Mark Atkins tutors at South Tamworth Public School, teaching primary school students didgeridoo

Just how much the students have learned from him about the instrument will be put to the test towards the end of the term, according to Mr Atkins.

However, one of the students, Jezyah Johns, seemed distinctly undaunted by the prospect of performing on stage.

"I've gotten used to it. It's pretty easy now to step up on stage."

Jezyah said that in his hands the instrument feels natural, and he's already picked up plenty of skills.

"It was suddenly very easy learning how to do different sounds with a digeridoo," he said. "Making a higher pitch, making a kookaburra noise, or a dingo.

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"When I was four my pop had a didg[eridoo], and I could barely play anything. Now I could probably teach him."

However, as some of the other students like Jaiden Davis discovered, it can be hard getting all the sounds coordinated in a group.

"It's been a good experience, but trying to get it all coordinated makes me nervous," Jaiden said.

"And the big performance at the end really intimidates me."

The teaching journey for Mr Atkins has been just as interesting as the learning journey of the students.

When COVID-19 effectively grounded him, Mr Atkins saw it as an opportunity to try something a bit different from touring.

"It gave me an opportunity to pass things on," he said.

But he wanted to do more than just teach kids how to play didgeridoo.

"It was mentioned a few times along the way that it'd be nice if they [kids] could make a didgeridoo," he said.

So starting from scratch with raw pieces of wood brought by Mr Atkins, South Tamworth Public School students have shaped their own instruments.

"They're [the didgeridoos] in their raw element now, but they're generally shaped and they're playing," he said.

Shaping the didgeridoos has also been a conduit for cultural learning, teaching students about their place in Indigenous society, according to Ms Atkins.

"There's things that they can learn as they go along in that journey," he said.

"Traditionally it's a man's instrument. There's a lot of stories that come from around the country about it."

Since beginning his tutorials, it seems Mr Atkins has been just about as prolific in passing on his skills as he is using them.

Reflecting with a smile on the number of people he's taught in Tamworth now, he said he might have put himself out of a job.

"I find it very hard to get a job in Tamworth these days because there's about 700 digeridoo players that I've taught," he said.

And the number seems likely to increase with primary school students already taking their skills to the stage.

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