Didgeridoo

Didgeridoo

Australian didgeridoos
Classification	Woodwind
Musicians
Xavier Rudd, Charlie McMahon

The didgeridoo (sometimes didjeridu) is an Australian Aboriginal wind musical instrument. They were used by the Yolgnu people of Arnhem Land. They can be quite long, anywhere from 1 to 3 m (3 to 10 ft) long. Most are around 1.2 m (4 ft) long. The longer the instrument, the lower the pitch or key of the instrument. They are a hollow wooden tube, which can be either cylindrical or conical in shape. It is best described as being a wooden trumpet or drone. Musicologists say it is a brass aerophone.^[1]

It is difficult to know when didgeridoos were first used. Studies of rock art in Arnhem Land show that it has been in use for more than 1,500 years. A rock painting in Ginga Wardelirrhmeng, on the northern edge of the Arnhem Land plateau, dates from the freshwater period.^[2] It shows a didgeridoo player and two singers playing in a ceremony.^[3]

1. ↑ Ltd, Not Panicking. "h2g2 - Brass Instruments - Tuning and Harmonics - Edited Entry". h2g2.com.
2. ↑ "Kakadu National Park - Rock art styles". Archived from the original on 2012-04-21. Retrieved 2010-09-11.
3. ↑ George Chaloupka, Journey in Time, p. 189).