golf stick didge

Several years ago, I found a golf ball retriever/storage tube at a local sport shop. The tube bears a striking resemblance to a didgeridoo but with a rubber grommet at one end. The grommet serves as an excellent mouthpiece. I just covered the length of the tube with colored tape and had a short (three feet long) didgeridoo with a relatively high register or range of sounds.

store bought didge

A year or two ago, I bought a bamboo didgeridoo at a local music store. The didgeridoo was made in Indonesia, a country quite different from Australia in a lot of respects. All I can say is, go figure. Anyway, here is a short clip showing me playing an Australian aboriginal instrument made in Indonesia.

most recent didgeridoo

Here's a video of me demonstrating a didgeridoo I made earlier today, as of Saturday, September 25, 2010. The instrument is made from bamboo given to me by a friend. The didge (short for didgeridoo) measures three feet and four inches.

A shorter PVC didge

The longer a pipe for an instrument like the didgeridoo, the lower the sound. The shorter, the higher. Here's a video showing a PVC didgeridoo tuned to the key of C.

PVC didgeridoos

PVC didgeridoos are simple to make. PVC itself seems to be the perfect resonator. Unlike bamboo or some kinds of wood, there are no bumps, nicks or other imperfections to distort the sound. Sometimes when I visit the local Home Depot store, I make a special visit the the Plumbing department and transform a ten-foot long piece of irrigation pipe into a makeshift didgeridoo.

There are two PVC didgeridoos in my collection of musical instruments. I found these didgeridoos at a local music store. A fellow instrument maker had left them for sale. After trying them out, I decided to buy them, with encouragement from the salespeople.

Starting with a primitive instrument

I actually have another blog, "musicbyyou. " This blog is a sort of update or series of updates. The first blog has instructions on how to make various instruments, along with photos and sound clips. This one will include videos. Here's one to start us off:

The didgeridoo is a primitive instrument, made and played by Australian aborigines. The name didgeridoo is actually an English expression used to describe the droning sound produced by playing the instrument. Aboriginal names include "yidaki" and "yidari." The didgeridoo consists of a hollowed out tree, typically eucalyptus. Termites do most of the work of hollowing out the tree. A choice piece of eucalyptus can be cleaned out, painted and decorated. Besides eucalyptus, didgeridoos can also be made from bamboo, clay, PVC or ABS pipe (plumbing or irrigation pipe), wood and pyrex. I have a small collection of didgeridoos made from PVC, bamboo and ABS tubing. It so happens the last one is actually a golf ball retriever/storing tube covered with tape. I bought one bamboo didgeridoo (made in Indonesia, rather than Australia) and made the other one from scratch.

Bamboo seems to thrive in South Florida, where I live at present. I found a bamboo stand (plant) growing in front of a local science museum. Some of the shoots were dead and lying on the ground so I harvested them. The instrument I made is four feet long, about an inch and a half in diameter. Though many didgeridoos have beeswax mouthpieces to make playing more comfortable, the one I made lacks this detail. I figured beeswax can be messy. I did manage to decorate the handmade instrument with wood burned designs and applied a coat of shellac as finish.

Musical instruments I have created

I have been making my own musical instruments for over ten years. For some reason, I seem to do very well with flutes, especially bamboo flutes. Bamboo is readily available in South Florida, where I live.