Learning to play the didgeridoo should be an enjoyable process. There is a whole range of sounds that can be learnt: simple drone sounds and rhythms yet also highly complex sounds ranging from the use of various air pressures, use of tongue, vocals, vocal harmonics, toots and so on. With practise these didgeridoo, musical skills, can be acquired over time. All that’s required is persistence, patience and hopefully some passion.

First thing is to apply your lips to the mouthpiece of the didge and blow through it trying to get your lips to ‘vibrate’. Try and keep your lips loose. If you get a sound like a ship’s fog horn (a toot), you are blowing too hard and need to reduce the pressure of your blowing. Keep trying and varying the blowing pressure until you get a loose drone sound.

Learning to Play

The Drone

At first the drone will sound airy and loose and this will develop over time. It’s a bit like a violin or guitar string that’s not tightened or tuned properly. When you’re playing improves you will be able to tighten and loosen the lips at will. But first you need to learn this basic drone so that the lips and cheek muscles can develop.

Once you have the drone you can try all kinds of sounds down the didgeridoo, from barks to whatever sounds you want to make. Or you might want to get going on the circular breathing right away.

The Mouthpiece

Mouthpieces are often formed from beeswax. This is ideal for beginners due to the fact that the size of the hole you blow through can be altered by remolding or forming it into the size that is appropriate for you. For example, some people prefer a hole size of around 30 mm, others prefer a larger or smaller size hole. You may need to experiment a little and alter the mouthpiece according to what feels and plays best for you.

Circular Breathing

How do we get the circular breathing? Well, this is in fact very simple but not necessarily easy to get. How quickly we learn depends on each individual - from a few days to over a year. The important thing to recognize is that it is not a competition and does not matter how long it takes! As long as you enjoy the process, though some hair pulling out may be necessary!

Anyway, Put your lips back on the didge, blow through it and make a drone sound. Now, as you’re blowing, keep your cheeks puffed out with the air pressure and the air is also being pushed out of your lungs (even better if through lower diaphragm). Without all the air being used, after say, 2 seconds, you need to snatch a breath in by closing off the airflow of the throat with the back of the tongue so that you can squeeze the air out of your cheeks and sniff a breath in at the same time. After you have squeezed the air out of your cheeks and sniffed a breath in you reconnect the airflow with your lungs (by unblocking the airflow/tongue) and blow from your lungs again and repeat the process.

Our habit of breathing usually makes this transition tricky, to say the least, so if you don’t succeed at first keep going but don’t over do it. Do a bit each day, say 10 -15 mins on circular breathing or more if you’re up to it.

You can learn the circular breathing technique when not playing the didge. If you puff out your cheeks and learn to keep squeezing the air out, this will develop the cheek muscles. Then, squeeze the air out whilst simultaneously sniffing in. You can’t breath in and out at the same time which is why you use the back of your tongue to trap the air in your cheeks and then squeeze the air out of them, whilst returning to the normal blowing out through the lungs.

Some people are more naturally inclined to use their jaw (upward movement forces air out) instead of squeezing the cheeks, so go with what feels best for you. It is still good practise to use the cheeks even if at a later stage you end up using the jaw type breathing more or perhaps a mixture of both. The main thing is to get some circular breathing and however you get it you can always adjust the habit later.

By learning to play the didgeridoo we create a habit and the more technically accomplished those habits are, the better the grounding we have and from there we can develop our own style of play. However, it is also worth noting that technical mastery is not the final goal. After all, no amount of technical mastery can give us that sense, feeling or power that is expressed from a person.. Technical mastery is therefore subservient to the power of expression.

What next? Once the circular breathing becomes a part of your playing, the door opens for various possibilities. Rhythm is a natural part of breathing and so you can use your breathing as part of the rhythm. In and out, that’s it. Breath is the life force and therefore it can be utilized in the circular breathing technique. Once you’ve cracked the circular breathing you can use the cheeks or jaw like a piston or pump, whereby it pushes the airflow into the didge, then a sniff in, with a constant rhythm. You can chop and change the airflow pattern, for example one sniff in, two cheek or jaw squeezes out. You don’t always have to draw a sniff of air in when you squeeze the air out of your cheeks. If you practise different variations of the above, it will enable you more versatility in your future playing.

Diaphragmatic breathing & Pulse

There are other ways of creating rhythm. For example, via diaphragmatic breathing using a kind of pulsing technique. If you are breathing out into the didge via the lungs or upper breathing it is well worth learning to breathe from the diaphragm area, the tummy or belly button area. The reason for this is certain health benefits and a certain amount of power can be generated from here. If you put your hand on your tummy and circular breathe, see if that area is moving out (when you sniff in) or if your chest is moving out. When breathing out it is obviously the other way round, ie., chest or tummy goes in when blowing air into didge. There is another technique whereby you quickly expel air from the diaphragm and automatically draw a snatch breath in (but don’t worry about this one to start with).

If you contract the diaphragm fairly quickly that pulsing diaphragmatic rhythm can be achieved. It also gives a deep bodily feeling to this type of rhythm and is similar to the style of David Blanasi (well respected aboriginal elder, musician). Experiment and vary as you go and see what happens.

Tonal Variation

To get all the the those varying ‘tones’ that didge players get you need to use your tongue and mouth shape. If you blow a drone through the didge you can change the tone, for example, by pronouncing a ‘Dee or Doo’ whilst you’re playing. Notice how the tone changes. It may only be slight at first but through practise you will be able to pronounce it more. When you pronounce say ‘dee’, without using the vocal chords ( a kind of silent pronounciation). And, you can try other pronounced letters or you can phrase a complete word; “Didgeridoo”.

In Fact you can create rhythms by word phrasing. Probably one of the most universal phrasing in didgeridoo playing is the “Diddy Wah or Ditty More”. This may creates a nice 4/4 rhythm. David Hudson and Plack & Soames are didge players who use this kind of phrasing to good musical effect. The word that is phrased through the didge is a kind of voicing but also generating rhythm too.

Tonal variations are also created by the position of the tongue in the mouth and the shape of the mouth, ie., the shape of the internal chamber of the mouth. Best to experiment and find out for yourself here as the tones that can be achieved are akin to overtone singing.

Vocal Harmonics

Vocal harmonics are created by the vocal cords. If you hum whilst playing, you will hear that vocal harmonic. By varying the note of the vocal cord you will see the effect it has on the sound and its worth experimenting up and down the range for disharmonious and harmonious effects. It is also possible to vocalize over the vocal harmonics, whereby you can hear the harmonic along with your voice. And you can combine a letter sound, say ‘dee’, with the vocal chords to provide more ccolour along with the tonal ‘dee’ sound. You can use vocal harmonics and experiment with other tonal letter or phrases to see what works. An experienced player will be able to intermix these sounds so that at times it may only be tonal sounds whilst at other times mixed with vocal harmonics. It makes it more interesting to vary what is being played. These techniques take time to learn but it should be fun!

Vocals

Something that most people like to have a go at is creating a bark or animal noises. Well, a bark is literally just barking down the didge. Give it a go. For higher barks you need to get up high in the vocal range, falsetto style. If you want to imitate an animal, the best way is to listen to it and practise to the native sounds, wherever you are. Otherwise why not just create your own vocalizations, whatever they may be. Another thing you can try is using a vocal harmonic whilst vocalising over the top of it. This may sound tricky but if you hum a vocal harmonic you can then vocalise over it as well adding another layer of sound. Experiment.

Toots

To get a toot or hoot you need to either squeeze your lips together a little tighter and blow harder whilst blowing down the didge, bit like a trumpet player. Another way is to almost spit with your tongue whilst playing to get a toot. The ease of getting a toot on the didge depends not only on your developing skill but also on the type of didge. Some didges toot easier than others. Usually high back pressure didges (hence the yidaki) toot easier than the lower pressure ones, though I have found that some wider bore didges toot incredibly easy as well!

Punchy Sounds

Punchy sounds can be created by a quick contraction of the diaphragm. The blast of air produces an interesting bass punch and can be a nice rhythmic device when playing. A larger bore didge is usually better for this as the punch can be absorbed by the extra air volume whilst producing a springy ‘kickback’. As you contract the diagphram an explosive air burst will come out. If you try this off the didge, you should feel a slight natural in breath immediately after the out breath/contraction. You can use this to create another kind breathing technique. For example, if you constantly use this quick diagphramatic contraction technique in the circular breathing, you can breath almost on the contraction of every circualr breath, because the in breath ckicks in so quickly straight after the explosive out breath/contraction! Just experiment but don’t over do this one to start with as it may be a little fatiguing.

Anyway, good luck with the didging. All you need is the desire to play and the continuing passion for the didgeridoo. You will probably find that as you improve there will be peaks, plateaus and troughs. The peaks inspire, the plateaus give you that level but solid ground for future playing and the troughs can be frustrating. When in a trough it is sometimes better to put the didge down for a few days and come back to it or get inspired by a didge CD.

Ultimately, didgeridooing is all about how you connect with it, feel it, that rhythm, its heartbeat and soul behind it all. If you can go deep enough into your playing, into yourself, you can be in contact with yourself and bring out the best in your own playing abilities.