Circular Breathing Technique for the Didgeridoo

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm voice over artist James Benedict on behalf of Expert Village. This video is about learning how to play the didgeridoo and I'd like to share a few secrets with you. We've gone over lots of the advanced and basic techniques of playing the didgeridoo. Now one of the neatest things that you can do with this instrument is circular breathe. That's actually buzzing while breathing in through your nose and playing at the same time. Right now, we'll go over the basics of how to do that. First of all, while you're buzzing into the instrument and you begin to run out of breath. I'd say you had about a quarter of your lung capacity left. You want to fill your cheeks with air, close off your throat and while you do, puff the air out of your cheeks while you're playing. Not with your hands, but while you're playing the instrument, and breathe in through your nose in short bursts as you puff the air out of your cheeks. Let's give this a try with just a basic monotone through the didgeridoo so you can get an idea of what it looks like. (demo) Notice the long duration that I was able to play this thing and the short air sounds that you heard coming in through my nose. In a traditional didgeridoo recording you're going to hear those sounds. It's actually part of the character of the instrument. Let's try that once more, but a little bit faster. (demo) That is circular breathing."