... MY INSTRUMENTS
ultra light-weight didgeridoos
Playing ultra light weight didgeridoos from fibre glass has been a special feature in my performances since the beginning of the millenium. They allow more freedom to move around and dance, they are easier to carry, they take up less space and yet they have the enormous sound spectrum you'd expect from a high quality didgeridoo.
That's why I also take them with me to my workshops, to provide students with the possibility to find out the best potential in a didgeridoo, even if they do not own one themselves.
I make these instruments myself, based on shapes either copied from my favorite originals* or simulated by CADSD**
Fibre-glass didgeridoos, especially with their weight of less than 800 grams, still raise an eyebrow: »But, aren't wooden instruments much better?«.
To answer this short and simple: No.
(... the longer answer to this might be too long here ...)
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* In 2002 Kay Reimer found a method of measuring the volumes of a given didgeridoo by filling them with water. By just transferring the results to a straight shape, you obtain an instrument with almost exactly the same playing qualities as the original.
** In the same year Dr. Frank Geipel developed CADSD – Computer Aided Didge Sound Design, a method of simulating desired sound features for making didgeridoos.
Source for both footnotes: David Lindner (Ed.) »The Didgeridoo Phenomenon«, Traumzeit-Verlag Publishing House, 2004
ongoing research projects
Apart from building instruments for my shows and performances, I also strive to find out more about how this instrument works, to find out about what certain players consider to be a »good«
instrument, and why.
To that avail, I am working closely together with the people from didgeridoo-physics.com, in particular with Dr. Frank Geipel.
I use the fibre-glass method to build cost optimized prototypes to test for simulations that have been generated using the CADSD-software.
Another way to achieve this is via CNC milling, which is why I also work closely together with didgeridoo developer and maker Andrea Ferroni from windproject.it
