Hello to all my flute friends,

For those that haven't met me at a flute circle or Festival I would like to introduce myself and give you an idea of who is making these flutes. First of all I am not a member of any Native American tribe but I am Celtic and love music. Back in August of 2003, I was attending my eldest daughters wedding that was to be held at dawn the next day after sitting all night at a Native American Church meeting. The Man to perform the wedding ceremony at Dawn was Art Runningbear and the day before the wedding he was sitting and playing a flute that I had not heard before and was drawn to. After sitting near him for a minuet or two he stopped playing and reached into a bag and pulled out a second flute, offering it to me with a; do you want to try. I had been trying to teach myself recorder so I was a little familiar with open hole flutes and it only had six holes. The sound with all holes closed was strong yet didn't jump octave very easily like my recorder and that was wonderful. Seeing that I had the basics Art said, I will play slow and you just follow me. That was the start of my flute journey, once back home I wanted one but could not afford any that I found so I thought that since I was in between jobs I had the time to make myself one. It was a success, not perfect by any means but it played and didn't sound to bad. While looking for work I started making more flutes trying to get some that I could gift at Christmas time, it was the best excuse I could come up with. My funds from my last job started to run out and Ann said I needed to sell some of them if I wanted more wood, so I started selling them on Ebay since I had no idea that there were flute circles or festivals yet. After several months of selling flutes, one day Ann said, you can stop pretending to look for work and just make flutes for a living! Most makers don't get that opportunity, but I had supported the family for over 20 years alone and since my wife had a good job that moved us to Texas she figured it was my turn to work at what I wanted for awhile. I have been making flutes full time ever since but sadly I lost my Ann in Dec. 09 so for a year I took off from flute making except for a few personal flutes. I spent that time healing and playing music, after all Music has been my main passion since I can remember. I have started making flutes again and I have realized how much it has helped me and all that play it on our spiritual Journeys. I have always been a spiritual person and have studied many different spiritual paths though I keep coming back to Buddhism as my main practice. The flute though works in whatever spiritual path one chooses and they are all good. I still attend the Native American Church meetings with my eldest daughter in California when I get a chance and I find that to be one that can easily walk the same path, side by side with Buddhism. I often tell people that when you decide to play the NAF then along with it comes a spiritual journey as well, it is not something you have to try for, it just happens. As I have been studying meditation more intensely for the last year I have come to understand why, with meditation you follow your breath to quiet your mind and find the calmness. When your playing the flute your doing the same thing, your not thinking about it but your concentrating on your breath, letting your fingers find the songs and relaxing as you play. As you get more involved you find yourself looking for beautiful, tranquil places to sit and play amongst nature. This instrument unlike most musical instruments does not require you to learn music or songs but to just be with the flute in the moment to create your own song, that is meditation and that is why people that are flute players of this style of flute are all on a spiritual path and why they are some of the nicest, warm and friendly people that I know. I hope that over time we all get to sit and share a song with one another. Walk in Beauty