Advanced Didgeridoo Rhythms, Playing with a Shaker, Vocalization Techniques and Other New Didgeridoo Tutorials

Didgeridoo Lessons

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February 25, 2022

This past winter I decided to record a series of new didgeridoo tutorials to update our community on the practices that I have found most beneficial in didgeridoo playing. Among these are vocalization techniques, how to play with a shaker, advanced didgeridoo rhythms, how to regulate airflow and more. There is so much knowledge out there, yet, to many of the questions which I most frequently hear there was not an adequate answer available in the public domain.

Here is our new Didgeridoo Lessons Variety Pack to take your didgeridoo playing to a higher level.

1. Advanced Didgeridoo Rhythms Tutorial: 6/8 African Clave

Are you ready to learn a challenging exciting new beat for didgeridoo? In this video we cover the African 6/8 clave, a rhythm that stands on its own for endless possibilities for solo didgeridoo. This full break down and demo is almost guaranteed to help you level up your didgeridoo playing. Circular breathing is not required, though it will enhance the results.

Why learn advanced didgeridoo rhythms?

I once went to a week long singing workshop with the great Bobby McFerrin and one of the biggest takeaways was the following. Bobby said that if you want to improve as a musician, it doesn’t matter what your intrument is, one of the best things you can do is to take a very difficult piece of music and learn it really well. Every time you do that, it is going to take your playing to a higher level. I really took that to heart. I studied classical piano, jazz piano, trombone, didgeridoo, trumpet, flute, guitar and many other instruments. Since I got that teaching I really tried to push myself on these instruments and learn difficult pieces of music. Just that alone has taken me so far. So I really encourage you, take a piece of music like the one in this new video, and if you can play it at a nice tempo with some embellishments it is going to take your playing to another level. Enjoy!

2. Didgeridoo Vocalizations: Bring Your Voice To the Didgeridoo

In this video, we give you some essential tips for playing the didgeridoo with one of the most miraculous instruments on Earth: your voice. Practicing scales and harmonies has never been so fun!

3. Enhance Circular Breathing on Didgeridoo by Regulating Your Airflow

In this video, we cover everything you need to know when it comes to regulating air in circular breathing. Whether you are just starting out or already a master circular breather, this video will show you helpful tools for managing your breath while playing the didgeridoo. Happy didge playing!

4. Playing Didgeridoo & Shaker Simultaneously

Find freedom in the groove! In this video, we share how to hold a simple rhythm with a shaker which allows you to explore your creativity on the didge. We also give you different techniques to play the shaker and a new rhythm: the African clave.

Ready for more? We’ve got two more videos in this series coming, plus much more down the line. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and join our newsletter. This way you will get the latest updates and stay on top of our newest releases.

Handcrafted Yucca Didgeridoos Now Available

Shopping

By

Jerry Walsh

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February 17, 2022

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Didge Project welcomes didgeridoo craftsman Sam David to our catalog starting with a beautiful batch of 11 handcrafted yucca didgeridoos. Sam uses sustainable harvesting and building methods, including not over-harvesting any area, and using natural coating materials.

Check out the full range of our yucca didgeridoo offerings at https://www.didgeproject.com/product/handmade-yucca-didgeridoos-sam-david/

Enhance Your Didgeridoo Lip Buzzing With These Techniques

Didgeridoo Lessons

By

AJ Block

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January 13, 2022

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Lip stretching is the fundamental warm-up for didgeridoo playing and it’s all about preparation. So before you touch the didge, before you buzz your lips, do these lip stretches. Also if someone comes to me and says they don’t know how to do didgeridoo lip buzzing, or they can’t even buzz their lips, I show them these lip stretches.

*Note everything we discuss in this article is covered in the video above.

Didgeridoo Lip Buzzing Technique #1: Lip Stretches

To start, take your two hands and you start pulling out your lips, stretching them gently. You don’t want to feel any pain but you do want to feel a nice stretch. Use your hands to stretch your lips one at a time, first top, then bottom, going side to side for 10 to 15 seconds. After you do the top, then do the same on the bottom.

For the next lip stretch you will suck in your lips and gently roll them over your teeth. First focus on the top lip for 10 to 15 seconds, then the bottom for the same amount of time. Do 3 rounds of this, top then bottom, top then bottom, top then bottom.

These exercises are really important for loosening up the lips and getting them ready for lip buzzing and didgeridoo playing.

Now try buzzing your lips. You should feel they are loose, but if they still feel a little stiff then take 5 or 10 minutes and do all the stretches again.

Didgeridoo Lip Buzzing Technique #2: Long tone buzzing

Now after you’ve really stretched your lips out, the next thing you should do (don’t play the didge yet) is to simply buzz your lips for about five minutes. These should be full breath long tones, i.e. inhale as much as you comfortably can, then exhale and buzz for the full duration of your breath until you are completely out of air. Use the support from your abdominal muscles to make this out breath go for as long as you can.

Didgeridoo Lip Buzzing Technique #3: Tighten the corners of your mouth

The third exercise I want to show you is tightening the corners of your mouth. This I actually learned from brass technique, playing the trombone for 12 years or so growing up. I don’t really play trombone much anymore but I pretty much translated a lot of those skills over to didgeridoo. So here’s what to do: when you buzz your lips there are a few different ways you can do it, from a very loose floppy buzz, to a tighter, higher pitched buzz. You will now start to develop control over the tightness of your buzz by tightening the corners of your mouth. Notice how that changes the frequency of the buzz, i.e., when the lips get tighter the buzz goes higher and when the lips get looser, the buzz goes lower. This technique of tightening and loosening allows you to buzz your lips at the same fundamental frequency of your didge and get the most refined sound possible.

The fundamental frequency of the didge is based on the length and dimensions of the instrument, so sometimes what might happen is there’s a didgeridoo there and you go to play it but your lips are either buzzing too loose or too tight and you don’t get a good sound. This is pretty common. If your lips are too loose or too tight you just won’t hit the drone, so whatyou need to do is adjust the tightness of your lips while you are playing the didge, until you hit the drone. Once you hit the drone, you stop adjusting the tightness and you hold your lips at that position. Control over this comes by tightening the corners of the mouth and using this muscle engagement to tighten and loosen the part of the lips that is buzzing. Sometimes I visualize this as pressing the lips together or pulling them apart vertically, i.e. squashing them towards each other or moving the jaw upward, or pulling them away from each other or bringing the jaw downward.

I highly suggest you watch the video for this exercise because even though I explained it in words, it will translate much better when you see me doing it on film.

So that is how i am finding the drone based on meeting the didge where it wants to naturally vibrate. These are just some essential didgeridoo playing techniques that i wanted to share with you guys because a lot of questions that people ask can be easily fixed by just these few basic things.

Taking your didgeridoo playing to the next level

If you are looking for more tips on how to get your didgeridoo playing going, I recommend that you check out our free Didgeridoo Fundamentals Course. It’s got 20 videos and a lot of great techniques that go beyond what we covered here, all of which will help you get a great didgeridoo sound and be playing at a higher level.

Thanks for tuning in and look out for more great didgeridoo tutorials coming your way here at Didge Project!

Crystal Singing Bowls: (Almost) everything you might want to know

By

AJ Block

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January 5, 2022

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Welcome to Didge Project! As you may have guessed today we’re talking about crystal singing bowls. These instruments are truly amazing and the bowls that we have here today are manufactured by Meinl. So today we have Jerry Walsh from Didge Project and special guest Ixchel Prisma getting together to demonstrate some of these bowls.

The Meinl 432hz singing bowl set comes with seven different tones in the key of C Major, i.e. C D E F G A B. So let’s start out by checking out the set of seven notes (video sample). You can essentially play this set in any combination and you will almost always get a good combination of sounds. I suggest avoiding the half steps, which in this case means, do not play E and F together, as they will create dissonance with each other.

Now let’s talk about the wands. Meinl makes three different wands you have the fully coated wand with full coated rubber silicone latex whatever this material is you have the half coated one so you can grip it more on the crystal side of it or glass side of it and then you have this one which is a bigger ball and makes i think for like a softer singing sound so let’s hear what the Meinl singing bowl wands sound like.

One of the great things about crystal singing bowls is that you can create all sorts of drone infused environments and you can use your voice with them. Check out these demo of Jerry and Ixchel using the bowls musically:

Medicine Buddha Mantra, a traditional Buddhist mantra, with singing bowls (video)
Crystal singing bowl + didgeridoo jam (video)

One of the interesting things about this crystal bowl set is that it’s tuned to 432 hertz (hz). For those of you who don’t know the difference between 432 and 440 tuning, most western instruments in our modern era are tuned to 440 hz, but it is said, and there have been a lot of studies on this, that 432 hz as the standard to which you tune the note A is actually more harmonious with the resonance of the earth. A lot of musicians, sound healers and practitioners are now switching over to 432 hz and I actually have a number of friends who are buying all their fixed pitch instruments in 432 hz. Of course if you have a tunable instrument like a guitar a sliding didgeridoo or trombone or a tunable woodwind, you can choose whether to tune to 440 hz or 432 hz. Even if certain instruments are designed to be played in 440 a lot of them can be dropped down to 432. 432 is slightly lower and if you try to play a 432 instrument with a 440 instrument you will definitely hear that they’re not quite in tune together. These are different tuning systems and I do highly suggest that you look into it and check out the differences.

The Meinl crystal bowl set is tuned to the seven chakras and there’s a lot of debate whether the chakras are actually tuned to these fixed pitches. For example, many people associate the root chakra with the note C and then the second chakra with the note D and it just goes like that, third chakra with E, etc. I personally feel like a lot more study needs to be done on this and i have my own opinions about it. I’m not going to get too into it here but just know that if you get the full Meinl set, you will have 7 bowls which can be associated with the 7 chakras.

Thank you guys for coming to check out this article and video. Definitely make sure to listen to the sound samples in the video and thanks again to Jerry Walsh and Ixchel Prisma for lending their talents to this session. I hope you got some good information out of all this, and be sure to peruse our website and sign up for one of our free courses over on the courses page.

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*Order 432 hertz Crystal Singing Bowls from Didge Project:

MEINL-Sonic-Energy-Crystal-Singing-Bowl-Bag-14-CSBB14_6398dca

MEINL-Sonic-Energy-Crystal-Singing-Bowl-Bag-14-CSBB14_c8c7f03

432hz Crystal Singing Bowls by Meinl Sonic Energy: Individual and 7-Bowl Set

Price range: $129.90 through $1,199.00

Tuning: C, D, E, F, G, A, B

Chakra set containing 7 singing bowls, 7 base rings, 2 rods, 1 mallet
Made of high-purity quartz
Extremely long-lasting resonance

Backorders ship in 2-4 weeks.

Set/Note

Clear

Cases

Fully-Coated Singing Bowl Wands

Add an extra wand to your purchase. If purchasing an individual bowl, at least one wand should be added because they are not included otherwise. If purchasing a full set of 7 bowls, you already get 3 wands, so these would be extra wands.

Fully Coated Wand (+$20.00)

Half Coated Wand (+$20.00)

No wand

SKU: crystal bowls Categories: singing bowls, sound healing

Description

The white-frosted Meinl Sonic Energy Crystal Singing Bowls made of high-purity quartz create a very pleasant aura with their sound and design. Their long-lasting, spherical tone spreads when the singing bowl is gently tapped or rubbed so that the energy can be felt in the entire surrounding.

These Crystal Bowls were featured in our video, 10 Powerful Sound Healing Instruments:

In this 7-piece Chakra-set, all Crystal Singing Bowls are delivered with a silicone ring to avoid possible impact and to ensure the best resonance. One medium rod, one large rod, and one mallet allow you to start playing right away.

Features:

Chakra set containing 7 singing bowls
Made of high-purity frosted quartz
Extremely long-lasting resonance
Tuning: C, D, E, F, G, A, B
Tuned to A = 432 Hz (this set is not currently available in 440 hz tuning)

Material:

Quartz
Wood and Rubber
Glass and Silicone

Color:

White

Set of 7 Includes:

7x Silicone Base Rings
2x Crystal Silicone Rods
1x Crystal Singing Bowl Mallet

individual bowls include:

1x Silicone Base Ring
1x Crystal Silicone Rod

Sets of either 7 cases (1 case per bowl), 4 cases (1-2 bowls per case, stacked inside one another), or individual cases are sold as an optional add-on to this item.

instruments in stock ship in 1–2 business days. Backorders ship in 3-6 weeks.

Additional information

Weight	20 lbs
Dimensions	24 × 24 × 20 in
Set/Note	Full Set of 7 Bowls, 14" Note C, 13" Note D, 12" Note E, 11" Note F, 10" Note G, 9" Note A, 8" Note B

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Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.

10 Best Selling Musical Instruments You Should Know

By

AJ Block

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December 30, 2021

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We are wrapping up 2021 with a review on the best selling musical instruments from our store this year. Check out the high quality demos and see what customers have been purchasing.

Live Didgeridoo Q&A #2 addressed circular breathing, playing with backing tracks and more!

By

AJ Block

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December 28, 2021

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We celebrated the arrival of 2022 with Didge Project’s AJ Block for a live question and answer session on all things related to the didgeridoo. Participants asked questions and AJ answered them and did a lot of live didgeridoo demos. Watch the replay here and check out our indexed chapters below:

Index

0:00 Welcome and shout outs

1:28 opening didgeridoo performance

3:30 How to “close the gap” in circular breathing

8:28 Water spitting exercise for circular breathing

10:54 Pumping abs for circular breathing

13:10 Circular breathing rhythm: inhaling every 4 beats

14:05 Building rhythms on didgeridoo using segments of 2 and 3 beats

18:36 New course coming soon!

19:31 Managing saliva in didgeridoo playing

21:36 Maintaining a good seal on the mouthpiece

25:21 Making rhythms last for longer repetitions

27:14 Making animal sound effects on the didgeridoo and incorporating them into your playing

30:43 Doing the cheek squeeze with lip trills only (without spitting water and without playing the didge)

32:24 What are the pros and cons of synthetic made vs. natural material didges?

38:00 How do you play didgeridoo quieter so as not to disturb neighbors?

40:43 Are there people who cannot learn to circular breathe?

41:52 About the Circular Breathing Mastery Program

44:40 Making didgeridoos out of agave stalks

47:23 Thoughts on box didges

49:00 How to quiet the intake of breath through the nose

50:55 Can you adjust/play with the fundamental pitch of a didge?

53:31 Playing trumpet tones

55:25 Rhythmic backing tracks (accompanying drum beats, etc.)

56:22 iTablaPro overview (mostly equivalent to Lehra Box on Android)
57:57 Live iTablaPro didgerdoo jam
1:00:57 Live Drum Beats+ didgerdoo jam

1:02:36 Jerry Walsh’s looping video
1:03:00 Didgeridoo Fundamentals free download

1:04:12 Specific keys for meditation or trance

1:06:40 Send me your videos of you playing with backing tracks

1:07:14 Can you be considered a didge player if you can make cool beats but cannot circular breathe?

1:08:30 Is circular breathing the most fundamental part of didgeridoo playing?

1:10:18 Lip stretches and warm ups – essential basic technique

1:13:08 Tightening the corners of your lips

1:15:55 Do you see people over-blowing?

1:19:52 Closing jam with iTablaPro

1:24:09 Side vs. middle playing on the didgeridoo mouthpiece

1:25:40 Closing shout outs

1:28:18 Didgeridoo Skills Course (Intermediate/Advanced level playing) program info (program link)

6 Clapping Exercises to Improve Your Rhythm with Kevin Nathaniel

By

Kevin Nathaniel

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December 1, 2021

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Clapping, stepping and dancing through rhythms is one of the best ways to internalize them and develop your musical sense of timing. In this video Afro-Roots musician Kevin Nathaniel shows us a few rhythm exercises ranging from simple to complex, taken from our full length course, It’s All About Rhythm.

Kevin recommend that if you are playing an instrument, try playing the instrument and walking, try playing the instrument and scatting (singing) rhythms at the same time, even try walking, playing and scatting at the same time. Then go back to the single activity of playing. If you add these elements to it, it’s going to expand your process and then when you are dealing with the more simple focus of practicing a rhythm, you will feel a little more at home. Something from your expanded, multi-modal practice will be translated back into your more focused practice.

Want a printable worksheet with the exercises shown in this video? Coming soon!

Like the exercises in this video? Hop on board the rhythm train with the It’s All About Rhythm Introductory Video Course Package which includes 48 Rhythm Exercise videos, an overview of how to practice, a 20-page eBook with printable rhythm exercise pages, group discussion forum for members only, and more!

RAV Vast F Astronaut Launch Video (No Pun Intended)

By

Jerry Walsh

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November 13, 2021

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The RAV Vast F Astronaut is a great new release from RAV Labs. Check it out in the video and don’t miss Jerry’s beatboxing!

*Order RAV Vast F Astronaut in the USA: https://www.didgeproject.com/RAV

RAV Vast F Astronaut notes:
(F2) C3 F3 G3 Ab3 C4 Eb4 F4 G4
RAV Vast F Astronaut scale tones:
1 5 1 2 b3 5 b7 1 2

Didgeridoo & Handpan Player T-Shirts, Hoodies, Mugs + More!

Shopping

By

AJ Block

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November 3, 2021

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We are excited to present wearable Handpan and Didgeridoo art that you can display wherever you go. T-Shirts, Hooded Sweatshirts and Mugs available now.

These two special new designs were created by artist Craig Anthony Miller specially for Didge Project and we could not be happier.

Enjoy the new art in our store and stay tuned for news on stickers, hats, and other great apparel featuring these new designs.

Shop Didgeridoo Player and Handpan Player Apparel

Handpan w/Full Band: RAV Drum & Mallet Harp Meet Electric Guitar & Bass (RAV Blues Scale)

By

AJ Block

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October 11, 2021

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What’s up everybody? AJ here from Didge Project wishing you a happy day!

Recently I got to play some super cool instruments, the Chromatic Mallet Harp and the RAV G Humayun, with two excellent musicians, Adrian DiMatteo and Mike Fisher on Electric Guitar and Bass. These videos were a joy to make as we featured these exciting new instruments in a live jam session context.

The Chromatic Mallet Harp has seriously become my go to instrument when playing music with friends. I personally prefer the Chromatic Mallet Harp over any handpan, because it has all 12 tones from the western musical scale. So I’m getting that really sweet Mallet Harp sound but I can play along with almost any chord changes and jump in with a lot of different songs. Of course, I have a background in piano playing and music theory, so that really helps and makes this instrument perfectly suited to my skill set.

The RAV G Humayun, however, is a whole different animal. It’s got this really sweet middle-eastern sound and the vibe it creates is so different than any music I have ever played. It’s like I am automatically thrown into a mystical jam session and I can only imagine how many possibilities there are with this instrument.

Last but not least, I got to have my first ever blues jam session on the RAV Vast C Blues and RAV Vast D Blues scales. These instruments were super fun to play and Adrian DiMatteo and I were able to use them to create a bunch of different blues textures in combination with the electric guitar. Check out the video below.

As always, thanks for tuning in and looking forward to seeing you soon!

AJ Block
didgeproject.com

Didge Project

Advanced Didgeridoo Rhythms, Playing with a Shaker, Vocalization Techniques and Other New Didgeridoo Tutorials

1. Advanced Didgeridoo Rhythms Tutorial: 6/8 African Clave

2. Didgeridoo Vocalizations: Bring Your Voice To the Didgeridoo

3. Enhance Circular Breathing on Didgeridoo by Regulating Your Airflow

4. Playing Didgeridoo & Shaker Simultaneously

Handcrafted Yucca Didgeridoos Now Available

Enhance Your Didgeridoo Lip Buzzing With These Techniques

Didgeridoo Lip Buzzing Technique #1: Lip Stretches

Didgeridoo Lip Buzzing Technique #2: Long tone buzzing

Didgeridoo Lip Buzzing Technique #3: Tighten the corners of your mouth

Taking your didgeridoo playing to the next level

Crystal Singing Bowls: (Almost) everything you might want to know