THE LIGHTHOOK DIDJERIDOO PAGE

The didjeridoo, or yadaki, an invention of Aborigine tribes indigenous to the Australian continent, is a wooden tube musical instrument which is perhaps the one of the oldest of all musical instruments. Classic Aborigine didjeridoos are not made so much as they are chosen from small, standing trees which have been hollowed out by ants. A didjeridoo maker can determine if the trunk is hollow by listening to the sound produced by tapping on the tree trunk. When a suitable tree is found, it is cut down, the ends are smoothed, and a mouthpiece is formed on one end using bees wax or resin.

Not all Aborigine tribes have a tradition of playing the didjeridoo, and in the tribes which do maintain the tradition, not all people play. Many tribes limit didjeridoo playing to men and boys, though in some tribes, women also play. This gender dominance in didjeridoo players is a hard and fast rule in some groups, while in other groups it is similar to the gender distinction apparent in pro football fans.

Instruction usually consists of being given a didjeridoo and told to go off into the bush and let the didjeridoo do the teaching. This method works, but requires a lot of trial and error and a nearby Australian outback. Questions by non-Aborigines on how to play the didjeridoo are usually met with the same phrase: let the didjeridoo teach you.

The didjeridoo is almost unique in the world of music in its use of a technique called circular breathing. Circular breathing allows the player to breath while producing continuous sound. The technique is both captivating and perplexing as you are asking your body to do things differently that it usually does automatically. Because of this, learning the didjeridoo is not a smooth process, and is usually the source of much mirth and merriment if two or more beginners learn in proximity to each other.

I have developed a way to teach people how to play the didj, and though I can save people a lot of time, there's no doubt that learning to play the didjeridoo is not a twenty minute project. You won't leave for lunch at noon and return at one o'clock with the basic techniques mastered. Even if you are really captivated by the didjeridoo, after 30 or 40 or 50 minutes, your brain will go into overload, or your cheeks will simply refuse to cooperate because you will be asking them to behave in exotic and confusing new ways.

The didj forces you to reprogram your body to do new things, and old things in new combinations, and that takes time, with some rest between learning sessions. The process needs to sink into your body and not just float around in your head. One of the best pieces of advice I know is to play for 15 or 20 minutes and then put the didj down for a while. You'll be thinking about it even when you're not trying to play.

A few people can learn the basic breathing technique in an hour, but most will take three or four half hour practices to learn the fundamentals"the "riding the bicycle" part. I taught myself in three days, after having been told there was no known method of instruction, and then taught my first student, a friend (still is too), in just 45 minutes.

The Didjeridoo is basically a tube through which air is blown. The the player uses his/her lips to make a very slow buzz (similar to, but very much slower than that used to play a trombone, for example) which aligns with the frequency of the pipe (which is a function of both pipe length and diameter). The player does not change the pitch of the tube; that's fixed, except for the overtone pitches, but instead manipulates the overtones over the base tone, as well as the accoustic qualities of the mouth.

You'll find only three links here; I haven't looked for more lately. The didj web server was a great spot, but I guess it's kaput.

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James Lux, January 13, 1997