DIDGERIDOO MADE IN MALAYSIA: 2010

eucalyptus plantation, didgeridoo is made from this tree

The didgeridoo (also known as a didjeridu or didge) is a wind instrument developed by Indigenous Australians of northern Australia at least 1,500 years ago and is still in widespread usage today both in Australia and around the world. It is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet or "drone pipe". Musicologists classify it as a brass aerophone.A modern didgeridoo is usually cylindrical or conical, and can measure anywhere from 1 to 3 m (3 to 10 ft) long. Most are around 1.2 m (4 ft) long. The length is directly related to the 1/2 sound wavelength of the keynote. Generally, the longer the instrument, the lower the pitch or key of the instrument.

Didgeridoo had now been played in Malaysia and has gain its popularity among young musicians and enthusiast . Didgeridoo is not easily available locally, so for that matter, I started making my own didgeridoo from pvc pipe. I started fabricating the instrument without much knowledge to refer to. Anyway, the instrument turned out wonderfully. Later, my next project is to fabricate a glass didgeridoo. Equipped with a little knowledge on glassblowing, fabricating a glass didgeridoo is not as difficult as you might think of. The didgeridoo is made from 40mm x 120cm glass tubing. The blowing end is slightly tapered for comfortable blowing and the other end is flared. The sound created from glass does not differ much if compared to pvc and wood didgeridoo.

My final project is to make a wood didgeridoo from eucalyptus tree. This is the most challenging task. The trunk has got to be cut into two halves and much effort is applied in making the dug-out, grinding, sanding, gluing and finally the coating of the wood. The result, the eucalyptus didgeridoo came out beatifully and it may be considered as my very own masterpiece. Fortunately, there are local didgeridoo enthusiast that volantarily test the instruments and gladly I passed with flying colours.