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PRACTICING AND RECORDING
Simple techniques for video recording
Recording a video of yourself playing didgeridoo is also a beneficial activity to help you practice. Watching a video of yourself puts everything in context and puts yourself in the shoes (or eyes) of your potential audience. It gives you an overall view of how you look and sound, which really helps you know where you can make improvements. Being open to making improvements is very important if you want to keep getting better.
Plus, making a video of yourself is also a lot of fun and interesting for other people. People would rather watch a video of yourself playing than listening to a scratchy sound recording. You can show videos to friends and family of when you were “in the zone” late one night, or you can share them on video sharing sites like YouTube. There is nothing like YouTube for getting honest feedback from viewers.
Sharing your videos with other people is the best way to get constructive feedback. You can get quite a subjective, narrow minded view of your playing skills if you never get any feedback. Objective viewpoints from other people who provide their honest opinion is the most valuable thing you can use to help you improve your skills.
Making a video
Obviously, the best way to record video of yourself is to grab a digital video camera, stick it on a camera tripod, and start recording. You will then be able to edit it with the video editing software that probably came with your camera. I am not going to explore all the ins and outs of home video recording because that is outside the scope of this web site. But if you have a digital video camera, get started! You may have just discovered and new and exciting use for your digital video camera!
If you don’t have a proper digital video recorder and all the dedicated gear, there is still a very easy way to record yourself on video. Just use the movie mode on your digital compact camera. While the quality of the video won’t be all that high, it will be perfectly acceptable for your needs because your camera will be fixed in one position, and the subject (you) won’t be moving all that much. This will avoid image quality problems like camera shake and blurriness.
So even though you won’t have the best quality video recording tool, the method of filming and subject conditions will be conducive to creating clear images that will be more than adequate.
Use the movie mode on your compact camera to record yourself.
Furthermore, if you are sharing your video on YouTube, you won’t need to have super high quality video anyway. And while the sound quality won’t be super either, it will be good enough for playback on normal computer speakers. As long as you have a good light source, the subject (yes, you) fills the entire frame, the camera is still while recording, and your playing is not too loud or too soft, your compact digital camera will easily pass for a quality video recording tool.
I mentioned previously the importance of having the camera in a fixed position while recording. This is very important in preventing loss of image quality if you are just using a compact camera.
The best thing to use to keep your camera still is an adjustable camera tripod. But who has these? So let’s get creative with didgeridoo accessories we may have at hand. If you have a didgeridoo storage stand or a didgeridoo playing stand, you can use these in innovative ways to hold your camera. Best of all, they are fully adjustable! Nice!
If you have a didgeridoo storage stand, you may be able to fit your camera into the padded u-shaped holding. Even in this position, if it fits right, you can even tilt your camera within the holding. Once in position, use the adjustment screw on the stand to move the camera up or down.
See the photo below which illustrates the technique. If you have a didgeridoo playing stand, now you are getting serious! Just strap the camera to the top of the holder, as you would your didgeridoo. Now you can tilt, pan and move your camera up and down to get just the shot you want.
Get creative and use your didgeridoo stands as makeshift camera tripods.
If you have no tripod, makeshift tripod, nothing, just put your camera on a bench, table, bookshelf or chair and move yourself into shot. As long as you have digital compact camera and a hard surface, anything is possible. Now get recording and see how you look!
After downloading the files from your compact camera, they are easily playable in a media player such as Windows Media Player.
I would recommend naming the files you save as a phonetic version of the rhythm you are practicing, rather than just something like “Practice rhythm 14”. If you save them this way, your rhythms will be easily searchable in alphabetic order and they will be a handy, ongoing reference and practice tool. You will be more compelled to open the file again and again if you know exactly what file you are opening.
As you observe a recording of your didgeridoo playing, keep an open mind and try to critically analyse your skills. See what doesn’t work so well and understand how it can be improved. Most importantly, appreciate what sounds good and works well, and use this knowledge to enhance these techniques and encourage you to keep playing more!
Editing your videos
If you want to share your videos with friends and family, or with other people on line, you may want to clean your videos up a bit to make them more ‘viewing friendly’. This will increase your chances of having your video watched the whole way through, meaning you will get quality feedback from your viewers.
You will quickly lose your audience if you are showing them failed attempts at didgeridoo playing while saying “Hang on a minute. No wait. Ok seriously this time.” It can be equally frustrating to people when the first minute of your YouTube video is of you moving into shot and getting comfortable before you start playing. Hint: don’t let anyone see you turn the camera on or off if you post a video on YouTube!
So if you are sharing video with friends or family, you will want to edit out the unnecessary video at the start or end of your solo, or any failed attempts or unnecessary bits throughout the video. This is all aimed at getting people to view your playing the whole way through, which will get you more accurate and thoughtful feedback.
So how do you do this? Once again, easy! You need to use a video editing program, and there is an excellent, free video editing program called Windows Movie Maker. This may have already come installed on you computer, so check to see if you have it. If not, it is available to download for free from the Microsoft web site.
Windows Movie Maker is a free and easy way to edit your videos.
This program is very easy to use. All you need to do is import your video files into the program, place them into a timeline, and then start editing. You can easily trim, cut and paste video using this program.
You can also add text to your video, add transitional effects between shots and include other special effects. It’s very easy to learn, and it will take you no time to edit out any unnecessary footage and create a simple video containing only quality content. Your viewers will love you for it!
Sharing your video
Once you have a simply edited video, you are ready to show other people. You can either show the file straight from your computer, give the files to other people on a device such as a USB, or share them online. There are a number of online video sharing sites, but it doesn’t mean that you have to share your videos to everyone in the world who has a computer. You just have to make sure that the option to share the video publicly is not selected when you first upload the video.
If you want to share your videos publicly, the best video sharing site is of course YouTube. This is very easy to use and your video files can be easily uploaded. You just have to sign-up to YouTube, for free, using an account name and password.
Once you have an account name, all you have to do is upload your video. YouTube is an excellent way to receive feedback from all over the world. Don’t be intimidated by this, most people will offer constructive or encouraging advice that you will find helpful.
YouTube is a good way to share your video and get feedback at the same time.
In order to get feedback, you do have to get people viewing your videos though, which can be hard. Information on how to do this and many more of the features of YouTube can be found in the help section of the YouTube web site. YouTube is not for everyone, but if you like the idea of it, use it to your advantage.
It can be a really fun and helpful tool that will encourage you to keep playing and working to improve your didgeridoo playing skills. You can also get in touch with a lot of other like-minded people at the same time.
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In summary
Recording yourself on video is an even better way to assess your abilities in order to improve them. It also can be rewarding to see how far your playing has come. This can inspire you to keep playing more.
The simplest way to record video of yourself is to use the movie mode of your digital camera.
Didgeridoo stands come in handy as temporary video tripods.
Use the free Windows Movie Maker to edit your videos if you want to share them with other people.
Share your videos on YouTube if you are proud of your work, would like some feedback on your skill level, or you want to connect with other like-minded didgeridoo players.