Homemade Igil - Song of the Lonely Man.

[ojutan]

you don't need to excuse - it sounds very well. I wish I could do the hoomei so well, but I still learn the basics.

[Tiwaking]

Could you play the khuumei ragchaa please? I can sing it, but I do not have and can not play the Morin Khur.

[pigeonflipper]

so is it possible for me to have a copy of your igil plans please,, :)

[keymankeys1960]

really nice

[tkbomber]

Dude, I really like that! What language is that?

[StablestOrphan]

Do you use horsehair strings? If so, what hair count? And if not, do you employ fishing line like I know a lot of folks do?

[zorAloha]

if i don't watch the vid, i can't even imagine that's sung by a guy like u

i mean interesting and cute

throat singing is surely better than igil playing ^^

but it's cool enough

is it gonna be possible to see u singing ezenggileer or chylandyk ?

[fiddlefella]

@zorAloha

Thanks. :-)

I had only a few hours of igil playing experience, so I definitely didn't have coordination! :-)

Sure. I can do chylandyk well, but am not a big fan of it. ;-)

When I get get, I'll make a video. :-)

[acidfriend47]

so are you from Europe?

[robabnawaz]

It sounds really super, from where did youget the horsehaqir strings?

Or did you use other material?

Thank you

[jhosophat]

first time I tried to do that...I threw out my voice for two days.

[noone123567]

i also need the blueprints pleaase!!! :) much thanks

your playing and khoomei singing is remarkable by the way

[kingovviking]

Can you put up the link for the blueprints or help me out with them because i dont have 700 for an igil

[fiddlefella]

@kingovviking

Sure. Well, I actually have them on my computer, but I'm in Japan right now, though I think I'll be back in about two weeks, so let me know again then, and I'll send them to you!

[kingovviking]

@fiddlefella Ok Thanks alot i now have my summer project

[9thDream]

@fiddlefella Hey, I'm studying carpentry atm (started not long ago, actually), and we get to do independant projects now and then. Haven't found anything useful online about building an igil, so could I also ask for the blueprints? Strictly for personal use, of course.

[BoddhisattaHoja]

@fiddlefella You rocks man! Can you share the blueprints? Thank you!!

[BoddhisattaHoja]

@fiddlefella You rocks man! Can you share the blueprints? Thank you!!

[BoddhisattaHoja]

@fiddlefella Great!!!! Can you share the blueprints? Thank you!!!

[noxinferius]

its Beautifull....can i ask what language is that? Again, beautifull job....

[fiddlefella]

@noxinferius

Thanks! :-) It's in the Tuvan language I believe.

[rockaholiciam]

awesome dude, i just discovered this music a couple of days back and its amazing. job well done.

[torkenmoreno]

wow nice job!!

Think you could spare the blueprints to that thing and the site for the horsehair?

[Selenehendrix24]

wow.... i thought that was wonderful, very nice job:)

[peacefrog421]

how much did it cost to make, and how'd ya do it?

[fiddlefella]

It costed about $40, and I used blueprints (found online) to figure out the dimensions 'n such.

[fuckamerica109]

i wish i could sing like that

[serrada36]

Well done!

[krabbers]

excellent

[rottenhubert]

Well, there goes my I'm-a-white-dude-that's-why-my­-khoomei-sucks excuse.

Well done, man.

Where'd you get the strings for the igil?

[fiddlefella]

Aww... it takes time, believe me. :-)

I made them from horsehair. 90 strands for the thin string and 120 strands for the thick. You get them as straight as you can and then braid the ends.

You can get a 1/2lb of horsehair online for $20. That's enough for . . . a *lot* of strings. ;-)

[Hikikomori013]

@fiddlefella

Are the horse hairs in a loose straight bundle, loosely twisted or tightly twisted; and do you have a closeup picture? Maybe a how-to video on Mongolian fiddle strings someday.

Just curiosity, mind you. It's not like I had a morin khuur on my to-do list or anything.

[fiddlefella]

@Hikikomori013 It's in a straight bundle, as straight as possible with as few hairs wrapped or crossed as possible.

Unfortunately, I don't have a closeup picture, but it's quite simple Just count out the hairs and keep em straight :-)

Hey, definitely add it to your to-do list!

[migero2]

your good what more to say

[AndreAAA1984]

молодец чувак. продолжай в том же темпе.

[yppers]

singing like that looks like hard work

[fiddlefella]

Actually, it's surprisingly easy! :-) Granted for the few days of learning, it did hurt my throat, but now it feels so good, to which I prefer it over regular singing.

[DEUTSCHLANDDUDE]

did you make this Igil?

[fiddlefella]

Yeah. Out of maple wood

[jascha19900]

respect man, it is not easy to train the voice like this... i searched this song on youtube but just found a bad quality..

[vomiol]

your xoomei voice is really really solid.

[plaguebacillus]

nice igil i love the instrument & i also i like the morin khuur & other asian instrument & i found the tuning is from morin khuur i think is G-C1 or d1, a & a - d4 I hope that help : )

[RodCornholio]

Mucho Respecto dude. If I sang like that and played that instrument, I would have remained a virgin forever.

You're the bravest person on youtube. Good luck.

[willy1986tralara]

guau!!!

man that thing sounds like are two man playing

[kraggletroll]

Gah, the webpage for the igil design doesn't work for me, could you post a video of your igil, like rotate it very slowly and pause at certain points then tell where connection is and stuff so I can get an idea of the design, if you wouldn't mind that it. That is an impressive instrument though...

[woolffire]

Hey no need for excuses brother

No matter the oops moments, your talent shines through

[woolffire]

Oh BTW what tuning did you use on this igil?

[fiddlefella]

I'm not sure really. Just whatever sounded good and fit in my vocal range. ;-)

[ch1nawhyte]

very nice playing and singing. you are a clearly a talented craftsman as well. From the vid, your igil looks nearly identical to mine, which i purhcased from a member of HHT. sadly its in need of some repair... did you just glue the face on, or something else? mine is starting to curl away from the resonator cavity. also where did you obtain the horsehair... sorry for all the questions, but i recently moved to california and don't have any horse contacts.

[fiddlefella]

Hmm... I thought I responded to this. I guess not.

Thanks! :-)

Is the skin still tight? If it hasn't peeled away too much, you can reapply some glue to the curling part. (elmers works fine)

I glued the face on mine, though of course I had to stretch it over so the skin would be tight and resonant.

And, you can get the horsehair at mmhorsehair . com. There I got all the horsehair I could ever need (for very cheap too!)

Sorry about the wait. I was sure I answered this earlier. :-?

[dirtbiker888]

Gave me goose bumps ;)

[LeJoueurdeHarp]

Very,Very nice ! ;)

[KlawKlorfson]

Thanks a lot for the info.

[KlawKlorfson]

I had a few questions regarding the creation of the igil. What did you use for the strings, what wood did you use, and also is the neck hollow or solid at all. It's really cool you built one, and it sounds good.

[fiddlefella]

I used horsehair for the strings (not wound, except for the ends, which are braided). Maple is the wood used.The neck is solid.

Thanks! I just finished building another, made out of Padauk wood.

[phobik2000]

Love the sound. Where do you get the instructions to build one? :)

[koppergtr]

were did you get the instructions to build one from? thank you

[fiddlefella]

I got the instructions from tjohnsonguitars . com/ iandm . htm

[Fatamorganabu]

Wonderful singing. Especially when you end a phrase it sounds very good. And your igil also sounds nice. How long did it take you to build it? And do you think there might be an ok material to build a vegetarian igil? The same questions for shamisen.

[fiddlefella]

Thanks!

Sorry for the long delay... It took about 3 weeks to make. It of course didn't take that long in man-hours ;-).

I'm not sure about synthetic igil skins. The plastic shamisen heads aren't that good.

You could just use the skin of a vegetarian animal. ;-)

[Fatamorganabu]

Hey, good idea that would totally solve my problem.

But seriously, meanwhile I've thought my position over, because there are so many skin including instruments to my great interest (different drums, tar, etc) and I've read about the fisher price shamisen problem. So since there aren't equal substitutes found, yet, I have at least to take care where the skins come from.

Thanks for the information and don't worry about the delay, I know this problem em em em

All the best for you and your music

[bertanderniemusic]

I loved it!

The throat singing was so impressive, as well as the overtone singing.

[percuso]

Nice!

I'm making one right now.

Any tips. What skin do you use?

[fiddlefella]

Thanks!

Cool! It's a pretty easy instrument to make.

Umm... no major tips I can think of. To save wood, I carved the pot separately from the neck/head. I glued them together in a mortise/tenon joint. you may want to do that to save money and/or trees. I used goat skin, which is traditionally used.

Let me know how it turns out! :-)

[Bancaer]

You really are something else, mate! I'm part of the Gen-X short attention span generation, so there's honestly not a lot of 5 minute videos I tend to watch all the way through, but this is one I'm going to be watching again.

[jdsmash]

Badass~ I'm a teaching myself tsugaru shamisen and am a big fan of your stuff. I've only recently (past year) discovered throat singing and I must say you got it man! Keep it coming! = )

[ZaOscelot]

Absolutely mesmerizing. I just got lost in it. You have such a beautiful voice. I loved the whistling.. Was that intentional, or a byproduct of the compression? Either way, it was absolutely gorgeous. You got two instruments for the price of one! ;)

[fiddlefella]

Thanks! :-)

Yeah, the whistling was intentional. It's a style of throat singing called Sygyt.

Hard to explain how to do it, but you basically position your tongue in such a way to filter your voice to let just one harmonic go through. . . more or less.

[ZaOscelot]

I think I get it. I used to play around with my voice in a much more rudimentary way, but kindof like that.. I can see how you do the whistle, though I'm not sure if I'll actually be able to do it. My mother is a vocal trainer, so I'll have to prod her and see if I can get her to teach me how when I'm better.

Any thoughts on when you'll have your shamisen book finished, btw?

[fiddlefella]

It'll be interesting to hear what your mother says about it, mainly because throat singing does everything that vocal teachers tell you *not* to do (or so I've been told). It's worth a shot though! :-)

Well, it's almost through the first stage (out of three) of proofreading. I'm guessing. . . hopefully by February or March? Hopefully earlier though.

[ch1nawhyte]

>>throat singing does everything that vocal teachers tell you *not* to do (or so I've been told).

this was my experience, when i brought the subject up with a vocal coach that i took a few lesson with... but everyone is different.

i just remember the semi-horrified look on his face when i mentioned throat singing. and then he even tried to get me to read a research paper that implied that khoomei could have negative physical effects on the vocal chords!

meh. i was like whatever. -dL-

[ZaOscelot]

That actually begs a good question.. I'm a natural alto, though I can do soprano (if I absolutely HAVE to. I hate soprano. it's so grating) and I used to be able to do bass.. Which is an ability that may return when I don't have a huge lump sitting on my throat. Do you think throat singing would sound interesting with a lower female voice? I've never seen it done before, so I have no idea. Should be interesting anyway. Sorry for the comment spam, by the way. c.c

[fiddlefella]

-Do you think throat singing would sound interesting with a lower female voice

Well, it actually doesn't sound incredibly different. The differences between the sound of a man and woman singing become less when the throat is constricted. But, it still sounds good. :-) "Tyva Kyzy" is an all female throat singing group.

[ZaOscelot]

Spiffeh. I'd wondered, but haven't really had time to do much more than a smattering of tests with my voice.

[sleepwalkerq]

I cant belive my ears when I hear the chor come.I feel already lying under the gray sky of Mongolia...

I love the sadness in this song.

nice igil,nice voice!perfect you!

[dixiedarlin712]

This guy is so talented! :-P

[fiddlefella]

Yes, he is. He really, really is. ;-)

[dixiedarlin712]

lol. :-D

[nickcastell]

I'm an amateur stringed instrument builder and would love to try building an igil at some point. I haven't been able to find any websites offering instructions or notes on the construction. Do you know of anything that might help me?

[oddmusic]

Did you make that igil? It's beautiful and sounds wonderful and authentic. Can't tell what kind of bow that is, but you might want to try an Erhu bow if you haven't already, and they are pretty inexpensive, as far as bows go. Keep it up!

[fiddlefella]

Hey John,

Yeah, I made it. Thanks! :-)

Ah, that bow is called the Incredibow. It's completely synthetic. The strings are synthetic and it requires no tightening/loosening before/after you play. Plus, they have a guarantee that if one strand breaks, I can send it back and they'll give me a new one. I've been using it for igil 'cause the strings grip well

I have an erhu bow, but it's on my erhu - homemade of course. :-P (I've been thinking about taking it off though, as I don't play erhu much)

[oddmusic]

Very cool, thanks for the info!! :) I had heard good things about them in the past but then forgot what they were called... Now I have one on the way to me from Heidi at Incredibow. The bow I use the most has synthetic strings on it, so the Incredibow should be even better for me. Hopefully I'll be able to hold it like an Erhu bow too.

[fiddlefella]

Yeah, it can be held like an erhu bow (or at least I hold it that way). It is curved the opposite way a normal bow is, so there's room to slide your fingers in.

[acabooe]

Great Job Kyle! How did you learn to play so many instruments? sounds Great.

Aloha

Bob

[fiddlefella]

Thanks Bob!

How did I learn to play so many instruments?

I live and breathe my friend. I live and breathe. ;-)

[Throatsinger]

Nice igil, nice job on the vox, too. Keep up the good work!

[jimmo]

Very good! Thanks.

[taiwankid13]

Awesome job!

[GrandTeutonica]

Woah! you finally made yourself an Igil and great playing too :D

[DragonWorshipper]

DUDE! You got yourself an igil? Great stuff!

[mikepenny01]

Wow! Awesome!