Echoes From the Dreamtime - A Workshop in Didjeridu with Brian Pertl

Circular Breathing (597k bytes)

Artist:
Pertl, Brian

Title:
Echoes From the Dreamtime - A Workshop in Didjeridu with Brian Pertl

Genre:
Instructional

Publisher No.:
(1994) publisher not known - number not known , Brian Pertl, 9904 NE 140th St., Bothell, WA 98011

Comments:
Subtitled A Workshop in Didjeridu with Brian Pertl.
Reviewer: Liner Notes

Until now, the best Didjeridu instructional tape I'd found was The Didgeridoo: How to Play, by Alastair Black. In contrast to Alastair's work, most tapes I've encountered don't cover enough ground to be useful past a couple of listenings. Play and Enjoy the Didjerdu of the Australian Aborigine by Peter Kaye, as an example, is worth perhaps one practice session. Alastair covers far more ground. But he belabors some points at the expense of others. Enter Brian Pertl's Echoes from the Dreamtime. Brian has divided his instructional effort in half. Side A, in the key of D, addresses nearly all the information covered in The Didgeridoo: How to Play. Side B, in the key of E, goes beyond. (While talking about pitch, almost all of Alastair's tape is done with an E flat didgeridoo, for those keeping score). Side A, entitled, 'Getting Started' is approximately 30 minutes in length and covers all of the territory covered in The Didgeridoo: How to Play, plus some. Side B is wonderful. Brian's efficiency on side A has allowed him to explore in more depth, putting the basic techniques into practice and adding new techniques not covered on most instructional tapes. If there is a weakness in Echoes from the Dreamtime, it may lie in the fact that nothing is belabored. The subject of animal imitations is covered far more extensively on Alastair Black's tape. Echoes from the Dreamtime, however, moves quickly through only a couple. But again, "Echoes" substitutes the pitfall of overkill with succinctness. Brian moves rapidly through much more territory than is contained in the 'How to Play' tape. As a result, there is a definite "workshop" feel to this tape. For those who are technically minded, there are a few glitches on 'Echoes'. A slip of the tongue, literally, has Brian hitting the lips with the lips. Sort of a lip smacking error. A couple of times, I thought the echo on the narration of 'Echoes' became a little over done. And once when demonstrating how to move between the tenth and the dominate, Brian didn't quite make the jump on the didg. But then again, Alastair never discusses the 10th note on his tape. The only way these problems can be noticed is to listen carefully several times. People who buy Echoes from the Dreamtime will surely be doing that. And they will be listening much longer than any other instructional tape I've heard to date.
Reviewer: Ed Drury