Many tribes limit didjeridoo playing to men and boys, though in some tribes, women also play. This gender dominance in didjeridoo players is a hard and fast rule in some groups, while in other groups it is similar to the gender distinction apparent in pro football fans. Instruction usually consists of being given a didjeridoo and told to go off into the bush and let the didjeridoo do the teaching. This method works, but requires a lot of trial and error and a nearby Australian outback. The didjeridoo is almost unique in the world of music in its use of a technique called circular breathing .
Circular breathing allows the player to breath while producing continuous sound.
The technique is both captivating and perplexing as you are asking your body to do things differently that it usually does automatically. Because of this, learning the didjeridoo is not a smooth process, and is usually the source of much mirth and merriment if two or more beginners learn in proximity to each other. I have developed a way to teach people how to play the didj, and though I can save people a lot of time, there's no doubt that learning to play the didjeridoo is not a twenty minute project. You won't leave for lunch at noon and return at one o'clock with the basic techniques mastered. Even if you are really captivated by the didjeridoo, after 30 or 40 or 50 minutes, your brain will go into overload, or your cheeks will simply refuse to cooperate because you will be asking them to behave in exotic and confusing new ways.