About
the Didgeridoo
The
didgeridoo is an instrument with a history as deep and subtle
as its sound. It is native to certain indigenous Aboriginal
tribes who have occupied Australia’s Northern Territory
for at least 40,000 years. While there is only documented
history describing didgeridoo use by these tribes for the
past 1,500 years, it is certainly Australia’s oldest musical
instrument, and is perhaps the world’s first wind instrument.
While the word didgeridoo was probably applied onomatopoetically
by white settlers to describe the sound made by the instrument,
there are roughly forty aboriginal names for the instrument,
which vary from region to region. In Arnhemland it is known
as yidaki, which means “emu’s throat.” Nowadays the didgeridoo
is played by other Aborigines all over Australia, even those
tribes for whom it is a new tradition. The instrument’s
unusual sound has also lent it popularity overseas as well.
Traditional didgeridoos are made from young, termite-hollowed
eucalyptus tree trunks, and are harvested, handcrafted,
and painted by one or more artisans of one of several Australian
aboriginal tribes. A subset of these didges, particularly
those made by craftsmen with reputations for creating truly
great didgeridoos, are among the most sought after, and
command the highest prices, because the means of production
guarantees small numbers of instruments.
Note that there are a great many didgeridoos that attempt
to duplicate traditional methods of craftsmanship in order
to sell at a higher premium. When attempting to acquire
a traditional didgeridoo, it’s important to know what you’re
looking for and to only deal with ethical merchants. There
are also a great many non-traditional didgeridoos made by
other craftspeople, other materials, and in other countries.
Regardless of the didge’s source, the true test for any
didgeridoo is how it plays for you. Otherwise, it’s just
an expensive log.
State of Mind
As with beginning any journey, your state of mind is important
when learning to play the didgeridoo. Some people acquire
the skills they need easily and in a short time, while others
take longer, and must work harder at mastering these skills.
Here are some lessons I’ve learned from the didge over the
past year that I want to suggest you keep in mind as you
play and learn, both tonight, and in the future.
- Relax. Try stretching your body before you play in the
future.
- Be patient with yourself and with your instrument. Don’t
use anyone else as a benchmark for your progress.
- Stay playful. Don’t be afraid to look, sound, or be silly.
- Keep an open mind to what the didgeridoo has to teach
you. It has a lot to say.
- Practice outside when you can.
- Relax. Close your eyes and survey your body for areas
of tension. Let it go.
- Get a massage at least once a quarter.
- Treat yourself right.
- Try to stay away from tobacco.
- Wash your body, blow your nose and brush your teeth and
tongue before you play.
- Remember that the body and mind are connected. Healthy
body = healthy mind = healthy body.
- Relax.
Playing
Techniques and Exercises
Beginning The Drone This exercise will first have you produce a buzzing sound
with your lips all by themselves, then work on transferring
that buzz to the didgeridoo.
The Buzz Keeping your
mouth closed, blow air from your lungs past your lips such
that your lips vibrate loosely. Think of blowing a raspberry.
Now try the same buzz using air forced from your cheeks.
Alternate between using air from your lungs using your diaphragm,
and air from your cheeks, using a “cheek squeeze.” Learning
to differentiate and switch between these two sources of
air will come in handy later.
Transferring
the Buzz to the Pipe There
are two ways to put your mouth on the didgeridoo. Some prefer
playing to the side, using one side of their mouth to generate
the buzz. Others prefer to buzz the pipe straight on. Try
both, and do what works best for you.
Troubleshooting
-
Relax your lips. This solves a lot of problems before they
start.
- Don’t hold the didge tightly against your mouth. You do
need a seal between mouth and mouthpiece, but it need not
be tight. If you find yourself pressing tightly against
the mouthpiece, remind yourself to relax.
- Don’t overblow. It should not take a great deal of air
to get your pipe buzzing.
- Keep practicing at getting your drone consistent and steady
for as much as 20 or more seconds on a single breath. Can’t
do that just yet? Don’t sweat it, but keep at it.
- If you have a wax mouthpiece, and you’re having trouble,
play around with the mouthpiece dimensions until you find
one that’s right for you. It may make a lot of difference
in the beginning. As you improve strength and control, the
mouthpiece will matter less and less.
Exercises
-
Practice buzzing with your lips straight on, and then on
either side.
- Keep a buzz going for as long as you can, using as little
air as possible.
- Alternate between droning with air driven from your diaphragm,
and air from your cheeks.
- Try holding a drone for a count of three and on the four,
sniffing air into your lungs, and then resuming the drone.
Vowels,
Consonants, and Harmonics
A
E I O U
As
with playing a jaw harp, or throat singing, you will find
that as you change the interior dimensions of your mouth
and alter your tongue position, you will be able to hear
different harmonics emerge from the drone. This is better
experienced than written about, so let’s proceed directly
to exercises.
Exercises
- Begin a drone, then practice holding your mouth as if saying
the letter A. Do not vocalize the vowel just yet. Instead,
let the position of your mouth and tongue shape the drone.
Repeat for AEIO and U. Which vowels produce the most pronounced
harmonics?
- Now try droning a combination of three vowels together,
as in AEI, IOU, AOE, OIO, etc. Create and drone your own
triplets.
- Conserving your breath, try doing all five vowels: AEIOU
- Now go back to triplets. Try to do a triplet, sniff air
without removing your mouth from the mouthpiece, and do
the same triplet. Work at it until you have a rhythm you
can sustain.
Adding
Consonants
Let’s
take the vowel exercises we just did, and add consonants
to create phrases.
Exercises
-
Use T, D, and G to begin the vowel sound, as in:
- TA-TE-TI-TO-TU
- DA-DE-DI-DO-DU
- GA-GE-GI-GO-GU
- RA-RE-RI-RO-RU
Practice
these consonants each several times.
-
Now try the vowel exercise (AEIOU) working your way through
each consonant in the alphabet. Note which ones make sounds
you like.
-
Next, try mixing and matching different consonant sounds
in triplets, such as:
-
Da-day-gah
- Do-day-ree
- Ga-ma-da
- Di-da-ro
- Ta-ka-tay
-
Next, take a triplet (such as DO-DAY-REE) and sniff between
triplets, as in DO-DAY-REE <sniff>, DO-DAY-REE
<sniff>, etc.
-
Practice this triplet exercise, mixing and matching triplets.
- ta-ka-ta; ta-ka-tee
- Da-gay-lah; Do-day-ree
- Di-day-ree; Dee-da-rohC.
Building
Strength
H
Is For Diaphragm
Now that we’ve exhausted all the consonants, let’s use one
of them to develop control and strength in your diaphragm.
Exercises
-
Drop an H in front of the AEIOU exercise we’ve been doing
up till now, so as to get HA-HE-HI-HO-HU.
- Now try this: HE-HE-HE-HE. Vary the breaks in the tone,
compressing them (HEHEHEHEH) and expanding them
(HEEEEEE-HEEEEEE-HEEEEEE).
- Now vary the degree of volume, using a lot of air, and
then very little air. You should hear a subtle vibrato on
the close intervals, and more of a trancy pulsing on the longer intervals.
|
|
Aboriginal
boys in Arnhemland learn to play early on. |
Now start a rhythm with very soft pulses, close together.
Gradually increase the intensity and separation between
each pulse each time, as in:
hu-hu-hu-hu
haa-haa-haa-haa
hee hee hee hee
HEE HEE HEE HEE
Cheek
Chops As
we discovered in using your cheeks to force a drone, developing
control of and strengthening your cheek muscles are important
to successful didge playing. Cheek control and power are
also important to successful circular breathing, as will
be seen later.To
make a cheek squeeze, puff out your cheeks and expel the
air past your lips. The result will sound like: doooo WIT. The cheeks are puffed
out on the DOOO part, then the squeeze begins with the “W”
sound, and terminates in the final “T” sound.
Exercises
-
Try the following:
DOOO WIT; DOO WIT WIT, DOO WIT WIT WIT;
- GA WIT GA WIT
- Now try GA WEE OOOO. Notice that this one allows a continuous,
or sustained drone.
- Invent a cheek triplet, and practice doing cheek squeezes,
and sniffing air on the fourth beat as before.
Vocalization Singing
and humming along with your didge is more than half the
fun. I’ve broken this section into three parts to make
this easier.
Low
Sounds While
droning, try to match the note of your didge. You should
notice a warm harmony emerge when you hit the right note.
Now bend the note upward slightly. Providing you have
a steady drone, and are holding the note, you should hear
a rhythmic pulsing. This is an effect of the two sound
waves (didge and you) being slightly out of phase. You
should notice the same effect if you bend the note down.
High
Sounds While droning, try punctuating the drone with a high-pitched
yip, or bark.
Animal
Sounds The
Australian Aborigines often imitate the animals they hear
around them as part of telling stories about their environment,
and enacting rituals.
Three typical ones include:
The
Dingo
(wau-wau-wau-wau; uuuuuuuuh, uuuuuh, uhhhhh)
The
Kukubarra
(kukukukukukuku –kah KAH KAH)
The
Kangaroo
(oooo-EEEEE ooooo-EEEEE)
These
sounds are hard to capture in textual form, but many examples
of these and other sounds are available
on the Internet.
Exercises
-
Perform all earlier exercises while vocalizing at various
ranges.
- Working with your vocal range, find which notes
sound the best for you and your didge.
- Working with triplets, try punctuating your rhythms
with yips, barks, growls, humming, etc.
Circular
Breathing
Circular
breathing is the key to maintaining the continuous sound
of the didgeridoo. The trick is to be able to sniff air
while pushing sufficient air out with your cheeks to maintain
your drone. Some people apprehend this skill immediately,
while others take months or years to “break through.”
The things to keep in mind are as follows:
-
This is just one of many skills you need to get under
your belt. It is possible to be an excellent didge player
and not be able to circular breathe. If you find that
circular breathing frustrates you, you always have other
things to work on between attempts.
- Be patient with yourself.
- Whenever possible, hang out with other didge players.
Sometimes seeing it happen helps it happen.
What
Happens During Circular Breathing
While
droning, the player “saves up” a little air in their cheeks,
just before using up all the air in their lungs. Note
that CBing is much easier if you DON’T use up all your
air, as there’s less strain. Before breathing in through
the nose, the back of the tongue is pressed up into the
soft palate, creating a seal. Now air is sniffed in. The
tongue is now relaxed, and air flow resumes from the lungs
and diaphragm into the instrument. The skill is in keeping
the pressure even between breathing out through the lungs
and breathing out through the cheeks. Changes in pressure
will result in changes in intensity or volume of the sound.
Exercises
-
Inflate your cheeks, and build up some pressure in your
mouth. Pinch your nose if you need to.
- With your cheeks inflated, try breathing in and out
through your nose.
- Here’s one to try at home, in the shower, or over the
sink. Get a mouthful of water. While breathing through
your nose normally, force a steady stream of water out
through your lips. The key is to get a steady stream of
water forced out by your cheek muscles, while breathing
through your nose. Once your muscles have learned this
“contradictory” set of actions, transferring this skill
to your didge-playing will be easier.
- Now, using a straw and a glass of water about 1/3 full,
practice blowing bubbles with cheek pressure, and alternating
the source of air, first lungs, then cheeks. Sniff air
in while using your cheeks to create a steady stream of
bubbles. In this exercise, the purpose is to make the
switch between lung and cheek power, and keeping the bubbles
coming steadily.
Troubleshooting
If
this doesn’t come easily, or if these exercises do not
help you, there are a variety of other methods to learn
CBing published on any number of Web sites. Videotapes,
books, online guides and the like are now in great abundance.
As before, it’s also a good idea to seek out other didge
players. Having others around who can CB is often very
helpful. Finally, be patient. Everyone learns at their
own pace.
Resources
Your
Instructor: I
founded NYC Didge in January of 2000 to facilitate connections,
community, and opportunities to play together for didgeridoo
players, scholars, and enthusiasts in the Greater New
York Area. Last year, NYC Didge played a benefit concert
for Urban Divers and the Hudson River Project; collaborated
with Indian fakir band Musafir; opened and played alongside
performance artist Karlito Dalceggio, and appeared in
parks around the city to entertain and educate the residents
of Manhattan. I and other NYC Didge members can be found
most Sundays at noon in Washington Square Park. I can
always be reached by email if you have any specific questions
or need assistance at seanwolfe@yahoo.com
Traditional
Playing Guides
Peter
Lister’s Guide to Australian Languages
Because English is not the didgeridoo’s first language.
And because some aboriginal sounds are key to producing
numerous didge effects. An edifying article.
Western
Arnhemland didgeridoo Styles
This
is a great guide by Ed Drury on traditional aboriginal
playing styles, and commonly used vamps.
“Of
the body of recordings from this region which I have dealt
with, it is obvious that the inhaled breath is accented
and falls on an important beat of the measure which is
distinctive from many other styles of didgeridoo playing
where the position of the breath is difficult to distinguish
and may in fact occur in random places throughout the
repetitive rhythmic phrase. The inhaled breath is given
an equal accent to the exhaled first beat of the measure,
occurs on the second beat of a 2 beat pattern or the third
beat in a 4/4, and is often further accented by a vocal
stridor or high harmonic vocal sound in harmony with the
fundamental. The style of accompaniment being considered
here is called Gunborg. The style associated with regions
further to the east of this region is often refered (sic)
to as Bungul...”
Notes
on Yolngu Style of Yidaki Playing
A good set of resources by Richard Man on the Yolngu style
of playing, plus exercises and cultural notes.
Mailing
Lists
The
Famous didgeridoo Mailing List
This is the largest mailing list, and the best-known.
For a guide on how to join and a list of frequently asked
questions, click on text above.
Sean
Wolfe
NYC
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