What is a Didgeridoo?
The didgeridoo is believed to be the worlds oldest wind
instrument, dating back thousands of years. It originates as a musical
instrument of the North Australian Aborigine.
How to Play Didgeridoo
BASIC TONE
Place the end of the didge over your mouth firmly (but not
real hard) and buzz your lips somewhat the way that a note is sounded on a
trumpet, but with your lips a lot looser; sort of like a "razzberry" or "Bronx
cheer". It doesn't take a lot of pressure; in fact once the tone is going your
lips aren't even touching. It's hard to explain exactly what you have to do to
get the right sound, but when it happens it's quite obvious. Some people get it
almost immediately and others have to experiment for a while before they do.
Anyone can learn it with a little effort. At first you'll probably only be able
to do it occasionally and only for short durations, but with a little practice
you'll see noticeable improvement fairly quickly. During the initial phases
you'll want to experiment with the size and shape of your mouthpiece to find the
ideal for you and you'll also want to experiment with whether to place the didge
over the center of your mouth or off to one side; there's no right or wrong way,
only your way. You should spend quite a bit of time to get very consistent and
efficient at producing the basic (fundamental) didge tone until you can get both
volume and pitch to remain quite steady for as much as 20 seconds or more on a
single breath. The short video clip will demonstrate the basic idea. The sort of
sound I'm making with the didge off my mouth gives you an idea of how loose the
lips are when you're making the proper sound with the didge. Before you play the
video clip, be sure you've understood the text instructions.
To play didgeridoo properly you'll eventually need to be able
to keep the basic tone going all the time. To do this you need to learn a
technique called circular breathing, whereby you occasionally keep the didge
tone going with air in your cheeks being pushed out with pressure from your
tongue and cheek muscles at the same time that you're breathing in through your
nose. Before attempting this you should get very steady and efficient with the
basic tone. While you're mastering the basic tone there are exercises you can
learn that will make didge circular breathing much easier to learn. Work on the
following exercises and master them at the same time that you're working on
mastering the basic tone on the didge.
CIRCULAR BREATHING
The general
perception among beginners is that circular breathing is something very
difficult to learn and indeed you occasionally meet a didge player that's gotten
pretty good at a lot of things and still can't circular breathe. The main trick
to learning is to do it in stages. The initial exercises don't even involve the
use of the didge at all. At the beginning the challenge of maintaining the basic
tone and the various things required to circular breathe successfully is just
too much to manage all at once, so work on getting the basic tone smooth, easy,
and efficient and separately work on the various stages of pre-circular
breathing exercises. MASTER EACH EXERCISE THOROUGHLY BEFORE YOU GO TO THE NEXT
AND UNDERSTAND THE TEXT INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE YOU LOOK AT THE VIDEO CLIP. The text
alone is enough, in case your computer can't play the video. The video clips by
themselves won't help you much if you haven't read and understood the text. OK,
so here goes.
1) GRAVITY FLOW The single greatest difficulty with circular
breathing is that you have to occasionally push air out of your mouth at the
same time that you're breathing in through your nose. This causes a sort of
"programming conflict" in the mind, similar to the first time you ever try to
pat your stomach at the same time as rubbing your head. Most people find this
very easy after little effort. This first exercise is as easy as that; almost as
easy as walking and chewing gum at the same time. Fill your mouth with water and
lean over the ground or a sink and open your mouth slightly to let the water
leak out in a light steady stream. Then breathe in and out through your nose
deeply and steadily while continuing to let gravity drain water out of your
mouth in an even stream. At first it may feel like you're going to choke or
something, but you'll soon find it's no problem to breathe while water is
flowing out of your mouth. Use a light control of your tongue and cheek muscles
to keep the flow of the water as steady as possible through the breathing
phases. Keep working on this until it becomes completely natural and comfortable
to breathe with water flowing out of your mouth steadily.
2) WATER PUSH This is a rather small step beyond the last
exercise. This time you aim your head forward rather than down and you push a
stream of water out of your mouth just using your tongue and cheek muscles. Hold
your breath and make sure you're not driving the stream of water from your
lungs, but only with your tongue and cheek muscles. This is really quite easy to
do with just a little effort. Once you have that down solidly, try breathing in
and out deeply through your nose while still pushing a steady stream of water
out of your mouth with your tongue and cheek muscles. It's not that much
different from the last exercise, but it requires a little more concentration
and effort to master the control of the flow of water when you're pushing it
rather than letting gravity drain it out. Keep at it until it becomes quite
easy, at which point you'll be a big way toward mastering circular breathing.
You're pushing water out instead of air, but the idea is the same.
3) BUBBLE PUSH 1 This is another very tiny step ahead. This
time you push air through a drinking straw into a glass of water. Hold your
breath and just use your tongue and cheek muscles to drive the stream of air
bubbles in the water. Try to keep the pressure steady and the flow of bubbles
smooth until the air in your cheeks runs out.
4) BUBBLE PUSH 2 This is exactly like the last exercise, but
at the same time that you're pushing the stream of air out with your tongue and
cheek muscles you take a big breath in through your nose. Now you're doing the
"incredibly difficult" feat of pushing air out of your mouth while you're
breathing in through your nose. Again work at this exercise until it feels
totally comfortable and easy and controlled. You're almost circular breathing
now.
5) CIRCULAR BREATHING BUBBLES This time you'll graduate to
the full circular breathing cycle, but blowing air into a glass of water instead
of into a didgeridoo while buzzing the lips. The mechanics are exactly the same.
Start by blowing air into the straw with your lungs. As you start to run low on
lung air, fill your cheeks up with a bit of air (while maintaining the flow of
bubbles) and then use your cheek and tongue muscles to drive the air for the
bubbles. You now have a moment during which you can breathe in through your nose
while your tongue and cheek muscles are keeping the bubbles going with air from
your cheeks. Once your lungs are filled again, you can switch back to pushing
the air with your lungs. You are now circular breathing. Watch the stream
of bubbles and be sure that it stays steady as you switch back and forth between
lung air and cheek air. Practice this a lot until you can maintain a very smooth
flow of air for quite a while. Once you're really efficient at this you can even
practice the technique without the straw or water, by simply blowing air out of
your mouth through compressed lips with a slight opening to allow air out.
DIDGE CIRCULAR BREATHING This is the graduation exercise and
if you've been practicing your basic tone and you're efficient with it this will
be a very small step. Just play the didge and keep the tone going the exact same
way that you kept the bubbles going in the glass of water. On the video clip I'm
breathing in quite an exaggerated manner so that you can see exactly when I'm
breathing.
Search Googel.com for “How play
the didgeridoo” to learn more.
Learn more online:
http://www.didgeridoings.com/
http://aboriginalart.com.au/didgeridoo/
http://www.didgeridoostore.com/howtoplay.html
http://www.how-to-play-didgeridoo.com/
http://www.didgeswedoo.com.au/play.html
http://www.didges.com.au/
Thank You from
Crossroads Corner
1118-B S. Main St
Salem, MO 65560
Click here to see our Didgeridoos of only $24.95
