ABOUT THE DIDGERIDOO

Didgeridoos explained

A didgeridoo is a modern-day, contemporary version of the traditional woodwind instrument used by the Northern Australian indigenous people. It is essentially any instrument in the shape of a hollow tube which can produce a droning sound through the vibration of one’s lips at the mouthpiece end.
Didgeridoos come in all shapes and sizes and are most broadly categorised as traditional or non-traditional.
Traditional didgeridoos are not in fact called 'didgeridoos' and are instead referred to by their traditional names such as yidaki, in North East Arnhemland, and mago, in West Arnhemland. They are played by the aboriginal people in ceremonies and for other social and recreational occasions.
The making and playing of didgeridoos is a very important part of aboriginal culture and ceremony and the indigenous people remain its traditional custodian.
The instrument is typically crafted from certain types of eucalyptus tree trunks that have been naturally hollowed out by termites. Suitable living trees are selected by master craftsmen who can identify whether a tree is hollow before it is cut. After a tree is felled, it is taken back for curing, before being stripped of bark and shaped into a traditional instrument. During this shaping process, excess layers of wood are often removed to reduce the wall thickness of the instrument and some cleaning out of the bore may be required.
The mouthpiece may also require the addition of beeswax if its natural dimensions are too wide to play comfortably. The instrument is then sealed and usually painted with designs and imagery symbolic to the traditional makers.
For more information on traditional didgeridoos, a good source of information is the Buku-Larrngay Mulka Art Centre, in North East Arnhemland, or the ididj Australia web site.
Non-traditional didgeridoos, on the other hand, are made by people from all over the world using all kinds of fabricating techniques. They are typically between 1m and 3m in length with a bore of 25mm to 50mm, and can be made from many different natural and man-made materials.
A newfound understanding and appreciation of indigenous culture and the spread of information about the instrument has led to a surge in popularity of the didgeridoo. Also, its ability to be played without the need to learn formal music theory has further led to its widespread appeal. This appeal has led to an emerging culture of contemporary didgeridoo playing.

How a didgeridoo works

Theoretically, the didgeridoo is classified as a ‘lip-reed aerophone’. This is an instrument that uses vibrating lips to cause a column of air within the instrument to vibrate and produce a sound.
The unique ‘drone’ sound of the didgeridoo is created from the continuous vibration of the lips in the mouthpiece. As the lips vibrate, air is alternately blocked and released, causing pulses of air, or sound waves, to travel up and down the didgeridoo at a certain frequency and produce the drone sound.
The column of air within the didgeridoo determines the frequency of the sound waves in the didgeridoo, which in turn determines the pitch of the drone.
In woodwind instruments, this column of air is constantly being shortened or lengthened using finger or key holes, so different pitches, or notes, are produced. In didgeridoos, this column of air cannot be adjusted, so its pitch cannot be changed. Therefore, didgeridoos come in one key only generally from a low C to a high F.Therefore, sounds of the didgeridoo are not made by manipulating the body of the instrument, but by manipulating the sound waves that enter instrument at the mouthpiece end.
Didgeridoo players employ many techniques using their lips, cheeks, tongue, jaw, lungs, diaphragm and vocal chords, to do this. This produces the range of sounds that are then carried by the didgeridoo.

The sound of a didgeridoo cannot be changed using key holes, like on a clarinet. Therefore, all the work must be done at the mouthpiece end.
Like any other instrument that plays one fundamental note only, the didgeridoo is used to play rhythms, rather than melodies.
A didgeridoo player can produce a range of different sounds that are variations of the didgeridoo's fundamental note. The sounds can be accentuated, softened, sharpened and given character and colour in a variety of ways. When these are combined to create patterns of sound, they produce rhythms which are the foundation for didgeridoo playing.
The techniques to create these different sounds are described further on this web site. These techniques can be used in all manner of ways to create an infinite range of didgeridoo rhythms. Once you have a good understanding of how these techniques work, you will have free range to start creating your unique rhythms of your own!
For more information on the science behind the didgeridoo, check out the comprehensive study on didgeridoo acoustics by the Music Acoustics department of the University of New South Wales.