Children’s Didgeridoo Workshops
An exciting opportunity for children to discover, learn and experience one of the oldest woodwind instruments in the world!
We are offering our professional services to run Didgeridoo Workshops within your school.
Based in Gravesham, we are a team of two, Paul Cook (professionally known Didge Tall Paul) and Rob Gilby, who are Registered Kent County Council Licensed Music Teachers. Between us, we have 45 years experience of playing, making, teaching and performing didgeridoo and together we also run the monthly North Kent Didgeridoo Club in Istead Rise, Gravesham.
Our workshop sessions have been designed to support learning in the aspects of music, art and culture within the National Curriculum. This is done by introducing the pupils to not only the amazing sounds of the didgeridoo, but also to aspects of Australian Aboriginal culture (such as traditional use of the didgeridoo, aboriginal storytelling traditions and modern day population distributions) as well as basic Australian geography and wildlife.
What you should expect from a typical full day with the Kent Didge Project
- A short performance in assembly (optional)
- Up to 5 x 45min to 1 hour workshops (durations are fully flexible dependent on learning targets, age and class size)
- We provide all the equipment necessary (for free!) for the children to play the didgeridoo and have fun! Our equipment includes plastic “didgeridoos” and inflatable globes (to show the location of Australia).
As the didgeridoo is a ‘contact’ instrument as with all other wind instruments, and in compliance with current K.C.C. health and safety guidelines, the mouthpieces of our teaching aids are all fully sterilised with medi-wipes during the workshops to avoid any cross-contamination between pupils.
Kent Didge Project Workshop Outline
Whilst the list below is a typical outline of what we provide, we are very flexible and can alter our workshops to suit your lesson plans/learning targets.
- Introduction – who we are, history and use of the didgeridoo in aboriginal culture and the geography of Australia using visual aids such as large inflatable globes.
- Short performance – this will show the children the capabilities of the didgeridoo and the great sounds that can be produced by this instrument
- Learning – Basic drone of the didgeridoo
- Learning – How the tongue and cheeks create sound variation
- Learning – Using voice to create animal and other sounds of the Australian Outback
- Learning – Circular Breathing: a brief overview of the circular breathing techniques which allow players to play continuously
- Question and Answer session – Although a structured part of the session, we encourage the children to freely ask questions throughout
Benefits of the Kent Didge Project Workshop Sessions
Our workshops have been designed to support learning in the aspects of music, art and culture based on the National Curriculum. Our sessions can be crafted to coincide with any number of aspects of the children’s art, music and cultural learning from one-off introductory school visits (e.g. one-off performances), cultural awareness learning (e.g. celebrations of Australia Day, appreciation of other cultures across the globe etc.) to a structured series of regular music sessions/extra curricular music lessons supporting the teaching of other wind instruments e.g. creating rhythms, breath control and breathing techniques.
The following rates are based on one of us attending to take the workshops. Based on one of us attending:
- 1 hour @ £100
- Half day @ £175
- Full day @ £250
Please note that for longer travel distances we may only except full days and fuel costs may have to be added.
For larger groups of children or if you wish to provide a number of sessions in a day, then we advise that the two of us attend. Based on both of us attending for a full day session:
- Full day @ £350
If you would like to make a booking or discuss any of the above in further detail, then please call Paul Cook on 07795 557945 or send us an email.
We look forward to hearing from you!
