A MUSIC student was forced to make (didgeri)doo when a skateboard accident left his exam hopes in tatters.Vincent Miles had completed two of three pieces on the piano for his GCSE music exam when he fell off his skateboard and fractured his wrist.

A MUSIC student was forced to make (didgeri)doo when a skateboard accident left his exam hopes in tatters.

Vincent Miles had completed two of three pieces on the piano for his GCSE music exam when he fell off his skateboard and fractured his wrist.

Unable to play the piano and complete the final piece for the exam, the 16-year-old from Felixstowe began searching for an instrument that only required lung power – and hit upon a didgeridoo.

With the help of his friend Stuart Bridges, 16, who provided a tribal drum beat, the Deben High School student improvised a piece on the Australian aboriginal instrument, recording it onto a CD.

Suffolk County Council music adviser Philip Shaw said: "I have to say I've never in all my years heard of anyone using the didgeridoo for the composition element of the GCSE and we have no idea how the examination board will treat it. World Music reaches darkest East Anglia."

Vincent, of Tomline Road, had no-one to teach him how to play the didgeridoo, other than a quick demonstration in the music shop that sold the instrument to him.

So he looked on the internet for playing instructions and also managed to find a CD of didgeridoo music by Ganga Giri, then "did whatever sounded good".

His mother Elizabeth bought the instrument for Vincent's birthday in October after they spotted it at a mind, body and spirit fair in Colchester. "It has a lovely, earthy sound and he can play tunes on it. He picked it up straightaway," she added.

Vincent said he had been pleased with the CD he recorded and was now waiting to hear what the exam moderators think of it.

He planned to go to college after sitting his GCSEs to study computing and business studies, but he also hoped to follow other members of his family into the music business.

His elder brother Oliver is a DJ, he has cousins in a band and his sister Rhoda works for an entertainments agency.

Vincent said his favourite musicians were a Finnish band called Stratovarius who played a combination of power metal mixed with baroque music with words sung in English. His second favourite is the "tribal metal" music of Soulfly.

But the youngster was a bit shamefaced about his skateboarding accident, which happened when he landed from a high ramp with all his weight on one hand. "I wish I'd been wearing protective gear," he said.