How about introductions? Tell us everything! 🙃

[Whykthor]

Hey everyone!

I’d like to start a post where everyone could introduce themselves briefly by talking about how long they’ve been playing the didgeridoo, how often they practice, and we could discuss the difficulties we’ve encountered in our progression and how we’ve overcome them. The idea is to get a sense of who the people on the Forum are and to progress thanks to each other’s experiences. It’ll also be a chance to talk about the difficulties we’re struggling with right now, get inspired by others to move forward, and give ourselves the motivation to progress together!

Hoping you’ll like the idea!

[Whykthor]

So I’m kicking off the festivities!

My name is Victor and I started Didgeridoo in January 2018 (so it’s pretty recent). I’d been wanting to get into Didgeridoo for years but I kept making excuses not to start (you’ll annoy the neighbours… anyway you were bad at all the other instruments… ?). Long story short, I finally took the plunge and it was ecstasy, I played every day following Gauthier’s method and I progressed pretty quickly. The harmonics came quite instinctively and I manage to be pretty clear on that front. The most grueling part was circular breathing where I had to keep patient and advance step by step by trying to understand what was working and what wasn’t, while avoiding falling into bad habits… After 3-4 pretty intensive weeks I started to manage circular breathing well ?
Today what frustrates me is having quite a noticeable difference between my drone and the moment when I inhale… I get the feeling it handicaps me in the rhythms I can do because there’s always this Won (or this Wa depending on what I feel like evoking when playing) that comes back and lacks grace. It sometimes gives parts with 3-4 harmonics and pretty nice attacks and then a Won that doesn’t satisfy me much…
I hope to find some comfort in your stories and that Wakatoo will let me discover and create new interesting rhythms to work on ?

[Julien_Dunuc]

Hello hello!

I’m Julien and I’ve been playing didgeridoo for 4 years now, I spend a huge amount of time on it (2 to 3 hours a day) before that I hadn’t touched any instrument apart from a bit of playing around on a Native American flute anyway, it took me 1 year to get my circular breathing clean and crisp.

If I have any advice to give about circular breathing it would be without hesitation Gauthier’s steps, personally I’ve never found an explanation so clear!

Same thing with his method since I read it (1st edition) my progression has exploded! Apparently the new edition is really more elaborate than the first, I’d like to buy it later on..

Nowadays I’m working hard on beatbox/didgeridoo it’s starting to sink in, it’s really interesting for working on those P and T attacks

And especially pulling off a good PSHIT or KLA (we call that a snare or clap) is for me the hardest part, beatboxers manage to do it while breathing, an example like Zalem who uses this technique a lot of making his clap while breathing, it’s insane how clean it comes out..

There we go I think I’ve covered everything!

Reply for Victor : At first it’s normal that you lose pressure when you breathe, that last WA of breathing before re-blowing is quite hard to get clean at first, I remember I had a real block at that moment! Don’t worry keep on this path you’re almost there it’s gonna come

Happy blowing!
See you soon
Julien

[Fran6co]

Hey,
Great initiative from Gauthier!
Alright, here goes my little intro…
For my part, I discovered Aboriginal culture in Australia in 1992, didgeridoo included.
Back in France, I built my first tubes. PVC at first, then bamboo, and finally different types of wood. Did loads of tests (Y, holes, slides…) and taught myself to produce sounds and breathe circularly, lulled by « trad » music CDs.
Since then, I’ve given many lessons, played at Aboriginal Art gallery openings, done acoustic concerts and had the privilege of making vibrations echo through many mythical caves in the Vallée de l’Homme.
In 2012 I published the comic « L’Appel du Didgeridoo ».

And in 2014 I founded Je Suis La Piste, a school for reconnection to Nature and ancient knowledge, and was able to bring Aboriginal groups to Périgord 6 times through this… and it’s not over! Every time there were very rich cultural exchanges and intense moments.

http://jesuislapiste.fr

http://fran6co.sur-la-toile.com

http://didgeridoo.webcomics.fr

[Whykthor]

Hey Julien, thanks for the explanations! You’re right, I should probably go back to basics, it never hurts. Especially working on the continuity of sound between the drone and the Won/Wa.

Awesome about the BeatBox/Didge training! Do you train exclusively with the didge or did you also get into classic BeatBox on the side?
I’m pretty drawn to it too, just to have a big range of rhythm and sound possibilities. I’ll probably give it a shot one of these days

And thanks for sharing Fran6co, whether it’s on this post or in your activities in general, you really keep the Didgeridoo world alive
I’m going to check out all the links you suggested

[Julien_Dunuc]

Yes I train a lot outside the didge, it helps to build up the tongue, lips, cheeks, etc.

Beatboxing has really helped me a lot with the didge in terms of rhythmic patterns, it gives some really cool ideas!

See you soon!
Julien.

[scal]

Hi, I’m Pascal. I’m just starting out with my first didge (an instrument I find fascinating) so I’ve only been at it for just 1 month, so I’m really glad I was able to sign up for Wakademy to finally discover all the possibilities of the instrument and I’m especially interested in learning rhythms (so I’m hoping for a more developed section as well as some « language » to learn because apparently it’s not straightforward). What also interests me a lot is the community, being able to share our discoveries and experiences (which didge to choose or where to find one in my area) as well as possible groups of players in my area (I’m from 53) and actually being able to meet up in person to progress and exchange.

[beats-son]

Yosh, I’m DjackDa, first name Djack and last name Da, I’m currently living in Loire.
I started the didge about 2 years ago without really putting in the effort, out of laziness and procrastination, but for the last 6 months now, I’ve rolled up my sleeves and brought out my best chops. I’m working a lot on circular breathing at the moment, I can create a cycle but my cheek-to-lungs transition is really noticeable, which is causing me great frustration. As a beatbox fan like Julien, I occasionally throw some vocals into my instrument, on rainy days but other days too.
I also want to thank Gauthier for the initiative. Plus, I’m keeping an eye on the release of that game which looks pretty cool.
I hope the Wakademy experience will be cool and enriching.
Oh yeah!!! And I reckon the best place to play didge is in a bathtub, especially if the bathroom’s tiled, the acoustics are just incredible. Anyway, as Stupéflip said in their first album PEACE OUT !!!

[Justine_Louviaux]

Hey there, I’m Justine.
I’m from Belgium and I was wondering who else is from the north here!
I discovered the didgeridoo by chance. It was a classmate friend who told me about it because her boyfriend plays it and there just happened to be one for sale in a second-hand shop nearby. So I went to check out the shop but came away empty-handed because it was already sold. But I was determined to get one anyway, so I quickly looked online and after thinking it over for a bit ordered an industrial bamboo didge from Thomann. Now I regret it a bit because it’s already cracked and really not comfortable, but I was just looking for something to try out on a budget!
Not knowing how to play it, I stumbled upon Gauthier’s videos and here I am! So now I’m managing circular breathing more or less, I still need to improve the cheek compression sound which isn’t very clear yet. Also, what I’m really lacking is a range of rhythmic patterns! You find tons of info on circular breathing but I haven’t found much on the different basic rhythms! So do you have any website or video recommendations? That’s it, hope to see you soon on this forum!
Justine

[anon32342169]

Hey!!!
I’m Jaime
Nomadic traveler in a camper van with my little family – wife and kids aged 4 and 2

Living roots-style in the Cévennes, still settled in a yurt in the forest, a buddy who’s been playing for 10 years decides to organize a one-day mini intro.

I show up with a PVC water drainage pipe and woahhhh

After 3-4 days at around 1h30 a day (I think) I get the golden ticket: the famous circular breathing.

This PVC didge will be my didge for a year.
Looking back, I think it was a brilliant starting point because for the same note the air column is shorter…so easier to maintain the pressure…and good backpressure… and honestly it RIPS!!!
The kids love it… and people are less intimidated to try it than with a fancy didge (I don’t know why…)

Then I bought a « proper » PVC didgeridoo and my harmonics could really develop (worth noting that I was playing sideways?)
I’d play with my buddy’s wooden didges but… I preferred mine…which « ripped harder »… looking back I realize my ear also got trained up…because after about a year or so I started to hear the difference between my PVC and a wooden one…

I immediately jumped on jean yves redor’s slide, which is my comfort didge…I’m gonna switch it for his travel model that plays low A… because anyway I don’t play in low G (worth noting that on Gauthier’s advice I developed my sub-vibrations by playing in low G specifically…and also playing WITHOUT my didge!!!)

CLICK HERE FOR A SUB-VIBRATION EXAMPLE…

I play mostly outdoors…but everywhere really…even old ruins work.
On the street, at markets, on a bench, at the beach… the didgeridoo uses me to spread its vibration around. I basically just improvise, I don’t know in advance what I’m gonna play… I listen and observe the sensations…
I close my eyes because I’m too influenced by people who are tripping out…

The slide really helped me develop different muscles – for F sharp for example you don’t have the same pressure as for B…
And that sound… I made myself a PVC slide (because I was fed up with the muffled sound I got with a store-bought PVC slide)…

Now I’m going to see othello Ravez to learn sound massage.
I even bought a gorgeous wooden didge in C from Flyroots (Manu???) – driftwood, barely 1.4 kg… perfect for massage with big amplitude and big air column…

Anyway…
My switch to front playing happened in about a week… but I thought I was gonna die… I went through a real rough patch!!!
Harmonics disappeared for 1 week and the sound was totally flat???.

Anyway… I really recommend treating yourself to a workshop (at least 2 days!!!) with Gauthier… for me, it totally transformed my sound and I also discovered the « didgeridoo language »… after a bit more than two years… I’m psyched to be real with you…
The only problem is that guitar, flute, djembe, pentadrum, and harmonica are sulking because there’s only love for this tube (wooden or not).

I practice a lot.
I have a travel didge that I play while driving on the long straight sections of the highway…when I’m tired of playing horse.

Anyway
Kisses to all and let’s blow right (I can’t wait to get access to the players’ map because apart from Aboriginal’s dream and the walking tree… I feel a bit alone…)
Oh yeah… I gotta say that of all the European countries where I’ve played, France has the most burned-out people on this instrument… thinking they know it…but as soon as you lay down a solid rhythm…they’re amazed… whereas elsewhere young and old alike are really moved and « literally stop »…

Bzzzzzzzzzzz

[mam89]

Hi everyone!
I started didgeridoo a month ago, and I’m having fun… even though I’m struggling with circular breathing…
I discovered the didge several years ago and despite several attempts, I’d never managed to get a sound out of it.
Then, one day, after finishing my cleaning, I blew into my vacuum cleaner’s tube and got my first sound! I thought I’d try again, but it didn’t work.
A month ago, I bought a PVC tube and practiced with it; I was having fun, but I wanted to go further.
Yesterday I received a synthetic Toca didge. It’s very different from the PVC tube. The sound seems good to me.
but I’m still stuck with circular breathing… Arrrrrgh!!!

[Frank_LHOMME]

hello
well here we go, 4-5 years (?) after stopping, I’ve decided to pick it back up thanks to Gauthier and his Wakademy.
my name is Frank and I live in Dijon. I learned to play by taking lessons with Gauthier but since he left, it’s been rough…
I brought back a didge from a trip to Australia in 1995, more as a decorative piece really, and then one day I tried to find a way to learn how to play (online I’m telling you it was a complete desert, I’m not even sure there was internet ), I found a didge teacher by chance, and off I went.
as Gauthier says, stuck on your own in a corner, it’s hard to get into it => I’m hoping that the online lessons, forums.. will be the spark. I can’t wait.
talking soon
Frank

[Steph]

Hi,

I discovered the didgeridoo listening to Adèle Blanchin play on the forecourt of Beaubourg.
A month ago I got started… did some searching online, stumbled on Gauthier’s blog, bought his method. Following his advice I got a bamboo didgeridoo from David Defois’s Resonance range And off I went with the vibrations. For the past three weeks I’ve been working on stabilizing my drone so I’m fully happy with my sound before moving on to harmonics.
I listen to a lot of didgeridoo musicians from different styles. Some really take me to high places.

Good vibrations,
Stéphane

[Calie]

Hey everyone
Camille from BZH =). Let me introduce myself:
First time I blew into a didge and never let it go, it was coming back from a pagan folk festival in Holland in 2013. I spent the entire drive emptying my cheeks into an all-terrain bamboo didge… thanks to the driver for their patience!
Then, entered the monomaniac phase. And the circular breathing settled in, a friend for meditating.
Arrival of a wonderful slide didgeridoo from Jean-Yves, I started playing with the crew (mostly strings and percussion), festive accompaniment. Got the grandmas of Brocéliande dancing!
I’m entering a new phase now. It’s necessary, because with this little circular motion, I’m approaching burnout… For me the antidote in that case is a course or fellow didge players, so here I am and boom winning combo!
I’m coming to find precision and freedom.. and with a program like this I’m set for at least several more years! Cool.
See you soon

[btk-kaloo]

Hi everyone!

My name is Pascal and I’m in Vendée.
So I discovered the didgeridoo when I was about fifteen years old at the end of the 90s. I started on a bamboo and then I got one in teak and that was a huge disappointment. It was much harder for me to play with and then it split along part of its length. A bad didge that made me step away from the instrument, I wasn’t playing much anymore and I finally stopped altogether the day I bought myself some vinyl turntables. After that I didn’t blow for 15 years!

It was while doing the walking tree two years ago that I thought: « Hey, what if you got back into the didgeridoo? » and I finally took the plunge this year at the Aboriginal’s dream by getting one from philippe plaideau at didoowa!

Even though I have some leftover skills from when I played as a teenager, I have to relearn everything because I used to play sideways and I’m moving to playing face-on.

All I have left to do is buy gauthier’s method so I can progress and get as much pleasure playing as I do on my turntables?

Happy blowing to all!

Kaloo

[auderichard]

Hey everyone,
Just getting started here, I’m even struggling with the drone…
I’m in the Southern Alps
we’ll see if I can nail it soon!!
Cheers Hugs
Aude

[Loïc_M]

Hello everyone, my name is Loïc, I’m 36 years old and I live in Charente Maritime. I discovered the didgeridoo through a mate at a party about twenty years ago, I liked the sound and when I tried it I managed to produce the drone pretty quickly, which made me want to buy one. Unfortunately not a real one, a 20-euro didge in wood or teak, I’m not quite sure what material it was (a beach didge), and later one in PVC. I then discovered artists like Mark Atkins on the album Australia: Rhythms from the Outer Core, and bands like Hilight Tribe and Kaophonic Tribu. I find the sounds of the didgeridoo hypnotic, I think this instrument connects us to the earth and to trance. But being occupied by other musical passions, I put the didges aside and a few months ago I discovered Gauthier’s blog, his teaching method and simple explanations made me want to get serious about it, so I joined Wakademy. For now I only master the drone and a few harmonics but the motivation is there to go much further. See you soon!

[Geraldine]

Hey community!
I’m Géraldine and like Aude, I’m just starting out (been practicing the drone for three days and it’s starting to come together). I’ve always been drawn to this instrument but never tried it before. Since I work with people with disabilities who absolutely LOVE music and especially vibrations, I first got myself a big shamanic drum and sang. Then I thought about the didgeridoo again and its massive vibrations and boom! the flash of inspiration! I had to give it a go! I’m playing a didgeridoo right now that a friend is lending me (as a trial) and it’s his own handiwork. Not easy when you don’t know anything about it, but Gauthier’s videos are so well done that everyone can find tips in them to make progress. Nice! So I’m setting aside at least twenty minutes a day for it and it’s a pleasure after work!
All the best to everyone and see you around!

[pauline-silvant]

Hi everyone!
I’m Pauline. First of all, thanks Whykthor for starting this thread, it’s awesome—we can all learn from each other, it’s brilliant! I really enjoyed discovering everyone’s little stories, so here goes mine. Here’s my story: I fell in love with this instrument at my first « Aboriginal dream » in 2013. There was this kind of sphere you could lie down in, and players surrounded us and sent us the most incredible sounds, one after another… I went on a journey that evening and let myself be cradled for several hours… lying there, and then the concerts, on stage under the huge cedar tree… I remember being absolutely blown away. I simply couldn’t understand how a simple branch could take us into so many colours and universes—I was fascinated that weekend. I had the feeling I’d encountered the most incredible instrument, and I felt called to play it. I don’t know how to explain it better, but you all understand because we’ve all felt the same thing, I imagine…

I was lucky enough to master circular breathing on my first try because it’s a technique I’d unknowingly developed instinctively by myself since childhood, which allowed me to (okay, you might laugh at me ha ha ha) discreetly check if I had good breath… I’d just push a little air out of my mouth with my tongue while breathing in at the same time. Ha ha ha, I had no idea where that technique would take me! But I’m really grateful to my childhood self for inventing that!

Then in 2015 I decided to really go for it. I went to Australia for a year (for various reasons) and looked for a place where I could get help making my own first didgeridoo. Byron Bay caught my attention. At the Arts Factory, a nice guy offered workshops to make your own wooden Eucalyptus didgeridoo. It was magical—I was over the moon, and even though that didgeridoo is probably a pretty terrible instrument, you understand how precious it is to me for everything it represents: my trip to Australia, the love and excitement with which I worked for hours removing the bark, sanding it, varnishing and letting it dry, making the mouthpiece, etc… all while impatiently waiting to hear the sound that would come out of it, and then all the hours spent on it over there, on road trips in my car lying in the back where I could experiment with sounds, search, work on refining my circular breathing and add some vocals—I had fun making all sorts of sounds, I even howled into it while playing, I was trying to explore the whole palette of possible colours without really creating a melody. I was so interested in the different sounds first… Of course, I was aware I had so much more to discover, and I was hungry to play and learn more. Only I had to leave my friendly didg with an Australian friend pretty quickly to go to New Zealand, where I knew it would be difficult to haul it around—I was on foot with my big backpack and a guitar… you can imagine!

I got it back 3 months later and came back to France. I got back to a job I love and a pretty settled life for now, so… unfortunately my dear didg kind of stayed in its corner… way too much for my taste… and I didn’t progress. At the last Aboriginal dream, I decided to buy myself a really good instrument and find a teacher. I was inevitably directed to Gauthier by Zalem himself (THANK YOU to him!), and honestly, he was the best teacher I could find! I’ve just started the course on Wakademy and I’m having a blast. In just a few days I can already feel a huge improvement in my sound, my playing comfort, and the colours coming out of this wooden tube! I’m ultra motivated and decided to do everything to become a really, really good player so I can use it in my compositions with guitar and vocals and move in that direction in my professional life one day if possible—maybe in the sound therapy field, which appeals to me a lot too (even though I don’t have a clear idea where I’m headed right now).

I’ll be at Gauthier’s workshop in Switzerland at the end of the month and it will be a real pleasure to meet some of you and hear your stories, all equally interesting! We’re a family of passionate players! We need to get together and play as a group! If there are any players near me, I’d be delighted to train together! I live in Villers-le-Lac in the Doubs. Have a good evening or day! And keep blowing!

[jerome-bille35]

Hey there. Jérôme. I’ve been at this for maybe 5 years now, with phases more or less regular, summer being way better than winter…that initial buzz giving way to periods of easing off, even breaks because sometimes the sense of isolation or the weariness of this rhythm, this perpetual continuous sound just seems to lock you up in something! And then you collect, the sounds, the vibrations, the calls… until you find yourself with a phenomenal palette of sounds and that, with just a piece of wood! It’s amazing! There, I admit the beginner’s spirit really makes sense. Anyway, enough chitchat, I’m getting back to it! I’ve got didg’!

PS: thanks to you Gauthier for this school of the didge that’s really going to make tons of little didgeridoo players bloom all over the world.