Chickadee Children supervise work on Sandy’s branch flute

Posted on April 27, 2012 by admin

Chickadee thinking

It’s been beautiful to work outside.

At 70F, it’s been perfect to begin work on Sandy’s branch flute (more on that in another post).  The most difficult thing is to know whether to pick up my gouge or my camera.

There are several chickadee children Flying chickadee - flute-perspective.comcoming to the bird feeder which is a flute’s length away from where I am working.  I could get some amazing photos.

But you do know it’s hard to catch the chickadees in flight.  They are either there or not.  You look and there they are. Gone.

But this one time I picked up the camera instead of the gouge and …

 

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Making a Spalted Maple Fm Native American style flute

Posted on April 8, 2012 by admin

The past couple of days, I have worked to start and finish a beautiful spalted maple flute that is destined for Oregon.

All that was left to do on Sunday was the final polishing with pumice and then rotten stone.  Good thing because smoke from the nearby forest fires has swept into town and my usual  outside working space is too acrid to stay out long.

Daily Progress of Making a Wood Native American style Flute

Spalted Maple Fm flute with redbud fetish

Click to see larger image

Thursday’s Progress:
On Thursday, after work, I routed the blanks (along with a couple of blanks of spalted magnolia and red cedar), sanded the routed insides, and put 3 coats of shellac inside each half.  (The blanks were cut a while ago; I just select which ones are to be used.)

While I worked outside, the birds came and sang loudly.  The carolina wrens, at the tops of their voices, proclaimed, “More flutes are being prepared.  Hurrah.”  (They love to sing along with the flutes.)  The mockingbird came to supervise.  The cardinals preferred a silent router so they could approach the feeders and feed their young.

Of the spalted maple flute, I prepared the roost (where the bird will sit) and the flue — lots of precise sanding and filing. The TSH (true sound hole) was cut and prepared.  Then, I lightly sanded the sides, wiped with acetone, and glued the halves. Continue reading →

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Leaf by Leaf, Note by Note: Adding up the joy of Native American style flute

Posted on March 18, 2012 by admin

Path in a HammockAt breakfast over iced tea, I read with interest Hugh Raffle’s review of “The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature”.

It’s a review with praise for the author-biologist, David Haskell, who committed to a year-long watch of a patch of old-growth forest.  Apparently, Haskell removed his clothing on a cold day to feel the cold as the forest animals.  Haskell otherwise spent “a good deal of the year lying on his stomach, peering through a hand-lens.”

I marvelled at the reviewer’s, Mr. Raffles, syntax describing this micro-journey.  Then,  at the end of the review I read “Mr. Raffles is the author of ‘Insectopedia.” Continue reading →

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9 Reasons to learn to play the Native American style flute

Posted on March 16, 2012 by admin
Ambrosia Maple Eb Native American Style Flute

Ambrosia Maple Eb Native American Style Flute. Click to see larger version

Learning to play the Native American style flute will change you. It’s not an instant change, but few things are.  It’s a process.

You will be sharper, smarter, and more in-tune with your surroundings if you start to learn the Native American style flute.

With a little time and commitment on your part, you will have begun a rewarding relationship.

Lifehacker advocates taking 30 minutes a day to learn something new based on Continue reading →

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A Thanksgiving Walk on the Moonshine Creek Trail

Posted on November 25, 2011 by admin

What better walk on Thanksgiving Day than on one of the nearby hammock trails.  I took my most recently finished Native American style flute — an Fm from poplar — on the walk.  The lower key is growing on me.  Several people who’ve heard it say they love the tone.

You can hear it and see the photos from the walk in the video below. Continue reading →

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Baughman Center and Native American Flute

Posted on November 14, 2011 by admin

Jamie has an interesting site with his “Urban Flute Project.”  He visits various locations, takes many photos, and then retreats to play his flute to accompany the images.  My favorite slideshow is the “Mystical Satie in Toronto’s Ravines.”   I used to visit Toronto regularly although I never saw the ravines side.  We were usually on the Island or in the downtown area.

Continue reading →

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5 Tips: Before You Buy a Native American Flute

Posted on September 19, 2011 by admin

I have been in many stores and looked at buying many a Native American style flute.  But now that I make my own flutes, there are several things I’ve learned that are essential to check before buying your flute.

People have told me (in the stores) that the flute will “grow” on me or that the flute has chosen me and I just need to adapt to it.  But that is not true.  If the flute is in any way uncomfortable when you first hold it to play, it will likely always be uncomfortable.  There’s no guarantee that the discomfort will go away.

It is true that the tone and key of a flute will resonate with you, and you will find you really like certain keys and some wood more than others.  You will hear something in the tone and you will know that this flute picked you.

1.  Look for a flute that has a comfortable placement of finger holes for you.

Six-hole flute Native American flute

Check to make sure covering the flute holes is not a stretch for you.

(A)  Some holes on the flutes are far enough apart that you will find after playing the flute for 10 minutes that your fingers will ache or you have to twist your hand at a funny angle to cover the holes.  Someone may tell you to put your second finger joint (instead of your finger pad) over the flute  holes.  What they are asking you to do is to compensate for a flute that was made for someone with longer fingers.  You should NOT need to compensate.  There are many flutes made for people with shorter fingers.  I have very short fingers and I make my flutes so they are comfortable for me to play.

(B)  Some holes on flutes have very large diameters — larger than can be covered with your finger pads.  You should be able to comfortably place the pads of your fingers and cover the hole completely.  Since the size of Continue reading →

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