How to play the didgeridoo

There are no reliable sources stating the didgeridoo's exact age. Archaeological studies of rock art in Northern Australia suggest that the people of the Kakadu region of the Northern Territory have been using the didgeridoo for less than 1,000 years, based on the dating of paintings on cave walls and shelters from this period. A clear rock painting in Ginga Wardelirrhmeng, on the northern edge of the Arnhem Land plateau, from the freshwater period (that had begun 1500 years ago) shows a didgeridoo player and two songmen participating in an Ubarr Ceremony.

The didgeridoo is played with continuously vibrating lips to produce the drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing.This requires breathing in through the nose whilst simultaneously expelling stored air out of the mouth using the tongue and cheeks. By use of this technique, a skilled player can replenish the air in their lungs, and with practice can sustain a note for as long as desired.
Recordings exist of modern didgeridoo players playing continuously for more than 40 minutes; Mark Atkins on Didgeridoo Concerto (1994) plays for over 50 minutes continuously.

Aboriginal Music

Australian Aboriginal Music has formed  part of the social, cultural and ceremony, of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, throughout their individual, and collective histories to this present day. The traditional forms of Australian Aboriginal Music, include many aspects of performance, and use of musical instruments, such as the  didgeridoo, Sticks, Boomerang clap sticks, hollow log drum, notched stick, bunches of seed pods, skin drum (whose head is made from lizard or goanna skin), or  using what is unique to the different regions, of Indigenous Australian groups. The culture of the Torres Strait Islanders is related to that of adjacent parts of New Guinea and so their music is also related.

Australian Aboriginal Music is a vital part of Indigenous Australians' cultural maintenance.

Here is a sample of the traditional music of the native people of Australia.

Enjoy this masterpiece of aboriginal folk music and the fascinating sound of the didgeridoo (the traditional aboriginal wooden "drone pipe")! This song was composed, and is performed and sung by Richard Walley, one of the greatest and most famous Australian Aboriginal composers and musicians.