The Physics of the Didgeridoo

Cheryl Weyant and Ben Valentine

UIUC Physics 199POM

Physics of Music
Professor Steve Errede
Fall Semester, 2003

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Introduction

The Original Didgeridoo was made by the Aborigines from down under. They
first found hollowed out Eucalyptus branches to use to make the first didges and
according to one website, it may have been the first musical instrument. The branches
were hollowed out by termites and the didge makers would find these branches and clean
then out, make a mouthpiece, much in the same way that we did in our modern poly vinyl
chloride version. They would whittle the mouthpiece to shape it some and then use
beeswax as we did to make a good didge playing seal and to make it easier to play.

The didgeridoo is as indeterminably old instrument and different tribes had

different myths and traditions centered around it. It was reported by one early European
explorer of the continent of one Aborigine tribe: This was used by the Aboriginal men
as a magic charm for obtaining wives I do not know how successful that was, but there
are also some tribes who apparently dont allow women to play, although most seemed
more open minded about the whole thing and often any of the men woman and children
could play although it was common for only men to play in ceremonies.

Buzzing into the mouthpiece produces a basic drone, but the player can produce
more complex tones by changing the shape of his or her mouth. Because the players lips
are at one end producing the sound, therefore creating a pressure anti-node. This makes
it the perfect instrument to use when studying the physics of music because the
didgeridoo is an air column with one end open and one end closed. However, the
didgeridoo can also be made to behave like a tube with two open ends by hitting one end
with a flat object, such as the palm of a hand, and then removing it. As this is not how
the didgeridoo is actually played, we will not discuss this any further.

Construction of the Didgeridoo

While a real didgeridoo is made of a hollow piece of wood, a simple one can be
made from a piece of PVC pipe rather easily.

1. Cut a piece of 1/4 PVC pipe to the desired length; this determines the pitch.
Because a didgeridoo is basically an air column with both ends open, we can
c
determine the pitch using the equation f1 = , where f1 is the fundamental
4L
frequency, c is the speed of sound in air, and L is the length of the pipe.

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 Pitch Frequency (Hz) Length (in)
C1 32.703 103 3/4
D1 36.708 92 1/4
E1 41.203 82 1/4
F1 43.654 77 3/4
G1 48.999 69 1/4
A1 55 61 3/4
B1 61.735 55
C2 65.406 51 3/4
D2 73.416 46 1/4
E2 82.407 41 1/4
F2 87.307 38 3/4
G2 97.999 34 2/4
A2 110 30 3/4
B2 123.47 27 2/4
C3 65.406 51 3/4
D3 73.416 46 1/4
E3 82.406 41 1/4
F3 87.308 38 3/4
G3 97.998 34 2/4
A3 110 30 3/4
B3 123.47 27 2/4
C4 130.812 26

2. If possible, taper the end of the pipe at a 45 degree angle

3. Roll a piece of beeswax in your hands until it is about as soft as silly putty.

4. With the soft beeswax, make a thick ring with the same diameter as the pipe and
place it on the end.

5. With your fingers, work the wax so that it forms a satisfactory mouthpiece shape.
A larger hole is preferred because it will allow you to produce the characteristic
low drone. Keep shaping the mouthpiece and testing it until you are satisfied.

Playing the Didgeridoo

Playing a didgeridoo is relatively simple. Making it sound like a didgeridoo is

not, but with practice it will sound better. A basic drone is achieved by making a low
buzz with your lips into the mouthpiece, much like playing a brass instrument.

Once you can make a basic drone, try changing the shape of your mouth, moving
your tongue around, puffing out your cheeks, or smiling. Listen as the tone changes as
you do this.

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 Finally, for those truly interested in playing the didgeridoo, the traditional way of
playing it employs circular breathing. This means that the person playing can breathe in
through their nose and blow out through their mouth at the same time, and is rather
difficult.

Harmonics of Bens Didgeridoo

For this project, we made two didgeridoos, learned to play them, and then studied
the harmonics produced by the didgeridoo. The following graph shows the amplitude of
various frequencies present when Bens 55 didgeridoo was played.

You will notice that there are large peaks at regular intervals. While almost all
frequencies are present, most of them are incredibly quiet and have next to no effect on
the overall sound. Notice too that the x-axis is plotted using a log scale, meaning that
each tick means an increase by a power of 10. On a linear scale, this would be far more
dramatic, but would also be difficult to read due to the range.

The loud frequencies, or harmonics and the extent to which they are present, are
what makes a didgeridoo sound different than any other instrument or source of sound.
There are infinitely many harmonics, but we are only interested in the loudest ones, as
these affect the sound most.

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 The following chart shows the ratio of each of the first seven harmonics to the
fundamental. On this particular didgeridoo, the first harmonic is significantly louder than
the fundamental, the second is about the same as the fundamental, the third is almost
twice as loud as the fundamental, the fourth is about half as loud, and the fifth and
subsequent harmonics are very quiet and have little effect on the overall sound of the
didgeridoo.

Ratio of
Harmonic Harmonic Harmonic Harmonic
Frequency Amplitude^2 Amplitude^2
(Hz) (Volts^2) (Volts^2)
Fundamental 63.75 2.80862E-07 1.000
1 188.75 2.12606E-06 7.570
2 313.75 2.70021E-07 0.961
3 438.75 4.94E-07 1.758
4 563.75 1.92E-07 0.684
5 686.25 8.05E-09 0.029
6 811.25 1.41E-09 0.005
7 936.25 2.00E-09 0.007

These results can also be shown graphically:

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Cheryls Didgeridoo

For this project, we made two didgeridoos, and they each sound slightly different,
for several reasons. First, the pitch is different because Cheryls didgeridoo is 46 long,
giving it a fundamental frequency of 73 Hz, which is a D on a musical scale. Cheryls
didgeridoo was used to produce the following charts and graphs.
Ratio of
Harmonic Harmonic Harmonic Harmonic
Frequency Amplitude^2 Amplitude^2
(Hz) (Volts^2) (Volts^2)
Fundamental 73.75 5.08607E-06 1.000
1 218.75 7.30744E-07 0.144
2 366.25 1.37241E-07 0.027
3 511.25 5.99E-08 0.012
4 656.25 2.97E-09 0.001
5 801.25 5.72E-10 0.000
6 948.75 2.08E-09 0.000
7 1093.75 7.84E-10 0.000

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 After looking at these charts and graphs, it is clear that the difference in tone is
more complicated than different pitch. If the only difference were a different pitch, the
first graph should look mostly the same, only shifted to the right and slightly stretched
horizontally. The ratios of each harmonic to the fundamental should also be relatively
the same, which is not the case. The reasons for this include different size and shaped
mouthpieces, different playing styles, and differences between the mouths and lips of the
players.

Different Tones from a Didgeridoo

While the sound of the basic drone of a didgeridoo is interesting, it probably

would not be considered a musical instrument. As mentioned earlier, by changing the
shape of ones mouth, the tone can be changed. The different sounds available on the
monotone didgeridoo are similar to the different sounds that one can make in speech. For
instance the e to o sound can be made on the didge, creating distinct sound variances.
With practice, many different sounds can be acquired by changing the position on the
tongue in the mouth and other movements of the jaw, cheeks and throat.

The didgeridoos we created do not sound exactly like real didgeridoos, but they
are very close. This is because PVC resonates differently than eucalyptus. Also, the
inside of a PVC pipe is almost perfectly smooth, while the inside of a real didgeridoo is
carved by termites and will therefore be more imperfect, changing the sound. However,
the inside of our didgeridoos makes our calculations more accurate because there are less
natural effects to factor in.

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Some Problems We Encountered

When we started working on this project, we tried to use all the equations for a
pipe with two open ends, but after looking at our data and thinking a little more, we
realized that it is a tube with one open end and one closed end because one end is sealed
by the players lips. This is also where the sound is produced, so it must be a
displacement node and a pressure anti-node. We realized that the fundamental we had
calculated was one octave higher than the fundamental present when played by mouth.
All of these conclusions would have been valid if the didgeridoo was played by quickly
hitting it on one end by hand, but this is obviously not how the didgeridoo is played.

The main reason we decided that the open tube model did not work was because it
explained the fundamental harmonic being 400 times quieter than the first harmonic and
57 times quieter than the first sub-harmonic. This didnt seem quite right, and after some
thinking realized it wasnt. This was when we changed our view on this problem from an
open tube to a tube with one open end and one closed end.

Final Really Serious Thoughts

Didgeridoo making is a very fun and rewarding experience, and thanks to

Professor Errede, also a learning inspiration. Before we discovered didgeridoos, our lives
were empty, desolate, and meaningless. There seemed no reason to go on. Now that we
have discovered this ancient wonder, our lives are full, complete, and forever changed.
Thanks Steve.