Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times

Blues artist Harper demonstrates didgeridoo technique during a lesson at Blues 5 Saturday afternoon.

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• See video from the didgeridoo workshop

It's hard to describe the tones of a didgeridoo without delving deeply into similes. The call of the long, cylindrical Australian wind instrument can sound like a humpback whale singing inside a smokestack. Or a hoarse but well-fed bullfrog amplified by a megaphone. Or even a rubber comb getting its teeth cleaned.

That's not to say it makes unpleasant sounds, just that its sounds are unique and usually too distinct to fit neatly into a musical ensemble.

But musician Peter Harper, who visited Roanoke over the weekend and offered an hour-long didgeridoo workshop Saturday, takes exception to that.

He leads a blues-rock-and-soul band called Harper, and although he specializes in singing and playing harmonica, the British-born, Australian-raised front man frequently incorporates the didgeridoo into his music, slipped into the mix with bass, drums and guitar.

The instrument, he said, "does fit in really well. I just wanted to write songs that had that in there. And it became my trademark. Now if I don't put it in [songs], people will complain."

The band performed at Blue 5 Restaurant on Second Street on Saturday night, but earlier in the afternoon, Harper shared his techniques.

"I don't have any 'secrets,' " he told the audience of about a half-dozen. "What I tell you isn't law.

"The reality is to take your own instrument and create your own style. You can do it any way you want that makes you feel good."

But he did show them methods and techniques that apply as much to the harmonica as to the didgeridoo -- tongue blocking, puckering and circular breathing, a means of inhaling and exhaling with the shortest possible gap between breaths.

While Harper uses mostly authentic, expensive, hand-carved didgeridoos, he also advised the group they didn't necessarily need to spend a lot of money for an instrument that is, essentially, a long tube.

"Just go to the Home Depot and grab a piece of PVC," he told them. "It makes the same sound, it's just not as deep."

The craft of playing the Aboriginal instrument is something Harper has studied for about four years. He said he even approached Aboriginal people for lessons and for their blessing.

"I asked for their permission because it's a sacred instrument," he recalled. "I respect it, and I think because I did, they wanted to help me."

Even with their help, he said, "it took about six months ... to even get [the instrument] to work."

One person who turned out for Harper's workshop was Dan Chitwood of Roanoke who brought a didgeridoo that he bought downtown.

"My daughter took my first one, so I bought another one about two years ago," he said.

Chitwood plays banjo in a bluegrass band, and although he doesn't plan to incorporate the didgeridoo into his mountain music, he said he learned a lot from the session.

"Basically, you don't blow it, you just kind of vibrate it," he explained, and then demonstrated.

Saturday's workshop was the first one offered by the Blue Ridge Blues Society, whose founder, Kerry Hurley, owns Blue 5 and presented Harper's weekend performance.

"Part of a blues society's purpose is to educate," Hurley said. "We're fulfilling part of our mission statement with this."

But how does an exotic, centuries-old instrument fit into what most people would call blues?

"It's the type of instrument that came from the soul. It's soulful, just like the blues," he theorized. Harper, he added, "does it well. I think it adds a very unique flavor to the blues."