How about introductions? Tell us everything! 🙃

Christophe_E · October 21, 2021, 5:44pm

@Fabrice_T, it’s brave of you to switch to playing facing forward, and it’s really great that you’re practicing regularly — that’s the only way to progress. But the most important thing is that you’re enjoying it. Welcome to the forum!

Fabrice_T · October 22, 2021, 8:14pm

Thanks everyone for the welcome!

Actually I didn’t notice it was showing « Fab » as my username! I thought « Fabrice » was displaying, so I changed it! ^^

Anyway yeah switching to face playing isn’t super flattering at first… My harmonics and lip buzz were so weak those first few days… but it’s starting to get better now, little by little!

Dorou · October 22, 2021, 8:26pm

Good evening and welcome @cornelia.gruber and @Fabrice_T

@cornelia.gruber, your didgeridoo is really nice and I love the customization.
@Fabrice_T, I also have a didgeridoo by David Defois and I’m really happy with it.

Douglas · November 3, 2021, 11:02am

Hi Cornelia,
Thanks for showing us your new didgeridoo. I was really happy to meet you in Neuchâtel with Ludovic and to have the chance to play together. I hope we’ll see each other again soon. Douglas

Gauthier · November 3, 2021, 12:31pm

Welcome @cornelia.gruber! Great to see you here with a top-notch intro and a new didge! We can keep going with the work from the last workshop!

Welcome @Fabrice_T!
Glad to see I was persuasive enough to get you on board.
And like you said, the most important thing is keeping it enjoyable while having a good time playing.

@Douglas
I didn’t know you’d had the chance to meet up with Cornelia, it’s cool to see connections forming little by little.

SebD · January 31, 2022, 3:01pm

Hello everyone!

After writing all over the place, sharing a composition and publishing my first video for The Bridge course, I thought it was time to introduce myself too

I’m 33 years old, and I discovered the didge about ten years ago thanks to my cousin who brought back a tourist bamboo from Australia. I was starting acoustic guitar at the time. He explained to me how to play the drone but we didn’t know anything else, so I didn’t really see the musical interest even though the sound already intrigued me.

In 2013 I kind of stumbled into attending the Dream of the Aboriginal festival thanks to friends, and Friday night BAM! I discover didge concerts (and what you can actually do with this instrument) with Olive Tree Danse, a Portuguese band with a didge player, a drummer and a percussionist — in other words it was swinging from all sides Unfortunately we could only stay one night, I would have given anything to stay the next two nights!

The following year in 2014 I couldn’t make it to the festival, so I bought myself a didge in industrial teak with a bad sound but not too splintery online (everything you shouldn’t do) to console myself. I told myself « no worries, I can still hear didge even if I don’t go to Dream », and that’s when it all started! I discovered the France didgeridoo forum and the old Playdidge software that let you read and listen to basic rhythms (shout-out to the old France Didge crew ).

A few months later I got Gauthier’s method as a Christmas present with a CD, and the next year in 2015 I went back to the Dream of the Aboriginal to buy a didge worthy of the name to replace my teak which still let me get the basics down.

In the years that followed, I bought and resold several pipes to progress and move up the scale while grinding away at Gauthier’s method. Now I play an Alex Didge in C, Gauthier’s model, which I’ve been using for over 2 years and which remains my favourite piece of wood among all the ones I’ve tried, and a Woodslide Classic Air that I bought last summer to play in tune with other musicians.

I use this instrument for jams at home with my roommates in our music room in Autrans in the Vercors, so just a few km from Christian’s workshop (DidgElement maker) and Emeric’s (HandPan maker, BackEyePan brand, quick shout-out to these two excellent local makers ). Regularly Mika stops by, an old Terremythe member (old Grenoble didge association), cheers to you three if you read this

I also have some street performance experience. In 2019 for a year I accompanied Mihasan on didge, a HandPan player in the streets of Grenoble, but we had no recording equipment at all, otherwise I would have shared some compositions with you. We went our separate ways after that…

Besides didge and guitar, I play jaw harp, bass and percussion (cajón and djembé), and I’m trying throat singing thanks to Oliver Demouth who I discovered on the forum.

Finally, another big passion of mine is practicing Qi Gong. I discovered it almost at the same time as didge: the fluidity, posture, grounding, body awareness, the fact that every sound and every movement comes from the belly and the breath that keeps us alive — these two practices really mirror each other. I got certified to teach this practice, which I’ve been doing for about 2 years now in Grenoble, and in a few months on the Vercors plateau.

There we go, for those who know me I’ve written another wall of text so I’ll stop here

See you soon!

Elisabeth_Blanc · January 31, 2022, 4:34pm

What a journey, your introduction is very welcome on the forum so we can get to know you better.

You play with lots of instruments, that’s really cool. I get your sense of music and rhythm! You teach Qi Gong and you stay in that benevolent universe for the body and spirit, complementary to music.

Christophe_E · January 31, 2022, 9:01pm

Thanks for this introduction Seb is (re-)welcome on the forum

Patrick_GARBOUS · February 1, 2022, 8:49am

As Christophe wrote « re-welcome ».
Having read your introduction, I understand your qualities on the didge better.

SebD · February 1, 2022, 10:07am

Thanks for your replies, friends, always nice to see

Karl · February 1, 2022, 5:20pm

Thanks for that nice introduction, Seb . Welcome to the forum!

Arti · February 17, 2022, 7:42pm

Hey there!

I’m Adrien,

I discovered the didge during a trip to Australia. I walked into a didgeridoo shop out of curiosity and this really cool guy taught me how to play for at least 2 hours and once I left I can’t tell you how badly I wanted to keep droning away on that instrument (I think you guys know what I mean) so I went back and brought it to France with me. It’s been 2 and a half years now and I’ve had it but my progress has been slow. Thanks to Gauthier and his course I’ve mastered circular breathing, but I still need to nail my rhythmic patterns and everything else… I’m not losing hope though I just need a routine.

By the way, I made one out of elm thanks to a site I discovered on Wakademy, it’s pretty massive (2m10) but it seems to work.

Elisabeth_Blanc · February 18, 2022, 9:17am

Welcome Arti!

Don’t worry if your progress seems slow, that’s totally normal. It’s already really great that you’ve got circular breathing down, that’s the foundation for discovering everything else, which comes with time and practice.

You could post a photo of the Didgeridoo you brought back from Australia and one of the one you made.

See you soon Arti.

Karl · February 18, 2022, 12:18pm

Thanks for your introduction Adrien.
Welcome to the forum

Patrick_GARBOUS · February 18, 2022, 3:48pm

Welcome to you.
Gauthier’s courses (because there are several of them): everyone who takes them will only have good things to say about them.
Yes, show us a photo of your didgeridoos.
You’re really lucky to be « handy ».

Christophe_E · February 20, 2022, 8:53am

Welcome to the forum @Arti!
If you’re following Gauthier’s courses I reckon you’re on the right track to progress.
It’s awesome that you’re making your own didge, if you want to share photos, this is the place:

Gauthier · February 20, 2022, 7:27pm

FranceDidge definitely did didgeridoo a solid! As for Playdidge, it was well-designed stuff, it lacked versatility but at the same time it offered rhythmic patterns that sounded great.
Welcome @SebD

Wow that’s a hefty beast you’ve got there!
Those kinds of didgeridoos, extreme in their dimensions, are often good practice diges because they push us to our limits!
Welcome to the forum @Arti!

Dorou · May 19, 2022, 9:16am

Welcome to you @SebD and @Arti

steve.vuignier · August 1, 2022, 9:01am

Continuation of the topic Et si on se présentait ? Dites-nous tout ! :

Hello everyone,

My name is Steve, I just discovered the didgeridoo, and I gotta say it really grabbed me, so I’m jumping in, and since I don’t know anything about it, I’m really happy I found these courses…

Fifrelin.le.magnifiq · August 1, 2022, 9:16am

Hey Steve, welcome to this world of infinite breath.

Blimey, it’s true that meeting the didgeridoo can turn a rogue into a good and gentle man.

You’re going to have a blast playing and learning, plus on this brilliant forum there’s a whole bunch of beautiful and instructive videos and topics that’ll get you thinking about yourself and your instrument in different ways, ways that can help bring out what makes you unique.

Have fun, mate zouzoufleur