THE DIDGERIDOO

Long, long ago, there wasn’t anything but darkness and there was a loud noise. The noise made the grass, trees, Earth and water. The noise came from the Didgeridoo. The didgeridoo is very important in many Australian traditions. The didgeridoo plays an important role in many Aboriginal traditions. It’s used in ceremonies and dances. When they’re young, people learn how to play it. The didgeridoos are made of wood, tree trunks, or branches. The hollows are made by insects that eat tree trunks or by people who make hollows with coal and long, hot sticks. The smaller part of the didgeridoo is the mouthpiece. Most didgeridoos are about four feet long. Like a trumpet or horn, you blow into the mouthpiece. When playing the didgeridoo, musicians breathe in through their noses and breathe out from their mouths at the same time. This means that the didgeridoo’s buzzing sound can be played for a long length of time because the musicians don’t have to stop to breath.