Me & the didge

It has been a while since my first didgeridoo workshop (more than 6 year even), but to say that I ever had been able to get more sound out of one than a simple base tone (and not even for more than a few seconds) would be a gross exaggeration. After that first workshop (which was given by Ian Hakker, in an Australian restaurant in Diepenbeek, Belgium, for those in the know) I borrowed a didge from a neighbour who had been backpacking through Oz for a few months but I just didn't put enough effort in actually practicing playing it. A shame really, because it's a cool instrument, it's really music taken back to its roots. So when I saw some didges for sale on a Christmas market in Valkenburg, I couldn't resist and picked a non-painted wooden one out of the basket of didges that stood there. But alas, just buying an instrument is easy, learning how to play it is totally different.

After searching the internet a bit for tutorials and advice, I found out that there was a guy giving didgeridoo classes very close to my office, and even closer to my girlfriend's house! So I contacted him and it turned out that I had even been in his shop before. His next course started 6th of March 2003, and I have learned quite a bit since then. This page is an attempt to document the techniques I have learned so far. That includes both playing techniques like sounds or rhytms but also exercises for cheeks and lip muscles. If anyone in the Maastricht area wants to take classes themselves, contact Henk Roede from Orion Nieuwe Tijds Winkel, Brusselse straat 140a, 6211PJ Maastricht, and ask him if he's organizing another course anytime soon. You can reach them by phone as well, 043 326 1596, if you want.

Well that's the story of my relationship with the didgeridoo so far. I'll (hopefully) be adding more stuff here as I learn it; if you have any good suggestions, please send them to me! I'll put them up on this page and maybe one day this will grow into a comprehensive archive of didgeridoo techniques.

Making your own didgeridoo

You don't want to buy your own didge before you know if you like it. Trust me. I know, they look like a just a piece of wood, but they're expensive. Shop around on the net, there are plenty of online shops that will sell you didges, but none of them for prices that would make you consider buying one 'just for trying'. But no worries! You can make your own! Let me tell you how.

Terminology

Circular breathing: a technique that allows you to keep on playing the didgeridoo without having to stop for inhaling. It basically works like a bagpipe: a reservoir is filled with air, and that air is used for playing in the period that the player is inhaling. In the case of the bagpipe, that reservoir is the bag; in the case of the didgeridoo, it's the player's mouth. Puff your cheeks before the inhale, flatten them again while inhaling, and use the air that is released while flattening for playing. That's the idea; it sounds simple, but it takes some time to convince your body that it is actually possible :)

Breathing & muscle exercises

Balloon puffs: take an ordinary balloon. Blow 2 mouth-fulls of air into it. Now, without holding the 'valve' of the balloon, squeeze the air that is in your (puffed) cheeks into the balloon, while simultaneously inhaling through your nose. Release a bit, so that enough air is released to fill your cheeks again, while exhaling through your nose. Lather, rince, repeat. This exercise develops strong lip and cheek muscles, and it conditions your cheek-lung coordination to let them get used to the 'blowing-out-air-while-inhaling-through-the-nose' pattern.

Tooting the horn: this is an exercise to develop strong lip muscles, and with them, high lip tension, which you need to get a nice, tight sound. It's very simple: just blow into the didgeridoo, and try to get the sound to sound like you're blowing a horn. Have you seen Lord of the Ring: The Two Towers? Well, try to make it sound like when Gimli blew the horn on Helms Deep. That's the sound you're after :) It requires you to blow very strongly into the didgeridoo, while still keeping your lips together, an excellent exercise, and fun too, if you like to make noise :)

:

The didgeridoo on the internet

These are some links where you can find more information on the didgeridoo and how to play it. I only list links here of sites that I have visited and found very good; there are hundreds of didge sites on the Web. You can start here if you want to try exploring them all.

Didgeweb: For Dutch speaking people, but there is information in English as well.