Circular tongue-breathing basic techniques, combination cheeks and jaw.


Note: For almost all my (online) lessons goes: I often use: Do this and do that not or do this like this and not like that. I often use a temporarily bordered area to teach you something. You are ofcourse free to do different, you're not bounded to what i say/write. My lessons are there only to teach and then i ask you to temporarily concentrate on certain things. This is handy as otherwise i would have to write a huge document, discussing all possible sideways and i strongly think that that makes things not clearer concerning a to learn technique. So, when i teach you: technique x is done likt that and like this, it means that there can be many other possibilities too. When i teach live/personally, i often do work with those extra possibilities as then, i can see or hear on what i can work. Yet: It is in my planning though to put online all these subpossibilities too (it is possible) but for now i describe basic neccesarities.

Below i describe the circular tonguebreathing, a technique taht i myself use alot in my playing/rhythms. It is also to be called jaw as well as cheek breathing as these bodyparts take a place in it too.

Neccesary: Good control over basic drone and harmonics as well as good control over cheekbreathing.
Level: easy to difficult, beginning advanced player/halfadvanced.

Step 1, without didge. Put your tongue a bit between your teeth, donot bite on it but push the tongue to your upper teeth, your tongue may come out of your teeth a bit. it can be so that you don't need to go that far and that my tongue is longer than yours and that i need that extra space, in that case, put your tongue upto your above palate or to your upper teeth, let the jaw be loose, your mouth doesnot have to be completely closed, now push your tongue quickly downwards and/or some to the front with some power of the tongue which is a muscle and use a powerful but subtilet or tu-sound. Do this quick.
You will notice that the jaw will go down some.
Also notice that you are now already slightly using the airreservoir, so you donot work with the tongue only.
Recording 21 demonstrates above described.
It is now neccesari that you will also go inhale while doing above t or tu-sound. These are usually very soft and subtile and very quick sniffs of air. This is often a learning proces. I myself do breath in when i do it but i cannot really let you hear it in a recording as it is too soft, but you can trust that i am breathing in the next recording.
Recording 22 allows you to hear above, now on didgeridoo. I directly start with above described technique, a tu-sound, creating a rhythmic sound. I also breath in it. Note: When now, playing this on didgeridoo, it is somewhat different than without didgeridoo. You will feel your jaw some less, i advice to be concentrated on the tongue. Next to that you will need to before you make the t or tu-sound fill your cheeks with air.  So, your cheeks are full of air before you start, now make the tu/t-sound. Note: When doing this on the didge it will sound more like a to instead of tu.
First practise this without breathing in, then do it including breathing in.
Again: You donot only work with your tongue now but also with the air which you have in your reservoir (cheeks).
The moment you would go breath in doing this technique, you will notice that you automatically already would do that and that you are cooperating from out of your cheeks and/or jaw area, pushing some air (on a reasonably powerful way with the use of the tongue).
It is a little difficult to describe technique. Experiment with the following if it doesnot work:
Pull your tongue further to the inner space of you palate, some away from the teeth (this is especially a feeling, use your visualisation) and make the sound more from the inner.
It doesnot have to be difficult when playing.

Step 2.
Now we go try to use above technique in a more rhythmic continuous way.
Recording 23 let's you hear this example.
You now play the basic drone, add in that the waahou-sound (harmonics), then switch to the cheekbreathing, the wop, so we have: waahouwop followed by the to, the tonguebreathing (note: you donot need to inhale this time in the cheekbreathing part as we learn to do that in the tonguepart). So you get: waahouwopto. Breathin in at the to. Then ofcourse directly returning to the waa, etc.
Ofcourse you can experiment with also breathing in at the wop as well as in the to.
Experiment also with the palying of the to-technique only, when you get the feeling, you'll easily create rhythms and discover other more subtile possibilities.