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The ABCs of Didgeridoo Playing Lesson 1 Diaphragmatic (belly) breathing Inhale through the nose and visualize your belly filling up like a balloon. Exhale out the mouth engaging the abs in a steady and well-supported manner. Find relaxation in this exercise and repeat for a few minutes. Open throated breathing Maintaining belly breathing bring your attention to the throat and exhale with a warm, hollow sound. Think hot breath. The goal is to get a relaxed open throat. Lip Buzz Using strong supported exhales begin to flutter your lips to create a low buzzing sound. This is akin to a motorboat sound children make. Lip Buzz Tightening and Loosening Engage the corners of your mouth and cheeks so that you see dimples in your cheeks (when looking in a mirror). Buzz your lips as before. Once they are fluttering, tighten your lips by pushing them together, in turn raising the pitch of the vibration. Then, loosen your lips by subtly pulling them apart. This is one of the best strength building exercises for the didgeridoo embouchure (mouth technique). Long Tones Pick up your didgeridoo and play a note for the full duration of your breath, striving to get the best sound possible. Do this repeatedly, each time adjusting your lips until you are getting a beautiful resonance. A good sound is characterized by a full bass drone in the low register and rich harmonics in the higher frequencies. Overtones/Harmonics The overtones or harmonics (these terms are used interchangeably) are the higher frequencies and are controlled primarily by the tongue. Start by singing one tone and enunciating WEEYOU by changing your mouth into the vowel shapes of EE and OO. Then whisper using the same shapes. Next, buzz your lips using WEEYOU . Finally, play the didgeridoo and move your tongue to this rhythm.