playing the didge

Australian natives have a simple way to teach the didgeridoo. The would often tell a hopeful student to, "take the didgeridoo into the bush and let the didgeridoo teach you." The difference that you will find between this and other instruments is that playing this and learning to play this is very humbling. To learn you must surrender to the instrument. Meaning that the harder you try the harder, it becomes. When you are learning you must be willing to explore not only the didge, but also explore yourself. The trick to playing the didge lie not within the didge (although the sound does mainly rely on the length of the didge itself), but within yourself. If you cannot figure out how, or if it just isn't working for you, you need to explore different mouth shapes and variations in expending your air out of your lungs. To feel your lips or even your whole face tingling is not anything out of the ordinary since to produce the sound, your lips must vibrate very rapidly.

producing the basic sound or "drone"

The position of the didge on your mouth is the first thing to figure out. Since you will eventually playing the didge for long periods of time (circular breathing). Most didge players play with the didge off to one side of the mouth allowing for more variation and control of tone and sound quality. Personally, I play with the didge to the right side of my mouth, but you will know exactly how you play your own. The next step is to produce the basic drone, which is the base sound on which all other techniques rely. First, place your lips gently on the wax mouthpiece, (it will seem weird that you will have wax on your mouth afterwards but it will become normal) but firmly enough to form an airtight seal between your mouth and the didge. Next make a sound as if you were (blowing into a didge haha) no like you were blowing bubbles just under the surface of the water in a pool. Remember that the use of your voice comes later on in learning how to use different techniques, so for now, the drone is made by blowing a constant stream of air through your lips and through the didge. Not, the idea is to vibrate your lips to create the sound. At this point, you should have made some sort of sound either the drone or something resembling the drone. (You will get some pretty crazy noises at first but don't get discouraged, just laugh at it and keep trying, you will eventually get it) NOTE: The amount of air used is about what it takes to bend a candle at a distance of about 4-6 inches from the mouth. Many beginners try to blow too hard and produce an extremely funny noise similar to that of a high-pitched foghorn. This is actually what is called "over blowing" which produces a sound that is actually a full octave higher that the fundamental tone. This is actually an advanced technique in which this method of getting there is not recommended. When playing, the jaw actually moves very little if even at all, while the tongue, lips and throat make up most of the action.

different variations of the sound

By changing the position of your lips while playing, you will be able to create a variety of new sounds. Incorporated with the use of the tongue and you have a whole new variety of strange noises. Try saying letters or even words while playing the didgeridoo, and WITHOUT moving your lips. Remember that while attempting this, do not use your voice rather just mouth the words as if you were speaking and the sound of the didge was your voice. Letters such as "A, E, I, O and U" are the most simple to make because they are the letters, which do not require your tongue to touch the roof of your mouth (which would reduce the flow of air through your mouth and potentially stop the drone itself). Many different variations include flicking your tongue from the roof of your mouth to your lips while playing, which will produce a sound mainly associated with that of a kangaroo. By making a rolling "rrr" sound with your tongue or even the back of your throat, the sound of an owl may be made. The technique that I had to learn by myself was that one sound which you will hear people, that have been playing for a while; play is I think the clearest, most uninterrupted, distinguished sounds. It is made by moving the lips over one another until about the position you would make them to whistle (the bottom lip is moved further back than the top lip). You will find that being able to produce these sounds is enjoyable and satisfying, because others are impressed because they probably cannot play at all.

using your voice to mimic animal sounds

This part is the part where you find out just how confidant about yourself you are. If you can make strange noises in front of people or even by yourself then you are ready to learn how to use your voice with the didge. The first thing you will want to do is become comfortable with making noises into the didge and discovering which noises sound like what while playing. I first learned to use my voice one night in my room when I thought, hey what the heck, nobody is around, so I made a small "yelp" into the didge while I was playing. After that, I realized that I could make noises and not feel stupid about it and learn how to control the noises to my own benefit. You can out by yelling or whatever, but I recommend trying to say, "kooooo kooooo" or "corrroo coorrroo" (while rolling the r's) which is the basic sounds of the kookabura and a dove. The kookaburra maybe is the more difficult of the two, since it is made by quick and high but varying itches of the word, "kook" into the didge. There are many other sounds you can make to mimic those of animals, but feel free to invent your own, be creative because remember, the didge is symbolic of yourself.

circular breathing

This is the most difficult of all techniques to learn. This is only because to learn this, you must train your lungs, because it is not a natural thing to be able to exhale constantly while inhaling. This process may take you a week or even months, but do not worry, it will come to you eventually. The basic idea behind circle or circular breathing is to keep a steady stream of air flowing to keep your lips vibrating...without stopping for longer than you can normally hold your breath. The way this is done is by taking a deep breath, then blow into the didge to create a steady drone, then when you feel as if you have expelled about half the air in your lungs, push the air into your cheeks (puffing them out), and rather than using the air in your lungs to produce the sound, use the air in your cheeks to steadily push the air through your lips. While you are doing this, you will have little time before the air in your lungs runs out (2-3 seconds) at which time you would breath in through your nose in a short but strong inhale (get as much air as you can in order to replace the air in your lungs you have already used). Once you have inhaled once, go back to using your lungs to push the air through your lips. To keep playing continuously, you can use this technique as many times as needed. Remember, all of this is done without any stopping of air flow through your lips. A way to train your lungs to be able to do such a thing is to get a glass of water and a straw. Now blow through the straw just enough to make some bubbles, now try to keep the bubbles going by using the air in your cheeks to blow, while you breath in through your nose. This requires a lot of concentration and is recommended for beginners. Practicing this is a good way to get your lung, throat, and tongue muscles in to the idea of circular breathing. You may consider using the glass of water and the straw while relaxed or while concentrating on something else since you want this action of breathing to require less and less concentration. A suggested way to strengthen your cheek muscles is to try to blow up a balloon by only using the air in your cheeks. If you get frustrated, just relax and try again. Many people become frustrated with trying to learn circle breathing for months and then suddenly, bang, they get it in a flash.