This year has seen me deliver didgeridoo and Australia topic workshops in over 30 different schools around the Country, but it wasn’t ‘
An average day long workshop with a class will include storytelling of some Aboriginal Australian tales, some of my own didgeridoo tales, didgeridoo playing and sometimetimes a bit of dance and movement too if time and space allows. People finish the session being aware of how didgeridoos came to be, find out that a didgeridoo or yidaki is more that just a musical instrument, something about the culture in which they come from and that they are now played around the world by all kinds of people. They are also very excited about being able to play one ofter the break.
After the break everyone gets to have a go on a didgeridoo. We learn simple sound making techniques, kangeroo ‘tracks’ and play a story together. There’s also a bit of a challenge to see who can make a sound for the longest time. It was during this period at Brentry that the local bobby came by the school, not because of the noise pollution, but to drop off the seasonal newsletter. He was easily persuaded to have a go by headteacher Mr Clarke.
After the lunch break we went outside and made sculpture maps of the local area and it was then that some of the children made railway tracks in the map – there’s a train track just behind the school.
When we had spent some time on the map ( I think the children were just getting into it, but getting cold too) we colected worm casts and went inside to make earth paints and do some painting.
A fine way to end the year of didgeridoo and aboriginal art workshops.