Letting go on the didgeridoo: a 3-step method

A while ago, I got a message from Marine. In essence, she told me: “I don’t really know where to go anymore. I have lots of information, I need to be guided… but I’d also like to play rhythms, let go, find some inspiration.” We talked a lot, the two of us, and I thought her question really deserved an article.

Because there are, roughly, two main ways to learn the didgeridoo. The first is to follow a score, to reproduce a rhythm, a piece. It’s very formative: you get used to the mechanics of another player. And then there’s the other path: letting yourself be carried by the sound, by the instrument. The famous letting go.

“Just let go!”… Yes, but how?

I’ll be honest with you, I find “let go” a strange piece of advice. People hand it out a little too easily. “Just let go, don’t worry, it’ll be fine!” Thanks, but let go… of what, exactly? And if you can’t manage it, does that mean you’re the problem? All the responsibility ends up on the person receiving the advice. I find that a bit unfair.

And yet, with the didgeridoo, there’s a well-structured path, and in the end a fairly easy one to follow, to let yourself be carried by the instrument. Here it is, in three steps.

Step 1: forget about letting go, and breathe in

The first thing to do is precisely to forget about letting go. Pick up your didgeridoo, and breathe in. Breathe in, breathe in, breathe in. That’s all!

Don’t ask yourself any questions. Cheeks puffed out or not, strong or light breath, who cares. Really. The only thing that matters is to breathe in regularly, a bit like someone out for a jog. Of course, you need circular breathing for this. If you’re not there yet, my free circular breathing course is here for that.

This is what I call the natural rhythm. For me, it’s one of the most important lessons there is in my course The Art of the Didgeridoo… and it often goes almost unnoticed!

And yet, it reveals who you are with your didgeridoo! What you have to say, right here, today. It shows you where you are on your path, the tensions you may be carrying, joy, anger, tiredness, peace… or whatever is moving you at that moment. And it can change from one day to the next. Because it’s what is alive in you. I don’t know anything more beautiful.

Step 2: keep an eye on the quality of your sound

The second step isn’t really one. It’s more of a point to watch. Your sound needs to stay at least a little held. If it collapses, you’ll wear yourself out, run out of air, and everything will quickly get too complicated. If that happens, pinch your lips a little more and hold back a little more air.

Why is this so important? Because without a stable sound, you won’t have enough clarity to hear what’s going on in your didgeridoo. And the old fellow has so much to tell you! You still need to be able to listen to him. (If your sound tends to get worse as you play, I talk about it in detail in Does your didgeridoo sound fade as you play? Here’s how to stabilize it.)

Step 3: let your body do the work

Now, let your body take over. As you breathe in and listen to your didgeridoo, things will come. Maybe even a little discomfort. Your body might want to speed up, slow down, do something else… We don’t know, and that’s just fine. During a workshop in Lille, Benjamin made this lovely remark: the body compensates on its own. And it’s so true! Your body does the work. All you have to do is stay attentive to one single thing: breathing in regularly. Just like in life, by the way. Never forget to breathe, or you might run into a few hiccups!

To help you, you can do a little body scan. Close your eyes, relax your face, your shoulders, your back, your thighs, your buttocks… All those tensions that build up here and there always end up slipping into the sound.

• • •

“Flowing water never goes stale.”

Chinese proverb

• • •

The mountain river

I’d shared an image with Marine. It’s a bit of a cliché, I’ll grant you, but I find it so true… When you learn the didgeridoo, you often dream of a nice straight path, like a canal, running dead straight towards its goal without a single detour. Efficient, no doubt. But not exactly poetic.

The river coming down the mountain does the exact opposite. It winds, goes around the rocks, lingers in a bend before reaching the plain, then the great river, then the sea.

Letting go is accepting the bends.

Accepting that it takes longer than planned, that something settles in gently, that it takes root. And just because it’s long doesn’t mean it’s boring! If you keep listening, a thousand things will happen in your sound.

And what if you’re afraid of letting go?

I’ll finish with a little question. You don’t need to think about it for hours, that’s not the point. But ask yourself once, simply: what scares me about letting go? Maybe the fear of making mistakes? Of picking up bad habits? An answer may come… and you can let it go again. At least you’ll have brought a little awareness to this small mechanism.

Because deep down, it’s a bit like meditation: watching your breath, and being present. Present to what? To your sound.

Intuition, then awareness

Of course, as you let yourself be carried, you’ll often fall back on the same rhythmic patterns. And that’s great! The more you play them, the more natural they’ll become, and the more room they’ll free up in your attention to observe what you’re doing. Bringing awareness to these movements your body offers you spontaneously, learning those sounds… That’s the whole key to learning the didgeridoo. I already talked about it in From intuition to reason: the way to become Gandalf at the didgeridoo, if you’re up for the adventure. And to make this moment a habit, it’s the fourth part of my 4-part practice routine.

You can absolutely walk this path on your own, in your little corner. It’s just long. It took me about twenty years, fed by many encounters, to really understand everything that was happening inside me when I played. It’s precisely to help you walk this path a little faster that I created The Art of the Didgeridoo, where the natural rhythm has a special place: helping you understand what’s happening inside your body, so that your instrument sounds better on the outside.

And you, what’s holding you back from letting yourself be carried? Share it in the comments. Happy blowing!