# My didge came **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 15, 2005, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-didge-came/308448 "2005-06-15T22:23:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-didge-came/308448/1 "2005-06-15T22:23:05Z")
My didgeridoo just arrived. I’ve never played one, so I bought a cheap-o for $25. I can make the drone, but I’ll need to try this ‘circular breathing’ thing. That sounds difficult. ‘Exercise 1’ in the pamphlet says to fill my mouth with water and to blow a stream using only my tongue and cheek muscles, while breathing normally through my nose. I haven’t tried it with water, but I can do it with air. But I don’t have enough air in my mouth to vibrate my lips. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-didge-came/308448/2 "2005-06-15T22:31:57Z")
Whoops. This was supposed to go in MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/58956e/32.png) [@Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoodoo_Ulove)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-didge-came/308448/3 "2005-06-16T00:20:54Z")
Play your digeridoo, Blue, play your digeridoo. Keep playing ‘til I shoot thro’ Blue, play your digerydoo. Altogether now! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-didge-came/308448/4 "2005-06-16T00:22:28Z")
Lou, wasn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-didge-came/308448/5 "2005-06-16T02:04:59Z")
> [@Hoodoo Ulove](#): > > Altogether now! Tan me hide when I’m dead, Fred, tan me hide when I’m dead. So we tanned his hide when he died Clyde, And that’s it hanging on the shed. ---
**Author:** ![cabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@cabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cabdude)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-didge-came/308448/6 "2005-06-16T03:09:54Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Lou, wasn’t it? That’s from the ‘banned’ verse. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-didge-came/308448/7 "2005-06-16T03:40:36Z")
> [@cabdude](#): > > That’s from the ‘banned’ verse. Right. ‘Blue’ played the didge. _Well I’ll bet you a kangaroo We could all dance to a didjeridoo…_ ---
**Author:** ![cabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@cabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cabdude)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-didge-came/308448/8 "2005-06-16T03:44:58Z")
So why the didgeridoo? Brief hijack - on the liner notes to a Paul Kelly album I’ve got, there is a story about Ernie Dingo who was supposed to play didgeridoo on the album, but turned up at the studio without it. What to do? So he nipped down to the hardware store, got a length of PVC pipe and some masking tape for the mouth end used that instead. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-didge-came/308448/9 "2005-06-16T03:51:44Z")
> [@cabdude](#): > > So why the didgeridoo? I’ve liked them for a long time. IIRC, they used them in part of _Gallipoli_. They also used them in a scene in _The Right Stuff_. I love the sound. (I also like bagpipes, FWIW. And I was enraptured when I watched a drum band on parade at Mardi Gras.) I just hope I can learn to play it. I don’t know if there are any didge players up here in the PNW. But if things go according to plan and I get back to L.A., then I know there’s a guy who hangs out at Venice Beach who can give me lessons. (He makes didgeridoos from PVC pipes and sells them on the beach.) ---
**Author:** ![cabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@cabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cabdude)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-didge-came/308448/10 "2005-06-16T04:50:34Z")
That circular breathing thing is a killer. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-didge-came/308448/11 "2005-06-16T10:13:33Z")
How exactly does one exhale through the mouth and inhale throught the nose simultaneously, I’ve tried doing it but it just seems like its impossible!!! ---
**Author:** ![Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-didge-came/308448/12 "2005-06-17T17:59:56Z")
Puff up your cheeks so they are big and round, and the natural elasticity of your mouth will provide some pressure. Hold the air in your mouth, and breathe normally through your nose. Once you master that, just let some air out of your mouth while breathing in, and then once you’ve inhaled, just breathe out of your mouth exclusively. Generally you have to breathe in pretty quick, because your mouth doesn’t hold all that much air.