Breathing Techniques for Playing the Didgeridoo

Video Transcript

"A big part about playing the didgeridoo is your breathing technique; it's a huge part of that. There's a few breathing exercises that I want to show you before you really even begin to play because they're going to kind of put you in the right path for doing it. There's a very specialized technique with the didgeridoo called circular breathing, which we're going to talk about later. It's one of the more advanced techniques, but these are some very simple ones that you can do just to get started. The exercise is this. We're going to do a pattern where you breathe in for 5 counts and breathe out for 5 counts very slowly. Very importantly, you're also going to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth like this. In through the nose, out through the mouth. It's good to do that about 10 or 12 times before you even begin to play. I still do that because it's a good way to warm up and kind of get focused and get into the right mode for playing. One of the things that you could do, which would make a huge difference in the amount of air that you can fit into your lungs, is to think of term of filling from the bottom up. That's the way that you're actually going to get the biggest breath of air into your lungs. If you take a breath from up here in your chest, like that, your shoulders tend to rise up and it's not really great for your technique, and it's actually not the best way to get the large breath. If you think from filling from the bottom up, you should even feel your stomach moving out. Just like filling up a glass of water. Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. Again, do that about 10 or 12 times to warm-up. If you find yourself getting kind of lightheaded or dizzy, just stop for a couple of minutes and go back and try it again. The idea is that it should not be anything forced about your breathing. It should feel very relaxed like yoga breathing. If you're getting lightheaded, you're probably just breathing too heavily, trying to force too much air in and out. Try that 10 or 12 times and you've go yourself perfectly setup to actually play the instrument."