Hope this helps beginners get it going!
Allan

Circular Breathing Intro:
Circular breathing is using air in your cheeks to push the air out of your mouth to keep the drone going while you take a quick sniff of air in through your nose. So, air is coming in through the nose AND out of the vibrating lips AT THE SAME TIME.

Timing is the critical issue once the brain accepts the basic concepts.
Circular breathing is also sometimes called “continual breathing”, or “balanced breathing”.
There are several variations in teaching yourself the proper methods before you apply them to playing the didgeridoo. All of them can be helpful. NOTE: If you get light headed… take a break and breathe normally!

Balloon: This is a cheek strengthening exercise, more than a circular breathing exercise. Blow up the balloon some, then move the air back and forth between the mouth and the balloon. Use ONLY your cheeks. Breathe in and out through your nose.

Spitting Water: Get a glass or bottle of water. Do this outside or over a sink, bathtub, or shower. Fill your mouth full of water. Squish the water into your cheeks and puff them out. Open your mouth very slightly and use your cheeks to push the water from your mouth and cheeks. Breathe in through your nose while doing this. Doing this while lying on your back is NOT a good idea!

Blowing Bubbles: Get a glass or bottle of water and a drinking straw. Pinch the straw slightly to restrict the airflow slightly. Put the straw into the water. Blow air into the straw with your lungs and then as you start to run out of air, fill your cheeks with air and start to push the air out with your cheeks. Now you’re maintaining the flow of bubbles with cheek air and while that’s happening you can take a quick breath through your nose and then switch back to keeping the bubbles going with air from your lungs.

Just Air: Inhale with a normal breath. With tightened lips to restrict the airflow, use your lungs, and blow air out of your mouth. As you start to run out of air, fill your cheeks with air and start to push the air out with your cheeks. Now you’re maintaining the flow of air with cheek air and while that’s happening you can take a quick breath through your nose and then switch back to keeping the airflow going with air from your lungs. Repeat and keep it going.

Once your brain and body are together in this mission, you can progress to the next step. This next step for some reason is omitted in many other circular breathing programs. Yet this one step is the very thing that created the magic for me to begin circular breathing. You must be able to create a drone with JUST the air in your cheeks. Some will get this right away. Some may have to practice for some time to get this right.NO breathing through your nose, and NO releasing air from your lungs DURING this step. With your cheeks full of air… Practice until you can get a 2-4 second drone. Keep your mouth on the didge, and breathe in through your nose AFTER each attempt.

Now comes the real part… Circular Breathing On The Didgeridoo:
- Didge up to mouth… take a normal breath through your nose…
- Begin normal drone using air from lungs…
- Drone for a short time (do NOT wait until you HAVE to breathe)…
- Switch to cheek air only as you take a quick (1-2 second) sniff of air…
- Quickly back to lung air, then…
- Switch to cheek air only as you take a quick sniff of air…
- Repeat as long as you can!

Notes:
- Do this as close to your normal breathing as you can.
- Do NOT wait too long before you take the quick sniff of air in.
- If you get light headed… take a break and breathe normally.

This year’s Treeman Gathering http://treemangathering.com/ was a smaller didgeridoo gathering than the first year. But, it was very much worth the trip. It was really good to hang out with everyone. I got the opportunity to get to know more people better than just casually meeting and at best remembering a few new names. Many thanks to Chuck Wilson for putting this together for the second year!

Stephen from http://www.wedidj.com/ was the main vendor. I made my only purchase from him. It was a hollowed out piece of drift wood! It will make a really nice didge when I’m all done working it. Has some nice shades of purple in the wood (see the driftwood didge post).

Chad Butler http://bhumsiva.com/ had 6 or 7 sticks there. Chad had a good workshop and tried to get in our heads a little by questioning our intentions with didge crafting, and using that to feed us with sort of a personal workshop in a group setting.

Jeff Lohr http://hallowedsounds.com/ was there, but nothing for sale. His didge crafting is amazing!!! Jeff also had a great didge crafting workshop. I still reference Jeff’s handout from last year’s workshop all the time.

Jake Duncan http://www.myspace.com/albanydidjeridu put on a great performance and had a decent question and answer type workshop. So that was good to get inside his head a little, and to hang out with him and others more than I could at a larger didgeridoo festival.

Chuck Wilson had a workshop with lots of good info that touched on performing and music theory and combined that with some great playing advice. Chuck also gathered us together for a morning drum circle.

I also had the privilege of learning about the Japanese Shakuhachi Flute from Jamie Orfanella. Difficult instrument, but the sound is very nice!

The schedule this year’s for TMG was more loose, and laid back. Some things were on schedule, and some things just happened when they happened. There was an open mic before Jake on Friday and Saturday. The state park where the gathering was held has awesome hiking trails with waterfalls, etc, and swimming.  GREAT FUN!!!

-Allan

Chuck Wilson - Steve Bachman

Steve Trying Out My Walnut & Gourd Didgeridoo

Jake Duncan's Sticks

TMG Pavilion

TMG Stickers - Thanks to Mike!

Hiking/Waterfall

Chuck Wilson & Jamie Orfanella Playing Didgeridoo/Shakuhachi:

After several hours of power and hand sanding, I was finally able to begin applying the epoxy coating before the final finishing.

Here are some photos after applying 3 coats of epoxy. I will switch to several coats of wipe-on polyurethane next which will take down a bit of the gloss and leave a warmer satin finish.

Check out the audio sample below the photos!

-Allan

Driftwood Didge 2009

Lots of purple throughout the wood!

Bell end

Bell end with wood burl accent

Wood burl added to a tip that had a flat end

No teeth, but it has some bite!!!