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In Depth Didjeridoo Tutorial - Part 1
The Didjeridoo is a unique and fascinating wind instrument that has its origins with the Aboriginal People of Northern Australia. Nobody knows how old this instrument actually is but there is some speculation that it is perhaps on of the oldest instruments on the planet. According to Aboriginal Dreamtime Myth, the didgeridoo has been around since the beginning of time and it played an important part in "sounding" the world into form during the process of creation.

Traditionally, Didjeridoos are made from the trunks or branches of eucalyptus trees that have been hollowed out by termites or they are made from hollow bamboo stalks that grow in the tropical Northern Territories. Today you can also find them made from hand hollowed Agave cactus stalks and limbs from a wide variety of woods and even manmade materials such as plastics, graphite and fiberglass. No matter what kind of Didjeridu you play the effect of the sound upon the player and listener is nothing short of amazing. The primal drone and haunting overtones seem to echo something out of the forgotten past, perhaps re-opening a doorway that can give us a deeper connection with the creative force that animates our world and the cosmos.

Good day and welcome to this Comprehensive Guide to Contemporary Playing of the Didjeridu. I hope that these instructions will make learning the didjeridu as easy as possible by separating the basic playing techniques into simple, easy to learn, individual components that you can put together later in any fashion that you desire. You will find that as we go along, the didjeridu itself will teach you quite a bit as you become more experienced and comfortable with the instrument.

We'll explore didjeridoo playing in three segments. First we'll work on the various ways that we can create sounds with the Didjeridoo. Next we'll work on circular breathing and then we'll finish up by learning rhythmical playing techniques. If you follow this tutorial closely and master the material covered you will have made considerable progress in becoming a proficient player.

GENERATING SOUNDS

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Let's begin by loosening up the muscles of the mouth and lips. Open the mouth wide then tighten and loosen up the lips around the teeth. Try making a few unusual faces as you stretch and loosen the muscles of the mouth tongue and lips. Now try vibrating your lips loosely by expelling air from the lungs using your diaphragm.
--- buzzing the lips ----
..

We'll use this loose lip technique while blowing into the didjeridu to create and evenly sustained fundamental tone. Creating this droning tone is a very important first step and it is the foundation for everything else you will learn in this tutorial.

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----- low droning buzz -----

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You do this by buzzing your lips together into the didjeridu the way you would when playing the larger brass instruments. The lips should be very relaxed and much looser than when playing the trumpet. It's really much more like the tuba. Keep in mind that although I prefer a central straight ahead blowing technique, many prefer playing from the side using the corner of the mouth. Either is correct and some Aboriginal players use both techniques. Try both ways and use the one that you prefer the most.

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For a trumpet your lips will go something like this vibrate lips
But for the didgeridoo do this. buzzing the lips

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Make sure that you form a good seal on the didjeridoo and don't let any air escape around the edges of the mouth piece. Now try, once again, buzzing your lips into the didjeridoo.

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----- low droning buzz ------

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When you first get a tone on the didjeridoo it may sound a bit ragged or strained or perhaps not quite the full sound that you want. This is where we all start so just remember to keep the lips relaxed. Once you get any sound at all just relax the lips and concentrate on getting the lips to vibrate with just a soft breath. Sooner or later you will slip into that place that will create a full and deep didjeridoo tone. After some practice you'll find that you can start right in with the correct basic tone. You should practice this fundamental tone quite a bit without worrying about getting into other things. Make sure that you are getting a good clear tone before going on. At first it may take quite a bit of air pressure to get the lips vibrating, but ideally, very little air is needed once you become familiar with the technique. Once you get proficient you should be able to sustain a single tone for 15 to 30 seconds on a single breath. You should really concentrate on a soft breath technique that will allow you to sustain a clear note for as long as possible.

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----- Didge 30 seconds ---------

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Once you can play a clear note for more than a few seconds you can experiment with modulating the sound by varying the volume as you sustain a single tone. Try playing loud then soft and then loud again without causing a break in the tone.

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--- Didj 10 seconds ----

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This is generally accomplished by controlling the volume of air expelled from the lungs and more specifically it should be controlled by the diaphragm. By reaching deep within you for the source of the sound you will get better tone and more control over the dynamics of the sound as well. Now let's try speeding up this modulation of the volume.

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----Didj 15 seconds -----

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Now that we've experimented with modulating the volume let's explore the world of tone modulation. This mainly involves how you tighten and loosen your lips and cheek muscles and how you move your tongue around inside your mouth to change the shape of your mouth and to change the way the air flows to your lips. I find it very similar to shaping vowel sounds without actually vocalizing them.

The first modulation we'll try is by shaping the shape of your cheeks. First we'll play the drone sound with our cheeks puffed out. Then we'll slowly tighten the cheek muscles and constrict them inward. This will change the shape of the mouth cavity and therefore the tonal characteristics of the sound

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------ Didj. 20 seconds-----

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Now let's try speeding up this modulation like we did before with the volume.

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----Didge 15 seconds -----

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If we accentuate this modulation sharply we can get rhythmic and or percussive sounds commonly know as cheek pops.

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---- didj10 seconds ----

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The next modulation we'll try for is what I call the ooooeeee tongue modulation . If you move your tongue back and forth inside your mouth as if saying the ooo eeee vowel sounds, you'll find that your tongue starts out back away from your teeth and then it is forced up against the back of your lower front teeth and lower lip as it arches towards the pallet as you swing into the eeee part of the modulation. This narrows the size of the oral cavity and changes the way your lips vibrate, creating a change in the tonal quality of the sound you make. Now simply listen to the sounds I make and then try to emulate them.

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----Didj 30 seconds -----

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Your first efforts will probably only result in weak and fairly indistinct modulations, I know that's what happened for me. It's really a matter of personal experimentation to find out what movements work for you in creating tonal changes. The more you play the more familiar you'll become with the didj and the more you'll find techniques to alter the tonal qualities of the instrument. With time and practice your modulations will become much more distinct. Here's what happens when we take the same modulation and play it much faster.

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----Didj. 10 seconds ----

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With practice these modulations will become stronger and you will be able to add some very powerful harmonics and overtones to the basic didj drone. You will find these very useful later in our exploration of rhythmical didjeridoo styles.

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----Didj 15 seconds ----

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Now let's try a more complex pattern by going through the entire a..e..i..o..u vowel articulations without actually vocalizing these sounds.

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---- Didj10 seconds ----

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Go through these articulations quickly and you'll begin to see how rhythmical patterns can start to be built.

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---- Didj10 seconds ----

As you begin to experiment with the vowel and consonant articulations it may have already become apparent to you that the actual vocalization of sounds can add a great deal of depth and complexity to your playing. The technique of adding vocalizations to your playing is indeed a very large and important aspect to advanced didjeridu playing. Things like high pitched screams, barks and grunts are very obvious when heard but subtle vowel and consonant vocalizations are just as important. Just remember that no matter what type of vocalizations you use, you must remember to keep the lips vibrating the fundamental tome without faltering.

Let's try some of the more obvious screams and grunts. Try doing this into the Didj as you vibrate your lips. Arrrh.Arrrrh UhghUhgh

---- Didj20 seconds -----

These are very attention grabbing effects that can add a lot of excitement to your playing but the more subtle vocalizations can be more musically useful and intriguing.

---- Didj30 seconds ----

What you have just heard is a wide range of subtle vocalization techniques used with lip, tongue and cheek modulations along with the shaping of vowel and consonant sounds. There is no other instrument that I know of that can create such a diverse and complex range of sonic textures by a single player at one time. The best way to learn how to use your voice with the didjeridu is to simply just do it. Experiment freely with different vocal patterns and you will quickly learn which ones yield the best results. Soon you will discover that you'll be using vocalizations in a major portion of your didge playing.

Another very useful effect is the sound that you can create by using the rolling Spanish R. Just trill your tongue like this rrrrr. You can do this with or without vocalizations.

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---- Didj. 10 seconds -----

Now, although what I play and teach should not be considered Aboriginal style playing, it is still very valuable to take some time to learn a little of the traditional Aboriginal vocabulary of the instrument. This will give you a starting or jumping off point in your own exploration of the instrument. In the Outback one is encouraged to go out into the bush to emulate the sounds of nature so a lot of Aboriginal playing emulates the sounds of animals which can actually tell a story.

Let's start out with the Dingo, the wild dog of Australia. We do this by barking or howling like a dog into the instrument. Try ark..ark.woofwoof for the barks and ar.. ar.. ar.. aahhooo for the howl

---- Didj 15 seconds -----

The bush pigeon is similar in nature to the owl. Hoo.. Hooo HooHoooo

--- Didj 10 seconds ----

A very common sound used in Aboriginal playing is the sound of the Kookaburra Bird Coo-coo-coo-Kaa-kaa-kaa-kaa

---- Didj.15 seconds ----

The Kangaroo is a non vocal interpretation of a kangaroo hopping through the bush and my interpretation is created by shaping the sound of too-eee-aaahh. Really push with the diaphragm to accentuate the "too" part of the sound.

--- Didj 15 seconds ----

Getting clear high harmonics on the Didjeridu usually takes quite a bit of practice but when you can get them they can be used to create the sound of a boomerang as it travels through the air in a non-vocalized yo-yo-yo-yo-yo or a yoee-yoee-yoee-yoee

---- Didj15 seconds -----
How about a cricket. This is done by vocalizing the highest pitch you can while trilling the tongue as in the Spanish R rrrrrrrr...rrrrrrrr

---- Didj.15 seconds -----

This should give you a good idea of how to come up with sounds on your own. Just go out and listen to what nature has to say to you.

Part 2

No matter how efficiently you learn to play the basic tone... sooner or later you will run out of air and you will have to interrupt the tone to take a breath. That is, unless you learn the technique of circular breathing. There are a couple of ways to accomplish this but we'll concentrate on the simplest tongue and cheek method for now. When you master this technique it will allow you to take in short breaths through the nose while you use the reserve air stored in your cheeks to maintain the fundamental tone. You do this by expelling air through the lips by using the tongue and cheek muscles to force air from the mouth cavity while at the same time you breath in using the nose and lungs. Listen for the short inhalation breaths as I maintain the Didj drone.
---- Didj.... 10 seconds ----

Let's go into what's happening here just a little deeper. First, I am expelling air through the lips by using the lungs and diaphragm. Then, before I run out of air, I make sure that my cheeks are puffed out a bit as I close off the back of my throat to separate the mouth cavity from the nasal passages, esophagus and lungs. To keep the lips buzzing I use my cheek and tongue muscles to constrict the mouth cavity which will continue to expel air through the lips. This leaves my nose and lungs free to take a quick in-breath of air. I then smoothly open up the back of my throat so that I can switch back to using my lungs and diaphragm. As you can imagine it takes a bit of practice to master this technique so that you can switch smoothly back and forth between buzzing you lips with the lungs and then the mouth cavity and then the lungs again while maintaining the drone through it all.

A good starter exercise for this is a technique I call "the squirt". First puff up your cheeks with air and then close off the back of your throat. Now use your tongue and cheeks to force the air out between your lips
... example
Now do the same thing again but this time take a breath in through the nose as you expel the air out through your lips.
....example.
If you are having trouble with this, try filling your mouth with water while practicing this technique. It will probably be helpful to be outside or standing over a sink to avoid spitting water on the floor.

OK, now try this out in small steps with the Didj. First get the drone going, then puff up your cheeks and try doing "the squirt" without taking in a breath.
---- Didj.... 5 seconds ----
Now do it again but this time take a breath in through the nose as you do your "squirt".
---- Did.... 5 seconds ---
It should be fairly simple up to here but now the trick is to open up the throat to use lung power once again in a smooth fashion so that you can maintain the drone all the way through. It's kind of like using the clutch, shifting arm and gas pedal on a car to maintain the forward momentum of a vehicle while shifting gears. It just takes a lot of practice to master the technique and you'll most likely lurch and kill the engine quite a few times until you get in the swing of things. Be patient and try not to let yourself to become too frustrated. If you stick with it, you'll get it.
---- Didj.... 10 seconds ----
A further aid to developing this technique is to blow bubbles into a tall glass of water with a drinking straw. First use the lungs and diaphragm.
....example....
Now try puffing up your cheeks with air and then slowly expel the air through the straw without using any air from your lungs. Just constrict the back of the throat and use only your tongue and cheeks to expel the air.
...example
OK, you should have found that pretty easy to do. Now let's do this same thing again but this time as we expel the air out through the straw simply take a breath in through the nose.
....example...
You should find this surprisingly simple as well. The tricky part comes in when you try to switch smoothly from lung power ...to cheek power ... and then back to lung power all while keeping that steady stream of bubbles going.
...example...
Only time and practice will help you develop this technique... When you master the bubble technique you can start to apply the same basic principles to your didjeridoo playing.

Here are a couple of more tips. As you start to develop this technique with the didjeridoo you will most likely notice that you'll get a break in the tone because your cheek air gives out too fast. This is why is so important to practice the basic tone until you can maintain the tone with very little air pressure. This will allow your cheek air to last a longer period of time. Another helpful tip is to keep your lungs topped off with lots of little breaths rather than emptying them out and forcing yourself to take larger breaths when your starved for air.

At first you may only be able to get a breath or two in while maintaining the tone before you loose it but with practice you'll be able to play longer and longer stretches without a break in the tone. Eventually you will be able to play for indefinite amounts of time without any strain at all.
---- Didj.... 20 seconds ----

There are a couple of more habits that you should try to establish right from the beginning. First, maintain the practice of always breathing in through the nose during your playing sessions. Second, always try to take in small short breaths on a regular basis and constantly try and shorten the amount of time that you allow for a break in the tone. In this way your setting yourself up to have the proper techniques in place for when you do begin to spontaneously develop this very important part of didjeridoo playing.
Don't get discouraged if this technique eludes you at first. It could take days, weeks or months. It took me two months to develop this technique once I understood the process and it took several more before it became automatic and second natured. You should keep practicing this technique until you can keep up a constant tone for quite a long time. However, don't allow yourself to get stuck here if you can't get it right away. If you can maintain a good solid tone for more than 5 seconds you can go ahead with working on tonal modulations and rhythmic playing while you continue to practice your circular breathing technique.

Part 3

This section focuses on developing techniques for playing rhythmically. The first technique that we'll cover is articulations using vowels and consonants used in repeating patterns. Lets begin by going back to our a..e..i..o...u.. example from Part 1.

--- Didj 10 seconds ---
Now let's try the un-vocalized phrase of o...e...o...ta.. on a repetitive basis.
---- Didj.... 10 seconds ----
You will probably notice that doing your circular breathing will become a bit more difficult when beginning rhythmical playing. In this exercise try breathing during every other ...ta.. of the pattern. If you'll spend a bit of time learning this pattern solidly, while including circular breathing, you'll be laying down a good foundation that will make everything else you learn much easier as we proceed.
There is really no limit to the variations in rhythmical patterns and tonal variations that you can create using just tongue and lip motions while going through vowel and consonant articulations.
---- Didj.... 15 seconds ----
. Lets go back to our a..e..i..o...u.. articulation and add a ..ta.. at the end and repeat that in a rhythmic fashion to create a little more complex pattern.
---- Didj.... 10 seconds ----
We can expand this technique even further to explore the vast universe of using non-sense syllables, actual words and full sentences to create rhythmic sequences. We can even vocalize as we do it. Here's the didjeridoo saying ...didjeridoo repetitively.
---- Didj.... 10 seconds ----
Now let's try the sentence. ...I can play the didjeridoo.
---- Didj.... 10 seconds ----
You can see that it is unlikely that anyone will understand what you are saying into the didjeridoo but by experimenting with all kinds of different sentences or phrases you can come up with all sorts of useful ideas for creating unique and useful rhythmical patterns.
We can more strongly accentuate the rhythmical quality of these patterns through several more techniques and the next that we will discuss is using control of the diaphragm to create little surges or blasts of air to create a staccato effect rather than a steady stream. Try doing this as you play the Didj ha..... ha..... ha..... ha..... ha..ha..ha
---- Didj.... 10 seconds ----
Now try syncopating the pattern like this ha... ha... hahaha.. ha
---- Didj.... 10 seconds ----
Next we'll go into a tonguing technique to create what I will call "rhythmic hits". The first one to try is using the t sounds t..t..t..t..t
---- Didj... 10 seconds ---
You can also use the other consonant sounds. Try using d.., k.., and g.. in the same way as the t.. sound. You should also try using these consonants with an attached vowel sounds. Ta..ta..ta, Ti..ti..ti, Toe..toe..toe, etc.
Another type of rhythmic hit is a tongue and lip spitting type of technique that is sort of like spitting out a cherry pit.
---- Didj.... 10 seconds ---
Now let's add the cheek pop that we learned in Part 1.
---Didj 10 seconds ---
Now I'll throw a few of these techniques together to create a complex and intriguing pattern. Keep in mind that when you start creating patterns of your own it may be difficult at first to keep up your circular breathing. Only by trial and error will you discover where it's best to take your breaths.
---- Didj... 30 seconds ----
Our final technique to be covered in this tutorial is that of using trumpet tones in our didjeridoo playing. These are created by tightening the lips and getting the tone to jump up an octave or more. Longer and narrower Didjeridoos are generally capable of getting more trumpet tones than the shorter and fatter versions but most can get at least two different trumpet tones.
--- Didj.... 10 seconds ---
In most didjeridoo playing, trumpet tones are usually used as rhythmical accents. One tip that may help is to use the spitting technique to initiate the trumpet sound.
--- Didj.... 15 seconds ---
Trumpet tones can also be sustained and modulated just like the basic fundamental Didj tone but it is much more difficult to maintain because of the increased pressure and strain it takes to create these tones in the first place. Now throw in circular breathing and you've got something that will be challenging even to the most advanced players.
--- Didj.... 15 seconds ----

--- Freeform Didj.... 1 minute ----
Remember that the didjeridoo is perhaps the oldest instrument know to mankind. It is still used by the Aboriginal People of Australia ceremonially to enter into trance like states to help put them in touch with their Dreamtime World, to do healing work and to communicate with the forces of nature. Traditionally, young men were often sent out into the bush to learn to play the didjeridoo by listening to and emulating the sounds that they heard. In this way they would form a strong bond and deep respect for the land that sustained them. If you allow it to, the Didjeridoo can do the same for you as well. By all means, have fun with the instrument, but by treating it with respect you'll have a much more fulfilling journey. I recommend that you take it upon yourself to learn a little about the culture that you are borrowing this instrument from.

Thank David Blonsky for making the effort and spending time to put together this detailed tutorial,
Aural Team