BRIGITTE's
HOMEPAGE
In own business: Looking for a job
BRIGITTE's
HOMEPAGE Hello and Welcome, here is Brigitte. As you might already know, I changed the design of the OVERTON HOMEPAGE and added more information. I believe the changed structure makes the surfing through the website a little bit easier and hope the new link lists will come up with interesting sites for you.
One of my future plans is to open up a "News" page about new developments, special editions or the one or other "Overton-on-stock".
The linklist I have organised by subject and do believe, that the link lists I have collected so far is already showable and I will keep enlarging them. I am open to suggestions for other sites, please contact me via email.
A first translation of the history of the Low Whistle you still find here (sorry, it is translated into german but you can find the original English version in Whistling low ). Soon I will exchange this one by a larger version, told by Bernard Overton.
I want my homepage to be informative about instruments I like playing or listening to, things which I find interesting. I also want to offer information about the "X-factor in life" and the websites I have found to this and quite a lot of them are even in Gerrman. Have a look and see what I find important besides the "coffee-life". Enough talking, here we go......
Irish Bodhran
Within the Irish folk music world - besides the whistles - I am also really interested in
another traditional instrument: The Irish Bodhran. This is a framedrum, which I love to
listen to and which I also play a little in our band "The Last Pint". I have
several of them in all different sizes. Three I bought in Ireland in Milltown Mulbay just
beside the road and could watch while they were made. In August 1998 whilst in Austria I
bought a tunable one which I love more than my old ones but when having a
"Bodhran-session" together with Colin, I always had to go back to my old one.
This has changed in March 2000, since then I have a second Eckermann bodhran and there is
no more fighting about who plays which drum ;-) . Both bodhrans have a double skin and an
ingenious tuning system. It is so nicely worked into the frame that you would not normally
recognise it as a tuning system. They are very nice to look at and have a wonderful, deep
and warm tone even they are different in size. The tuning system is the best I have
come across so far although we do not seem to use it that much. As it is built into the
frame there are no disturbing screws or other things inside the drum, so you can use the
whole skin for the colouring of the sound. I also got to know the drum builder Norbert Eckermann. Besides the
bodhrans he hand makes all other kinds of hand and framedrums. You now can order these
drums from me. More information about this you find in my Winds&Skins page.
Didgeridoo (Yedaki)
The didgeridoo brought me into playing music. It is sometimes my soul cleanser and helps
me relax. I have collected a lot of informative websites
about the didgeridoo for you in a link list. The didgeridoo is the
"wind-instrument" of the australian aborigines which have my great respect. As
there are many websites with the mythology about the didgeridoo, I have not added another
story to this here. The links will transport you to websites about myths around the didge,
information about the aboriginal culture as well as excellent pages with building
instructions, how to learn the circular breathing, rythms and playing technics and where
to contact other players and also didgeridoo builders.
There are a "few" didgeridoos around my place, some of them I made myself from bamboo in the key of D, A and a "nearly D". My first real Didge is from bloodwood, an eucalyptus tree and is in the key of C. It is not painted and has a nice and low sound with an easy backpressure for getting a good drone. I also own a "slidgeridoo" from plastic which I got from Rasta Robert from the Netherlands and is a nice and fast player. Have a look into his website and see what he is up to, you will find a link to his website in the didgeridoo links.
Then I have "my crystal didge" as in the picture above. It is made out of Pyrex glass with a wonderful dott painting designed by James Hall. I really have to say "THANK YOU JAMES" for this as it brings so much joy in playing it. It is in the key of D which helps a lot when you accompany Irish folk musicians. It has a wonderful drone and because of the smoothness of the glass on the inside of the tube - there is no disturbance as you have in natural ones - it brings out more than 42! different frequencies. This gives it a wide range of sound. It is very nice and easy to play also in overblowing into the second octave. I have one of his flutes in the key of G. He makes his crystal flutes in different keys and they have different ornamental designs. My favorite design is the celtic knotworking. You can find out more about James' crystal didgeridoos and his crystal flutes in my Winds&Skins page or visit him on the Hall Crystal Flutes Homepage. James also offers a flute and a didgeridoo learning guide which you can download from this page . It is very informative and helpful for the beginner.
Yes, and then there is since mid 2000 an "eye catcher" in the appearing of a "didgibodhran". A didgibodhran, what is that, you may ask? To make it easier, I added a picture below which looks very similar to my one. It is made out of clay and is in the key of D. It has a goat skin attached to the frame and because of this you can play this instrument both as a didgeridoo and a frame drum at the same time. The mouth piece is as if made for me and the playability and sound is excellent. It is made by Barry Hall and I got it as a wedding present from my spouse which is very much appreciated. More about these didgibodhrans or other instruments like flutes, didgeridoos all made from burned earth you can find on Barry Hall's Website.
Below you will find a listing of the links I collected so far.... when listing the CDs I tried to sort them by musicians name in alphabetical order. It is quite a collection and I am surprised myself what has come together so far. To organise the other link lists by subject was a bit harder as an absolute determination where which link belongs is not always possible.
As I wrote before music is just one part in my life. I also want to learn more about life and the secrets it holds so here you can find information which you may not have expected to see on a music orientated page...... You could find this very interesting as you never know what the unexpected may bring.
So if you are nosy to find out more, please have a look for the "links to the unexpected" . Besides these links you also will find some stuff from my home town and links to some friends, which "did not fit with the other subjects".
I hope you will enjoy browsing through my site and that the information you find here is helpful for "your personal development".......
Please send me your comments, questions, tips and information via 