How to Play a Didgeridoo

Step 1 Basic Drone (which is a loose lipped blowing technique)

Relax and give yourself permission to look a little unusual. Do some face stretching exercises. Open and close your mouth, puff out and squeeze your cheeks. Now blow out air allowing your lips to loosely vibrate, like blowing ‘raspberry’. Transfer the loose lipped blowing technique to the mouthpiece of the didgeridoo, making sure that no air escapes around your mouth. Initially, medium blowing pressure if preferred- not too hard not too soft- as both make it difficult to keep the lips vibrating as required to produce the drone.

Step 2 Variations on the Drone

This variation incorporates blowing harder and softer by utilizing the diaphragm, exerting pressure on the lungs and in turn expelling air through the mouth in varying volume and pressure.

Further sound variation is obtained by squeezing the cheeks together, slow and faster. This cheek coordination may take some time to master as initially when the student squeezes his cheeks, the lip position on the mouth piece changes, stopping the drone- so practice this exercise in front of a mirror gradually developing the ability to squeeze the cheeks in fully whilst maintaining the drone.

The mouth actually becomes part of the instrument and varying the size of your mouth, changes the sound produced through the didgeridoo. Similarly by altering the position of the tongue in your mouth, you vary the sound produced.

Step 3 Vocals

By Utilizing a simple technique know to ventriloquists, a variety of animals and bird sounds can be produced. Now commence playing the basic drone and make a noise like a dog yelping with your vocal cords. If this proves difficult, try making the sound without the didgeridoo. As you may now appreciate, any sound you can make without moving your lips unduly can be reproduced through the didgeridoo. A useful exercise is to look into a mirror and practice various sounds whilst keeping your lips as still as possible. This skill, developed, will allow you to talk whilst you play the didgeridoo.

Step 4 Tongue

The tongue is used to change the shape of your mouth or air chamber, or for making sound, eg visualize a kangaroo hopping across an open plain. Ths sound is produced by quickly placing your tongue on the roof of the mouth and just as quickly removing it whilst you continue to drone. This action creates a vacuum which sends a small shock wave down the instruments resulting in the sounds just described.  

Now visualize a returning boomerang circling through the air. This sound is produced by rapidly pulsating your tongue whilst droning.

You’ll find that this effect is enhanced when the cheeks are close together and the tongue forward in the mouth.

The tongue is used a good deal in traditional didgeridoo playing. Eg by saying as you play ‘do-do didero’ emphasizing the tongue.

Step 5 Overtones or Harmonics

By playing with cheeks contracted and tongue forward in the mouth, many didgeridoos will produce a variety of subtle overtones that add richness and colour to the overall effect. This effect may well occur naturally in spontaneous playing.

Now by incorporation these five primary ways of sound production, musical rhythms can be produced

B. Circular Breathing

Physiologically it is impossible to breather in and out at the same time. By developing the technique of squeezing the air out of your mouth using both the cheeks and tongue whilst snatching short breaths through your nose, so called circular breathing can be attained. This principle is similar to that utilized in playing the bagpipes. There are a number of approaches to develop and reinforce this coordination skill. For learning convenience, the process is divided into eight steps.

Step 1

Strengthen the cheek muscles. In the course of everyday living our cheeks perform the task of intended of them, e.g. stopping food from falling out of the mouth, etc. When called upon to do extraordinary, some training is required. Facing a mirror, puff oput and squeeze in your cheeks. Repeat this process continually. Don’t overdo it initially as it may become painful. The emphasis should be placed on the squeezing in, as it is the contraction that is later utilized in forcing the air down the didgeridoo whilst you snatch fresh breath through your nose.

Step 2

With both hands free, fill your cheeks with air. Squeeze he cheeks together with your hands resisting the air expelled through the tightened lips. The resultant ‘farting sound’ produced indicated you are on the right track.

Step 3

Now repeat step 2 and as you do snatch a short breath through your nose, making sure both activities occur simultaneously. This is a co-ordination exercise. If results are not immediately attainable, fill your mouth with water and as you squeeze the water out, breathe in and out through your nose. Once this is achieved, repeat the exercise with air only.

Step 4

Now, using your own cheek power, squeeze your cheeks as you did with the water. At the same time, with each squeeze and expulsion of air, snatch a short breath through your nose.

Step 5

The above technique is now transferred to the didgeridoo and the inhaled air is then expelled by the way of the drone through the didgeridoo.

Step 6

Now the exercise becomes a little more challenging. Show down your lip vibration as you squeeze your cheeks and breathe in to produce the drone rather than the ‘farting sound;, the rest of the exercise remains the same. Now speed up the process to eliminate the gap.

Step 7

To further reinforce this newly developed technique, place a straw in a glass of water. By squeezing the air out of your mouth using the cheeks and tongue (which slides forward, something like a piston in a pump), produce a steady stream of bubbles as you snatch short breaths through your nose.

Step 8

Another approach to achieving circular breathing may prove useful. Playing the basic drone, squeeze your cheeks in and then allow your cheeks to puff out. Now once thi becomes automatic, snatch a short breath every second squeeze utilizing the breathing time technique mentioned earlier.

Now you have the basic circular breathing. It is only a matter of practice to refine the technique to incorporate the amount of air you need to play various rhythms. Good luck!!!