’s inner world.
So, moving forward, I’d like to observe that more than a few folks have noticed (and mentioned) the presence of ripples, waves, and darn near tsunamis mucking about on their little pond.
The general presumption is that: “if my pond is unsettled it must be something happening with me.” That is not necessarily the case. There are a variety of potential sources of “winds” that can disturb the surface of your pond: Continue reading
As usual, given enough time, people will dumb down a concept to such an extent that it will come to bear no resemblance to its original concept — and often come to mean the exact opposite of its original.
Consider “agnostic”. If you care to look the word up in the dictionary (www.dictionary.com) you’ll find definitions of the following sort: Continue reading
Yep, just like they say in all those movies on the topic of relationships, ya gotta be a good listener. What they don’t tell you is that you should be listening to yourself.
I’m not suggesting to ignore others. I’m simply saying it’s about time that you started paying attention and listen to what you are saying. Start doing this and you will be in for quite a shock.
Just in case it isn’t totally clear, “listen to yourself” is not an euphemism for take your own advice, or be your own boss. I mean actually listen to what you are saying. And not just listen; listen with the same intensity to detail that Sherlock Holmes would bring to it. Continue reading
Over the course of this winter some very good friends are working on creating lists for themselves by addressing the questions “What did they hope to accomplish with their life?” and, “What will they regret not doing if they should die without doing it?”
Reading emails from a couple of these friends I was reminded of something. Continue reading
The power of radio as a media for theatrical presentation is its lack of suffocating detail. Naturally a radio show will include creaking doors and the thump, thump, thump of foot falls to help establish atmosphere and indicate movement in the space. But these details are just broad strokes. There remains plenty of room for each audience member to supplement the sparse setting with details drawn from the greatest special effects generator ever developed — the human brain. Continue reading