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.
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