iDIDJ Australia Didgeridoo Cultural Hub

Hi everyone!

I'm working on rhythms like dith-dhu, dhirrl, dup etc.. My problem is that I can't hardly play a minute without mashing up my lips and getting tired. It seems like I use my chops/lips in the wrong way. At the moment, I try to do <correctional work> to find the most suitable chop set-up for myself.

I guess it's very difficult to give me a direct instruction what to do, as this is a very difficult subject to discuss over the forum. Everybody is different, so I guess there are a hundert of ways how to use your chops/lips.

But if you also have or had a very poor endurance, I'd be very interested if you have analysed the problem and if you have done some kind of <correctional work>.

I know that didj-playing is about so much parameters like air usage/diaphragm/lips/throat/voice/tongue positions/breathing/mouthpiece pressure and postition/etc., so it's most likely never just adjusting one parameter because every change affects the relation of the <overall-balance>. Nevertheless, my focus is on: what kind of embouchure can I use to improve? (with my <old embouchure> it seems like there is no improvement, no matter how much I practice).

So, what's your story? Any thoughts?

Thank you for this great forum and Greetings
Beni

Hi Beni,

can you describe a little how you are useing your lips? I think playing Yidaki shouldn't abuse your lips even as a beginner ...

Ambros

Hi Beni,

First thing to remember is that you should not be doing anything that is too tiring to your lips.
To build up muscles you need to give them both exercise and rest.

Second thing to remember is that you should not use too much pressure on the lip, in the sense that you should not compensate underdeveloped muscles by pushing the didge onto your lips.. if you are pushing too hard on your lips it may be difficult to develop strength and endurance.

Third thing is to have a look at all of Guan's fantastic videos on the ididjaustralia youtube channel.
There you can see some fantastic examples of embouchure and how the various muscles move and work together. The embouchure should always have some tension, like a smile but keeping the corners of the mouth a bit lower..

If you look at the videos and listen to the music then hopefully my comments will make some sense.

Let us know how you progress.

cheers, Martin

Hi Ambros, Hi Martin

Wow, what a fast reply, thanks! It does makes a lot of sense. As far as I see, my high mouthpiece pressure is a compensation for missing technic or muscle strenght. Below, I've tried to describe my personal use of the embouchure at present time.

What I am driving at in this topic is to read about other peoples ways of <corrective work> after analysis of a <wrong> embouchure. The way they fixed their problem probably won't be suitable for my case. But I think it gives ideas and a better picture how to work on embouchure/endurance problems in general.

Beni

->Ambros, here's how I use my lips at the moment (as I said, hard to explain, hope we're not getting lost in details)
To get a clear sound, I stretch my lips more (like more smiling) and use mouthpiece pressure to get the lips buzz. This <thins out> my lips and I get very unflexible to change for example from dhirrl to dup and back. I also get a strong red ring-mark due to mouthpiece pressure on my lips. But only in this way I can reach the softness my lips need to have a nice and clear sound (not good).
What I'm trying to do at the moment is to use more muscles around my mouth, getting more flesh into the mouthpiece. I use different Play-Alongs practising the rhythmwords and try to reset my autopilot-smile-movement (old embouchure) and try to focus on a other lip/jaw/air/diaphragm etc. use, set my lips like cooling off a hot soup. I need more lip-to-lip compression to get a buzz. It's a drastic change and I have a poor sound but I'm more flexibel and it feels like I have to move the lips less. Let's see where it leads to...

Hi Beni,

I thought I'd let others comment first but since not many have, here's my little trick. It is guaranteed to super-charge your lips, cheeks and throat!

Fill your mouth with a small pocket or air and do not let it escape. Swirl this pocket of air around your mouth and really push hard with a lot of pressure, but at the same time keep your lips tightly sealed. Do this for as long as you can until your muscles feel tired then rest. You can do other variations of this, for example, do the same thing but let a tiny stream of air escape your lips, keeping strong pressure on your lips by pushing down on them, and circular breathe at the same time.

You can do this anywhere and anytime, the handy thing is that you do not need a didgeridoo to do it and it is great for those moments when there is nothing else to do (sitting on a bus or train, etc.). Just like how Bruce Lee used to do stomach crunches at any opportunity he had (driving the car, watching tv, etc.), this is a good exercise for didgeridoo players that will get you really strong in a short space of time. And you'll hear the results too, your playing will improve vastly.

Hope that helps!

Guan

Aroha Beni,

I use(d) a device from speech-therapy: Just take a button (start with 3cm diametre), attach a string. Place the button behind your closed lips, then pull the string which hangs out of your mouth, and don´t let the button come out.

10 years training, and you´ll spin around way up high in a circus-tent .

Don´t forget to use proper voice all the time, it makes the difference for the sound.

Cool exercise Guan ! And with no items at all !
I've got two other similar exercises but they need some small items :

1 > put a pencil between your lips and try to keep it horizontal as long as you can (without using your teeth of course !).
Your can do the same with a flat-end spoon.

2 > blow a toy-balloon half-way and try to play with the pressure. Pressure in, pressure out, pressure stabilised.

I say you just play more! I reckon that's the best way to build up the required muscles etc.

Thank you all for the inputs and ideas.

My main question here is <why> have you used the particular exercises? What is or was your original emboucher problem and why did you choose the particular exercise? Do anyone think that you are using your chops/lips in the wrong way? Do you had a practicing-strategy (mixed exercices) to build up your endurance?

I guess there are some players who just use their chop/lip-setup in the right way, then the best for them is just practicing more, like kyle said. But if you're a player like me who use the chop/lip-setup in a bad way (inefficient way, no endurance etc.), then maybe corrective work of the embouchure is the goal (to change old bad habits and practicing with new good habits).

Well it's more to muscle up your lips than to learn the right way to make them vibrate.
You obviously can't learn the right way without a didj ! That's for sure ! (plus these exercises don't even make your lips vibrate)
Now of course, PLAYING is the best way to muscle up while training... but you can't pull your didj' in a lot of everyday circumstances (at the office, in the bus, in your car, in the toilets, etc...) while you CAN do all of the above exercises even if you look a bit strange to others.

Hi Beni,

every yidaki needs its own embouchure in my opinion. If the diameter of the mouthpiece is larger and the key it plays is deeper, the lips can have less tension but the gap between them is smaller. If the mouthpiece is small and the key is higher, the gap between the lips is bigger but the lips are tighter and maybe the oral cavity is larger. That is what I am experiencing ...

I can't really feel a difference having the lips more up or below the center of the mouthpiece, but the sound and playing feeling changes when the top lip is stronger based on the mouthpiece as the bottom lip.

I think, muscles are basically needed to have the cheeks tight and a strong, controlled support from the diaphragm ... week lips were always no problem for me. The more I play, the better gets the sound

Which diameters have the mouthpieces you are playing?

Maybe your lips get too dry or sticky while playing? Maybe you could post a sound sample for us to analyse?

Ambrose makes a very good point about different mouthpieces needing different embouchures. I would go further and say there isn't really such as thing as a wrong embouchure. If your lips get tired easily then more practice or drills is the way to go.

The drill I use isn't to correct embouchure but to merely strengthen all the musculature involved in playing didgeridoo.

Guan

My lip area certainly gets tired quicker when playing an overly large diameter mouthpiece, so maybe experiment with smaller diameters in addition to exercises

Great inputs, thank you!
I'm definitely going to experiment with all the ideas/exercises proposed in this topic. Maybe I'm very focused on this embouchure problem because I was playing at the side for a very long time and now I've changed to play in the middle (for about 2 years now).