When a short “toots” is followed by a long drone, “gu” is by far more natural than “pu”. To extend “pu” for a long time, the lips must be kept tightly closed, which increases the pressure and tends to make the playing feel more uncomfortable.

Dugu - -rro

This is the basic mouse sound widely used in Northeast Arnhem Land. If you can alternate between toots and drones at any tempo with the same 1:1 quality, you already have a very flexible playing feel. Although simple, playing this rhythm with tempo changes will give you a good idea of whether or not your playing is consistent.

Dupuderre

It is easy to become forceful when trying to play long toots, so at first chop them short to develop a sense of being able to play toots with a light touch. Instead of pushing them with a strong, harsh sound, try playing them with a light touch and a light sound.

ex toots 01

Once you feel the lightness of the toots, you will experience that you can make long toots by stretching them with the same touch. The first “Du Du” is the same as in ex1. If you can extend the toots as you did in ex1, you have succeeded.

Ex Toots 02

Play a long toots with the image of doing only the last part of ex2. The goal is to learn how to hold the toots in a way that does not close the lips even if they blur or seem to stop at this time. It is a great discovery to do this while exploring where the toots are supported.

Ex Toots 03

This exercise is to feel the tongue return to the drone on its own as it approaches the maxilla. If you keep your lips free and approach the maxilla with your tongue after a long toot, you will feel the transition from the toot to the drone.

Ex Toots 04

The “gu” is pronounced immediately after the toots, instantly moving from toots to drone. This pattern allows you to experience that you are making that change with your tongue alone. It is a very good method to take out only the “dugu” and practice it. In this sample sound, two types of “gu - rro” and “guerre” are played, but you can use whichever one you are comfortable with.

Ex Toots 05

In the previous practice patterns, the toots were sounded before the drone, but here the toots are sounded after the drone. You can do this slowly, so try to sound the toots after the “Derre” when the tongue touches the maxilla. Even if the toots come after the drone, the basics are the same as the single toots in ex1. If you find this difficult, stop at “Derre” and take a moment before playing “Du- -” to make it easier to understand.

Ex Toots 06

This pattern is a repetition of “Dugu". If you can play “Dugu” consistently over and over again, you have a good sense of how to play the toots. It is more difficult to play the toots carefully and cleanly than to play them fast, so I recommend you to do so.

Ex Toots 07

This is a pattern of two consecutive toots. Rather than forcing the toots to sound strong to make it work, it is very easy to try it with the same feeling you had in ex1, where you could make a single toots sound beautiful. If you still have difficulty, you can cut off at “Du”, stop once, and continue with “Dugurro”. In the end, you will find that what you do in ex1 is basic.

Ex Toots 06

GORI - bambuman

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