5.1 Didjeridu activities

Introduction

This is a lesson plan for a set of simple classroom activities, suitable for a wide range of student ages and abilities, to introduce them to the didjeridu, a traditional Aboriginal Australian instrument. For general information on the instrument, please see Didjeridu . For other activities that you may want to include in a multidisciplinary unit on Australia, please see Lessons from Aboriginal Storytelling . This module is part of the Australia unit in Musical Travels for Children , but the activities below may also be used separately as part of a music class, a science unit on acoustics, or as an art activity. The activities included here are:

• Making and Decorating a Didjeridu
• Playing a Didjeridu
• Didjeridu Acoustics

Goals and standards

• Goals - After these activities students will: know where didjeridus come from and who plays them, how they are played, and their relationship to other wind instruments. (If you are interested in introducing more about the cultural aspects of didjeridu playing, please see Lessons from Aboriginal Storytelling .) They will be able to explain how the instrument makes a sound, using appropriate acoustics terminology, and will recognize the instrument by sight and sound.
• Music Standards Addressed - National Standards for Music Education standards 2 (performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music), 3 (improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments),8 (understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts), and 9 (understanding music in relation to history and culture).
• Other Subjects Addressed - The activities also address National Standards in the Social Studies standard 1 (culture), and National Science Education Standards in physical science and science and technology
• Grade Level - K-12 (adaptable)
• Student Prerequisites - If the students have had no other introduction to the basic properties of sound, it is recommended that you either precede or follow the Acoustics Activity with some discussion of sound waves and wind instruments. You may find the following useful in preparing such a discussion: Talking About Sound and Music , Standing Waves and Wind Instruments , and Sound and Music Activities .
• Teacher Expertise - Teacher expertise in music is not necessary to present this activity.
• Time Requirements - At least two class periods: one for construction and decoration of instruments, and one for playing and acoustic exploration.

Making and decorating a didjeridu

Objectives and assessment

• Objectives - The student will make a playable didjeridu and decorate it appropriately.
• Evaluation - Grade the construction/art project according to your usual standards concerning neatness, creativity and ability to follow directions. Evaluate understanding with an oral or written quiz on the subject following the activity, or by assigning a research paper on didjeridus as homework.
• Adaptations - For young students, you may want to do most of the "construction" of the instrument yourself, and just have the students concentrate on decoration. For older students, or if this is part of a science class, you can skip the decoration step, or have them do it on their own as a homework or optional assignment.
• Extensions - Following the instructions below should produce didjeridus that are playable but not ideal musical instruments. Particularly ambitious students may want to make an actual didjeridu; that is a doable project for older, highly motivated students. Encourage them to locate a suitable piece of wood and follow the instructions at a didjeridu-making website. Or, if suitable materials and time are available, you can turn this into an "Australian Instruments" project. Another very common Aboriginal instrument is bilma , or clapsticks, which are simply a pair of sticks that are tapped together to produce rhythms. Different Aboriginal groups use sticks of different sizes and shapes for their bilma. Boomerangs are sometimes used as clapsticks, but straight sticks made of hard wood are also very common. If they are available, or if your students are up to making them as a project, using boomerangs might be most interesting for the students; easiest is probably using hardwood sticks, around an inch in diameter about 6 to 10 inches in length, or hardwood dowel cut to appropriate lengths.