Lone Crow Flute

A Profile of the flute from Lone Crow Song

Part 1 About Leonard
Part 2 About the Flute

Back in 2005, while I was performing in Phoenix at a flute circle on steroids called "Flute Odyssey", I met, and bought a very interesting flute, from Leonard McGann of Lone Crow flutes.

Leonard had traveled all the way from his home in rural Virginia, located on "Difficult Creek Road", to come to the Odyssey. Quite a journey to say the least. I found him to be a kind, warm person, but with a mischievous sense of humor too.

Since then we have stayed in touch and visited during many flute festivals, sharing insights and a few laughs. Okay, a lot of laughs... The most recent event where Leonard and I got to hang out was at the Musical Echoes festival in Florida last May. It was, as always, a lot of fun.


With Leonard McGann at the Flute Odyssey

Then, earlier this summer I learned, with great sadness, that Leonard is very ill. With few exceptions, NAF makers do not make a lot of money, and the sluggish economy has hit them just as hard has it has hit the rest of us. (Us being NAF fans, not Wall Street bankers.) So in addition to dealing with his declining health, he has a mounting pile of medical bills.

Several flute auctions were started to help Leonard with his medical bills, most notability one put together by Randy and Shelly Stenzel of Feather Ridge flutes.

As a recording artist and performer I obviously didn't make flutes that I could donate to the auctions, but I did have the ability to record a song on one of Leonard's flutes. I decided to use the first one I got from him back at the Odyssey gathering. I chose this flute for a number of reasons. For one thing I can’t pick it up and not be reminded of Leonard, but I also chose it because it has a non standard tuning, and I thought that would suit a song written for Leonard. The tuning gives it a unique, one-of-a-kind, quality and Leonard has a unique, one-of-a-kind, quality too!

The resulting song was “Lone Crow Song”. It is available for sale as an MP3 digital download and 100% of the proceeds from all sales of the song go to Leonard to help him and his family deal with his medical bills.


Lone Crow Song

Since it is a very unusual flute I thought it would be interesting to take a look at it in more detail, and that's what this post is all about.

THE LONE CROW FLUTE
The flute that I used to record Lone Crow Song is a six hole Native American style flute, but with a non standard tuning and fingering. Three different scales can be pulled from this instrument making it a fun flute to play, since it has so many notes available to the player. It also sounds great! Clear and sweet.


The Lone Crow Flute

The main scale on the flute is a pentatonic scale, but is not the standard NAF minor pentatonic scale. It has the same notes of that scale, but starts, and ends, one whole step lower. The bottom note is G above middle C and the notes produced are as follows: G-A-C-D-E-G

A standard NAF minor pentatonic with these notes would start, and end on A, and would be look like this: A-C-D-E-G-A

The fingering for this scale is unlike 99% of most NAFs so there is not, to the best of my knowledge, any finger TAB for it. Therefore, to illustrate the fingerings, I will use Xs and Os. An “X” equals a closed finger hole, while an “O” equals an open hole.

THE MAIN “LONE CROW FLUTE” SCALE
Here is the fingering for the main scale with the notes below:


X X X X X O
X X X X O O
X X X O O O
X X O O O O
X X X X X X
X O O O O O
G A C D E G

Although it might look complex all you do is keep the second hole from the bottom covered at all times while opening all the others in succession, starting from the bottom, to play the scale.

Here is a sound sample of this scale:
Lone Crow Flute: Main Scale by Cedar Mesa Music

This scale is called a 1-2-4-5-6 pentatonic scale. Contrary to what you might have heard about such scales, it is not a pentatonic mode. In the larger musical world there are no pentatonic modes. However, it does share all the same notes as the so~called minor pentatonic scale. As we saw earlier, it just starts on a different note, and thus a different root.

The intervals in the scale are: Root, Maj-2nd, 4th, 5th, Maj-6th, Octave.

Notice how the name of the scale 1-2-4-5-6 describes the intervals that are found in the scale.

It is in this scale that I played and wrote “Lone Crow Song”.

THE MINOR PENTATONIC ON A LONE CROW FLUTE
This flute can also play a standard NAF minor pentatonic scale. However, the root note will not longer be the bottom note of G, but will now be the the note a whole step above, which is the pitch A. When playing this scale the flute is now in the key of A.

Here is a fingering chart for the minor pentatonic scale for this flute. Note that in the simplest version of this scale you do not play (close) the bottom hole. The scale starts on the second note (hole) of the flute. The octave (A²) is produced with the fingering shown but the player also has to over blow.

Here is the fingering for the minor pentatonic on this flute, with the notes below:

X X X X O O
X X X O O X
X X O O O X
X O O O O X
X X X X X X
O O O O O O
A C D E G A²

Here is how this scale sounds:
Lone Crow Flute: Min Pentatonic Scale by Cedar Mesa Music

Just like with the main Lone Crow scale, the 2nd hole remains covered at all times. The bottom note really can be played of course, but the root of the scale is still located on the second hole. The A. Like all NAFs in minor pentatonic the intervals are: Root, Min-3rd, 4th, 5th, Min-7th, Octave.

Technically this scale is called a: 1-3-4-5-7 pentatonic scale.

Normally on a typical NAF you could only play one scale and have it be in tune, much less two. But on this ingenious flute we can play another scale! A diatonic major scale.

THE DIATONIC MAJOR SCALE ON A LONE CROW FLUTE
Not only was Leonard able to build this flute with two different pentatonic scales, but he also got a major diatonic scale out of it as well. The so~called “Do-Re-Mi” scale.

Remember, a diatonic scale has seven notes, not just the five found in a pentatonic scale. And to play the diatonic scale on this flute the root note is moved back down to G, the bottom note.

Here is the fingering for the diatonic scale found on this flute. Once again the octave (G²) is overblown:
X X X X X X O X
X X X X X O X X
X X X X O O O X
X X X O O O O X
X X O X X X X X
X O O O O O O X
G A B C D E F G²

Notice how there are two cross fingerings in this scale. The first one happens between notes A and B, the second between notes E and F.

Lone Crow Flute: Major Scale by Cedar Mesa Music

Obviously this is a very complex flute hidden in the simplicity of the NAF design. It is a lot of fun to play and challenges the performer to go farther than the standard minor pentatonic NAF. It’s a lot like Leonard. If you can get your hands on one you'll really enjoy it.

If you would like to help Leonard McGann you can purchase a digital download MP3 copy of Lone Crow Song from the Cedar Mesa Music website. Remember, all proceeds from this song are being donated by Cedar Mesa Music to Leonard.

To purchase your copy click HERE

You can also send donations and cards to Leonard & Kitty McGann at 2534 Difficult Creek Road, Bedford, VA 24523-4542.

© Cedar Mesa Music, BMI. All rights reserved.

2009 Scott August Signature flute: The Mojave 6

Once Earth Tone flutes had completed the line of the 2008 Scott August Signature Anasazi flutes the big question for me and Geoffrey was "What do we do next?"

The type of flute was the easiest part to answer. I had recently obtained a Mojave flute from Michael Graham Allen and was enthralled with it's exotic sound. It's limited range of notes, however, was some what frustrating. The Mojave replicas that Michael makes has only four holes and could not play any notes above the 5th in any given octave. This is not to say that Michael's flutes are lacking in sound or soul, I just wanted more notes.

So Geoffrey and I decided early on to extend the number of pitches by adding holes. I knew that the next note I heard in the scale was a minor 6th, a half step above the 5th. Above that, to match the top note of a Native American style flute, we picked the minor 7th. The flute is based on the note B.

Coincidentally Geoffrey had been exchanging emails with Frankie Sierra regarding a five hole version of a Mojave flute that he was working on, the fifth hole being a thumb hole. Personally I like to avoid thumb holes if possible so we decided to move the thumb hole to the front of the flute to get the min-6th along with another, higher, finger hole for the min-7th. A total of six holes. This led to the name Mojave-6, or M-6. The spacing of the six holes is in the same style as an Anasazi flute: two groups of three.

Read the complete post

Cahuilla flutes

Several years ago I had the pleasure to visit the Riverside Metropolitan Museum, here in southern California, with Marvin and Jonette Yazzi to look at five Cahuilla/Diegueno/Ipai rim blown flutes they have in their collection. I found out about these flutes from Marvin and Jonette Yazzie and Ernest Siva, an elder of the Cahuilla/Serrano culture.

These flutes are part of the broader western rim-blown flute world which include examples from the Anasazi, Mojave, and southern California cultures.

Like the Anasazi flutes, many of these flutes are made of a elder wood, specifically elderberry. This is a common tree that grows wild in southern California. It blooms with yellow flowers in the spring. The inner core, or pith, of the wood, is soft and can be poked out with a hard stick for flute making. Three of the flutes in the Riverside museum were made of elderberry. The two other flutes were made of river cane. The majority of the flutes we saw that day were thought to have been made during the turn of the 20th century. All had four finger holes.

We took some photos and measurements of the flutes but were not able play them as they had been treated with a preservative that was toxic. I think it was formaldehyde. They also had to be handled with white gloves for this reason.

Measuring about 21" in length with a 3/4" bore, the elderberry flutes' finger holes were evenly spaced in the middle of the flute. No information was known about the tuning or the traditional use of these instruments, although Ernest recalled that elders played this flute when he was a youngster growing up on the Morongo reservation in the San Gorgonio pass. The flutes in the Riverside museum were found in the Diegno/Ipai

The cane flutes were about 17" in length with the top finger hole being about 8 1/2" from the blown end, also known as the proximal end. From there three more finger holes descended toward the distal end.

The flutes all had some decorative markings. Hatch marks radiating from finger holes like sun rays and bands of triangles and wavy lines that were possibly burned on to the flutes.

Several weeks later the Yazzies made a few reproductions of the elderberry flutes. (Fig 1-A below) The pitch classification of the notes does not correspond to any western tuning and seemed to be random. Due to this lack of any tonal focus I never really put much effort to playing these flutes. That was a couple years ago.

About a month ago I dropped by the Yazzies and while there Jonette brought out some flutes that were based on the cane Cahuilla flutes with the finger holes grouped toward the distal end of the flute. When I played these there was a stronger tonal center than the elder berry ones. These were fun to play. (Fig-1 B-E)


Figure 1

One of the better "tuned" ones was based on the note G (above middle C). The tones produced by a straight uncovering of the holes from the bottom up produce the notes G-B-C#-D-E with an overblown octave G. A cross fingering pattern will produce the notes G-B-C-D-E-(G 8va) (Fig 1-D)

Two of the flutes were based on E-G#-A-B-C with an overblown octave E. These flutes tends to wander a bit more between half steps depending on the players embouchure. (Fig 1-B/C)

The Yazzies also made a six hole version, but not based on any of the artifacts we saw. The pitches found in this flute are F-Ab-A-B-C-Db-Eb with an over blown note of E, a major seventh above the root. (Or a half step below the octave.) By not playing some of the notes I was able to come up with some scales, but nothing like the Anasazi, Mojave or NAF scales. (Fig 1-E)

These flutes have a very soft, intimate sound. What I would call sweet. They are not at all loud. Here is an example of flute D from Figure 1.



The Yazzies are making these flutes with their "grand father" tuning. I thought it would be fun to take some of them with me to the Zion Flute School (more on that in a later post) and before I even got them handed out they were spoken for. Luckily, I had one already.

You won't find these flutes on their website, but if you contact them they can fill you in on the details.

© 2009 Cedar Mesa Music. All rights reserved.

Mojave Flute

During last July's INAFA convention Michael Graham Allen played what he called a Mojave Flute. It had a sound very similar to an Anasazi flute but the scale was quite different. Michael didn't have any to sell at that time but I put in an order and got my flute a few months later.

Surprisingly I didn't mention to very many people that I had one but lately the largest number of emails I've gotten with flute questions have been about this flute. So instead of responding to each one, one at a time I thought I'd post a short article about them here.

These flutes are shorter than Anasazi flute being 24-3/4" long with a proximal (the playing end) bore width of 7/8". They also only have four holes instead of six.



The "notch" on the mouthpiece is smaller, or less pronounced, than on a Anasazi flute. However given the shorter length they are a little easier to play than their bigger cousins.

Read the full post here

The Flutes of New Fire

A lot of people ask me what flutes I use to record with. So I thought I'd take a moment and go through each CD over the next few months and talk about them in a little detail, starting with New Fire. I'll also talk a little about each track and link to previous posts about the track, flute or maker, if there are any.

Heart of the Sky

This piece is in the key of G with the flute in G pentatonic minor (from now on all keys are pentatonic minor (1-3-4-5-7) unless stated otherwise). The flute is a Scott Loomis flute.

Loomis G

This flute really sings and seemed to really fit the mood of this song. It's got a clear, singing tone with a touch of sweetness.

Heart of the Sky started out as a rhythm that I would improvise to. The original track was composed right after Distant Spirits but I didn't get down to recording the tune till much later. In fact in its first incarnation it was played on two flutes, one of which was a clay drone flute, and neither of these flutes were in G.

The title comes from my many visits to the Grand Canyon. The view from the rim seems to go on forever, to the heart of the sky.

One of the Mayan gods of creation was named Heart of Sky and there is also a Hopi deity named Heart of the Sky.

For a more detailed look at this flute visit my earlier post Loomis Native American flute

Recently I tend to play this song live on a J.P. Gomez aspen flute that I got after New Fire was finished. I still play the Loomis flute, but for this song J.P.'s seems to be better live. I've already recorded a piece for my fifth CD with this flute. J.P. lives in Sedona and makes excellent flutes. If you don't have one of his you should seriously consider adding one to your collection.

For a closer look at J.P. Gomez's flute visit Find out more about J.P. Gomez

Mockingbird Canyon

Key of F# played on a Moonlight Creek F# aspen flute. The opening tune for this piece popped into my head one day while practicing scales and technical exercises. Set against a rhythm of udus and tablas the tune is joined by an acoustic guitar, charrangos and other Latin guitar-like instruments. I like the crisp sound of aspen flutes, however they water out very quickly and take forever to dry.

Mockingbird Canyon is a real place in Chaco Canyon National Park, NM. Although the park is know for it's giant prehispanic buildings, Mockingbird Canyon is a quiet side canyon without any ancient structures that I know of.

I want to take a moment to talk about Moonlight Creek flutes by Michael Gulino. Michael is a good friend of mine having met him through flutes. He's never made a ton of flutes, but each one I own by him is a jewel. I don't have a favorite flute, but if I had to pick a favorite my G NAF by him would be on the short list of the flutes I might choose. Michael's flutes have a clarity and singing quality that is very rare in NAFs. Their thin walls give his flutes a very unique, yet classic sound. His flutes are completely made by hand. He doesn't even use a lathe to shape them but sands them down with sandpaper, by hand.


My Moonlight Creek G

It's hard to put into words, but in my mind the sound of Michael's flute embodies the haunting bittersweet sound of the NAF. The sound that captures peoples souls. Michael is a very talented person. He's always looking for new challenges. Sadly for the flute world he is not making many flutes and told me recently that when he sells what flutes he has left he plans to stop making them completely. Any one who owns one of Michael's wonderful instruments will understand me when I say this is a loss for the NAF world.

For a more in depth look at one of Michael's flutes see my earlier post on Gulino and Yazzie flutes

Turquoise Twilight

This piece is in G. I don't remember what flute I used on it. Seriously...
The title came to me during a drive from LA to Phoenix when the sun was sinking behind me and the sky all around was turning the many hues of turquoise, red, vermilion, salmon, pink, light blues, dark blues and black. The peaceful sensation from these colors seemed to match this piece perfectly.

Ravens & Redtails

Another piece in G using the same Loomis flute from Heart of the Sky. This is another piece that began as a live sketch right after Distant Spirits to fill out my performances. When the mood strikes me I'll even perform the kalimba part live. The title comes from a road trip I took once where Ravens kept flying across the road and higher up in the sky above the highway Redtail hawks soared in the air currents. There are also lot of South American and Latin American guitars in this piece like Mockingbird Canyon.

Ravens flying around Delicate Arch, UT


New Fire

New Fire is the title track and was performed on a Queaztcoatzl double flute made by Guillermo Martinez. This particular flute was one of his first doubles and is marked #2 on the back. I showed it to him a few years ago and he didn't remember making it, but I purchased it directly from him.

Made of what looks to be yellow cedar, this flute is tuned in 4ths and has metal "nests" for the totems or birds to rest on.

This is another piece that started as a rhythm for live performances to improvise on top of, which I then expanded into a larger piece. Ironically I still use the original "live" version in concert and never switched over to the version that's on the CD.

The name New Fire comes from the New Fire ceremony which is performed by many the Hopi as part of the large Wuwuchim ceremony. Simply put it is a New Years ceremony, but in reality it is much more complex than that. It has a long history and a version of it dates back to Aztec times when it was performed every 52 years. Jessie Walter Fewkes, an American anthropologist, archaeologist, writer who supervised excavations at Mesa Verde, thought that evidence exists indicating that the New Fire ceremony was performed at Mesa Verde during the 10th and 11th centuries.

Sedona Sunrise

This piece is the only flute solo on New Fire and was performed on a Yazzie flute made of Cocobolo.

Yazzie cocobolo flute

Cocobolo is part of the Rosewood family, which is used a lot in instrument construction. Guitars are know for having parts of them made with Rosewood.

This piece was recorded before the title came to me. This is usually how it works. Just after I had finished the song I was visiting Sedona and driving early one morning to an appearance I was doing in the area. The rays of the sun were low in the sky and the cliffs were bright red and pink, as if they were lighted from the inside.

Read more about the Yazzie Cocobolo flute.

Cactus Dance

Sometimes ideas come during time when you don't expect them to. The seed for this song was planted during a concert I gave years ago while I was demonstrating different kinds of flutes. I spent just a few minutes talking about non standard Native American flutes: Clay flutes, drone flutes, double flutes, bass flutes... Anything that the average person might not have seen before.

One of the flutes I demonstrated was a High Spirits drone. High Spirit drone are joined at the mouthpiece and then flare out like a "V". This particular flute had an altered drone tuning which could be exploited to great effect. I played a short but fast little improvisation through a very bouncy delay. At that time I was recording all my performances and when I got back to my studio it seemed that there was the beginnings of piece there. So a few months later when I got the chance I developed it into a real piece.

Cactus Dance bounces along with a very energetic rhythm with a middle section that pulls back and becomes more dreamy. There are hints of Andean music throughout the piece.

The version on the album was recorded using the High Spirits flute and for a while I was dragging that instrument around to perform the song live. However, given it's V shape it wouldn't fit into my flute bags and caused me to have to carry it around in a cardboard box. This got to be a pain, the box started to fall apart and a couple times the flute fell out.

Due to this I had stopped playing the song live until Richard Halliburton sent me plans for a flute he was asked to make by one of his customers. I never could figure out what that flute was for. It was in a very odd tuning and scale. However, when I looked at it I saw that if he made it in the normal (so called) minor pentatonic scale, the 1-3-4-5-7 pentatonic, I would have a flute that would look like other drones but would have the altered drone tuning I wanted. So now I can play Cactus Dance live again but on Rich's flute.

Rich is an up and coming flute maker from the LA area. One of his flute won first place at the first Oklahoma Flute festival and they are quite striking. He uses a lot of onlay, inlay and semi precious gemstones in his flutes.

The Rich Halliburton drone

The title for this song comes from it's South American influence and my memories of visiting far southern Arizona. There cactus are everywhere. Barrel, Cholla, Saguaro abound. The rays of early morning and late afternoon sunlight dancing on their spines.

To read more about this piece and to learn more about Rich Halliburton and the flutes used on Cactus Dance visit Two Tunable Drones

Sombra de La Luna
Performed on a clay "Moon Goddess flute made by Xavier Quijas Yxayotl.

Clay flutes were very common in the ancient Mexican and the Mayan cultures. Excavations and early accounts show evidence for this. I have seen photos of a pit used for offering and clay flutes with a trumpet shaped bells are among the many objects that were throw in the pit to the Gods. Clay flutes do not have the front chamber that Native American flutes have but instead have the flue placed in the mouthpiece. This is the more common type of construction for fipple flutes. NAFs are the exception to the rule.

Once again this piece got it's start from a live improve I gave once. Originally I recorded a solo version of it for Sacred Dreams but I felt that there was still much more that could be done with the tune and the sound of the flute so I rearranged a version that was longer and had more instruments. This is the version on New Fire which combines the flute with piano, some treated percussion and very atmospheric tones.

Take a closer look at this flute

Temple of the Sun

Recorded on a Guillermo Martinez double flute Temple of the Sun is the longest piece on New Fire. It begins with a solo and is later joined by a hypnotic percussion beat over the quiet drone of didgeridoos.

The flute is made of wood and the longer half is tuned to D while the shorter half is tuned to A.
I posted an in-depth article about this flute which is still accessible.

Here is home video of me performing the solo intro to Temple of the Sun.


Ancient Memories

Although this tune comes later in sequence on the disc it was the first to be composed for New Fire. I had just obtained a Hawk and Geri Littlejohn bass G flute and my first Yazzie flute having just met them. I thought it would be fun to write a piece for a flute and it's bass counterpart.

Yazzie G flute

Right after Distant Spirits came out I was asked to do a workshop for the NCFC on recording a NAF with a computer. I used this piece in that workshop since it was still in production.

Sacred Night

This is the only piece on New Fire where the flute was recorded live during a performance, taken back to the studio where the rest of the instruments were added to it. The piece is in D#/Eb and is played on a Ken Light flute. This is my favorite Ken Light flute. It has a good clean sound but with just a little buzz for character. The fingering on mine is not his usual fingering but the standard NAF fingering of playing the octave by holding down the fourth hole from the bottom.

The flute part itself was an improvisation to which the other parts were layered in weeks later. This is always a fun way to work for me as I enjoy the challenge of working around a recording that is locked down. I did do some processing toward the end where the flute returns as a faint echo in a texture of sounds.

In my mind as I was working on this piece was the memory of a trip I made to Flagstaff, passing through Keyenta, or K-Town as the locals call it, and Tuba city on Hwy 160. The road passes through Tsegi, Shonto, Cow Springs and Tonalea on the north while the cliffs of Black Mesa rise to the south. As the sun began to touch the horizon the sky began to light up in multi chromatic hues.

I began to take photos of the changing scenery and light while driving down the highway. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen and Arizona is known for it's beautiful sunsets. One of the shots made it into the booklet for New Fire.

Well, that's a look at New Fire. We'll look at my other CDs in the near future.

© CEDAR MESA MUSIC. THIS ARTICLE AND ALL IMAGES AND SOUND FILES ARE THE PROPERTY OF CEDAR MESA MUSIC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. UNAUTHORIZED DUPLICATION (COPYING) IN ANY FORM IS ILLEGAL AND IS A VIOLATION OF ALL COPYRIGHT LAWS. THIS INCLUDES, BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO, USING ON YOUR BLOG OR MYSPACE PAGE.

Flute Wraps

Some of my best friends belong to the Tucson Native American Flute Circle, TNAFC. I've talked about Keith Stanford before and profiled one of his flutes. Another friend of mine is really two people, Ed and Fran Pendrys of Juniper Flute Accessories.

Juniper Flute Accessories makes tasteful flute stands and bags. They also make really nice flute wraps. Something you won't find on their website for some reason.


Here is an example of one of their wraps on a Geoffrey Ellis flute.


They do really nice bead work on beautiful leather. All of this is done by Fran on a small loom. She doesn't do a lot of them since, as with so many people in the Native flute world, she wants it to be fun -not a job.


I consider myself very fortunate to have a few of these great wraps. They look great and really dress up a flute. If you're interested in one email them through their website.

Sandhill Crane flute

Here are some images of a Sandhill Crane flute by Greg Jones


The body is made of lacewood.


The block and mouthpiece are made from rosewood. Note the celtic inlay of rosewood too.


The carved head extremely well done. This flute is in the key of Bb and has a sweet, clear tone that carries well.

Sandhill Cranes are the most common crane in the American Southwest with their distictive red head. They are found all over the U.S., Canada and even Seberia.

Greg Jones can be found in Oregon. He does not sell flutes directly but my understanding is that you can possiblly get one by contacting The Flute Case store. I have also heard rumor that Querencia Woodwinds might begin selling them this summer. If you have any interest I would suggest you contact them.

Scott August Signature Anasazi flutes

Cedar Mesa Music and Scott August are proud to announce the Scott August Signature Anasazi Flute. These professional quality instruments are made by Geoffrey Ellis of Earth Tone Flutes and are perfect for both beginning and advanced players. Ideal for concert stage, recording studios or just nooding around alone as you discover your true Kokopelli.

Scott and Geoffrey worked closely together to construct a flute that had the distinctive warm, low sound that Scott strives for in his recordings while still keeping ease of playing in mind. Several prototypes were constructed and extensively tested. The final designs were then field tested by members of Scott's beginning Anasazi flute class before Scott and Geoffrey made their final decision. The result is a warm, resonant low tone with a silky smooth response.

To satisfy both the collector and the everyday flute player these flutes will be available in two lines

The Scott August Signature Ansaszi Flute
and
The Scott August Anasazi Flute Series


The Scott August Signature Ansaszi Flute
Shown above, this is a limited edition flute. Only twenty five flutes will be offered per year, each year will it's own distinct design. Made of eastern red cedar The Scott August Signature Anasazi Flute is tastefully accented with a crushed turquoise Cedar Mesa Music logo and Bore Rings in a style reminiscent of Chaco Canyon jewelry. Each flute will be signed by Scott August, Numbered and come with a Certificate of Authenticity, a bag and maintenance kit.

Available in the keys of Ab and A these flutes will be made to order to accommodate both right and left handed players. See below for prices and availability.

The Scott August Anasazi Flute Series

Also made of eastern red cedar the Scott August Anasazi Flute Series is a more affordable version of the Signature flute accented with a wood burned Cedar Mesa Music logo and Bore Rings. Each flute will come with a bag and a flute maintenance kit.

Available in the keys of Ab and A, with other keys to be anounced, these flutes will be made to order to accommodate both right and left handed players. See below for prices and availability.



The Scott August Ansaszi Flute Series

Prices and Availability
These flutes will be available starting April 21th, 2008

The Scott August Signature Ansaszi Flute:
Price: $350.00 One of 25 Signed and numbered flutes. Keys available: Ab and A
Comes with a certificate of authenticity, a bag and maintenance kit

The Scott August Anasazi Flute Series
Price: $235.00. Keys available: Ab and A. Other keys to be anounced.
Comes with a bag and maintenance kit

How to order
To order your flute send the following information to Cedar Mesa Music

• Name
  
• Address
  
• City, State, Zip
  
• Phone
  
• Email
  
• Which Key?
  Tell us which hand you place on the bottom holes –right or left?
  We don’t need a deposit

Once we get this information you’ll be put on the list. It’s “first come first flute...”


© Cedar Mesa Music

Chasing the Sun: Haran Triple flute

There is a lot of experimentation going on in the world of Native American flute. Many makers are trying different designs and combinations to come up with some very interesting flutes. The history of flute making is one of change spread over thousands of years but recently the amount of experimentation has been increasing at a tremendous rate staring about ten years ago with the first bass NAFs made by Hawk and Geri Littlejohn and continues today with many makers. These new designs include bass flutes, drone flutes and double flutes made from a variety of woods and clay and other materials.

My latest recording Lost Canyons features one of these very unusual Native American flutes on track #10: a triple chambered flute made by Pat Haran which is best described as a double drone flute.



In this latest post we're going to look at this flute and a common NAF player affliction "Flute Envy".

Read the full article

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Ancient Territories flutes

The number of Native American style flute makers is growing everyday. It's getting harder and harder to find flutes that are different enough and also well made to fork over the money for another flute. However these makers are out there -which is good for NAF enthusiasts but bad for bank balances- and one of these is John Stillwell of Ancient Territories flutes.

I first met John at the debut meeting of the Inland Empire Flute Circle and it was obvious that he was doing things that I had never seen before. At that time all of his flutes had end caps made of multiple layers of contrasting colored wood in a distinctive chevron pattern. The workmanship was first rate. Turns out John has a background in cabeint making so he knows how to work with wood. The other difference was that instead of cutting his blanks on the horizonal he cuts most of his on the vertical so that the seam runs through the finger holes and sound holes. The final touch was that the flutes flaired slightly on the top making for a subtile flatting of the finger board, the top of the flute where the finger holes are.



All of this made for a very unusual looking flute. They also sounded good too and since that time John has constantly experimented to make his flutes even better.

For good or for bad many flute makers stop experimenting once they get a template that works for them. For many makers this is not a problem once they get a good sounding flute. John however seems to be driven to strive for the next level of his craft.

Read the full aritcle

Two Tunable Drone Flutes

On my recording New Fire there is a song called "Cactus Dance". This was recorded using a High Spirits tunable drone flute. A drone flute is basically two flute chambers built into one fllute body. One of the chambers has finger holes and plays like a normal Native American flute and plays the melody while the other chamber doesn't have finger holes and therefore only plays one note or "drones". This second chamber is usually tuned to the bottom note of the flute. Not unlike a Bagpipe.


In this article we're going to look at two tunable drone flutes, both in the key of A.

One of them was made by Odell Borg of High Spirits flutes. (left)

The other was made by Rich Halliburton of Querencia Flutes. (right)

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

Twilight Journey

During the day the colors of the canyon country are washed out, lossing their rich hues and becoming pale and dull. But during sunrise and sunset, when shadows are long and the rays from the sun are traveling though more of the earth's atmosphere the colors of the desert bursts to life. Reds ignite like fire, the blue of the sky turns a rich turquoise and sandstone cliffs glows the spectrum between white, pink and gold.

I find myself waiting for these this special time of day. Waitingat the edge of some vast canyon or hurrying in my truck to some spot I know will perfectly catch the light. Camera ready. I call these Twilight Journeys.

One place that never fails no matter how many times I've seen them are the sunsets at Grand Canyon. I'm always amazed. Most people choose watch the sun, itself, set over the horizon. Something I've always felt I can do at home. I prefer to face away from the sun and watch the colors of the canyon cliffs come to life. For only at the canyon can you experience the fiery reds, glistening golds and shimmering sand colors that make help make the canyon grand.

Another place that is almost always perfect is the southern edge of Cedar Mesa, the place where Cedar Mesa Music gets it's name. Rising 1,100' above the Goosenecks of the San Juan river, Valley of the Gods and Mexican Hat, on a clear day from any of the vantage points you can see from Ute Mountain in southeastern Colorado to Monument Valley on the Utah-Arizona border.

Below Cedar Mesa from the view point at Monument Valley Tribal Park you can get a close up view of the famous Mittens and if you're there during sunset you can see Ute Mountain to the east and the silhouette of Navajo Mountain to the west. Navajo Mountain is also visible at sunset from Cedar Mesa. It is sacred to the Navajos and like all the mountains of the Four Corners a fixed point on the landscape

To be honest, there aren't many bad spots to catch the end of day in southern Utah, but one of the best is in Arches National Park. So many elements come together there, vast open spaces, playful arches, balancing rocks and views of snow covered mountain. There are so many places in the park where the line between the last rays of daylight and the first shadows of night is a razor sharp line. As if you could move from day to night in a single step as you watch night take over day and swallow the earth whole.

Sunset is also one the most popular time to visit Delicate Arch, the Park's most famous feature. The last time I was there it felt like I was at some ancient temple of stone. As the sun set the arch began to glow gold. Suddenly the moon appeared behind the arch, rising over the La Sal mountains. I climb into the slick sandstone bowl that lies below Delicate Arch, risking a nasty fall, and got a shot of the moon shinning through the arch hole. Nature's Stonehenge.

Views also abound at Bryce Canyon National Park. The elevation at Sunset Point is 8,000' and the canyon, really a series of amphitheaters, tumbles down to the Paria valley 1,000' below. Once again Navajo mountain is visible, if just barely. This time it lies to the east.

From Bryce bands of color are seen in the sky to the east during the last minutes of daylight. They become lighter as they climb higher in to the twilight sky. These bands are the thin layers of the earth's atmosphere made visible, and are the last breath of daylight.

These are but a few of the locations that I love so much during this special time of day. Others happen without warning or expectation. All of them Twilight Journeys.

TWILIGHT JOURNEY is the latest free MP3 download available to memeber of my e-Mailing List. It features a Pat Haran E bass flute made of curly Port Orford Cedar with accents of Redwood and Padauk. Orignially recorded as an improvisation during my concert the Nixon Library in July of this year. Later in my studio I added textures, loops and piano to add to the mystery and emotion of the piece. To listen or download it follow the link below. Then sit back and let your mind and imagination drift.

In Harmony
-Scott August

Join Scott August's free e-Mailing List to listen to TWILIGHT JOURNEY

All © Cedar Mesa Music. All rights reserved.

Temple of the Sun: solo intro

Here is a video of the solo intro to Temple of the Sun from New Fire.
To Play, click on the play "button" on the lower left hand side of the image.
This was taken by my friend Keith Stanford last fall.

You can read more about this flute here.

Leave a comment here or email me at
blog@cedarmesa.com

Native American Flute Part 9: Keith Stanford

Last June I gave my first Native American flute class here in southern California. People came from all over the area but one person drove all the way from Tucson, Keith Stanford. At the time I thought this was a long way to come for a flute class but I'm glad he did. Why? Well, after the class ended and I was packing up I heard my friend, Barry, playing a flute behind me. I really thought the sound was unique. It was warm and mellow, yet strong and focused. As I turned around to check out the flute, Barry pointed to Keith who was standing next to him, and announced "Keith made this flute!". I knew immediately I wanted one of his flutes.

Like many good flute makers Keith Stanford does not make flutes full time, it is his hobby, so it took a couple months to get a flute from him. But he didn't just send me one flute, he sent me three and told me to pick the one I liked the best. They were all in F and all of them had that same sound I had heard back in June. One was made of Rosewood, one of Purpleheart, and one of African Padduk. After going back and forth over which one like liked the best, I finally made my pick, the Rosewood.

The flute

This flute is 23 1/2" long with a 1" bore. The body is made of Rosewood. Rosewood is a general term and refers to many richly colored woods, mostly brown. All rosewoods are strong, being a hard wood. The most widely know is Brazilian, or Rio rosewood, that was once highly sought after for acoustic guitar construction and fret boards.

The name rosewood comes from its strong, sweet, lingering scent. Because of this in the 1920's it became one of the ingredients for Channel No. 5. The use of Rosewood in fragrances, soaps, and guitars lead to overexploitation and the wood became endangered. It is now protected by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and is very carefully controlled and hard to obtain.

Other rosewoods used for musical instruments are Cocobolo, for Native American flutes, we've looked at one made by Yazzie flutes, and Honduras rosewood for Marimbas and xylophones.


The block is in the form of an abstract Javelina and is made of two woods, Walnut on top and Hickory on the bottom.

This flute has that wonderful sound that I first heard back at my flute class.
Listen to a sample of this flute.

EARTH & SKY


The tone of this flute is so nice I've started playing it during concerts for the song Earth & Sky, from my second CD Sacred Dreams. That version was recorded using a Woodsongs flute. In November of last year I gave a concert in Tucson, AZ and just for fun I decided to play flutes made only by Arizona makers: J.P. Gomez, Mike Gulino, Pat Haran, Richard Maynard, Keith Stanford, Ed Pendrys and others. I performed Earth & Sky on Keith's flute and the recording made of that performance came out well enough that I've posted it in both audio and video formats on cedarmesa.com. It's available to everyone on my E-mailing list. Joining the list is free and you can do it Here.

Keith's Native American flute making Manual
Although Keith doesn't make a lot of flutes as it's his hobby, he has written a book for those that do: the "Ki-e-ta Native American Style Flute Manual". This manual is very popular with beginning and more advanced flute makers. Keith is an engineer by profession and brings that detailed analyzes to his work. I have met people that use his manual who are very pleased with the results and speak very highly of it. I have also played some flutes made using the Ki-e-ta manual as a guide, and they all sounded very pleasing.


Keith says that "No prior Woodworking experience necessary and you don't need to have a lot of tools". He has also included over 40 pictures to make each step clear.

Keith lives in Tucson, and is a member of the Tucson flute circle.

To find out more information about Keith Stanford and other flute makers check out the Flute Makers page on my web site.

If you want to read more posts about other Native American flute makers visit my Blog index.

More information
For a more detail look at the construction of the Native American flute read the History and Construction article on www.cedarmesa.com.

Comments
Let me know if you enjoyed this post. Leave a comment below.

Do you have a flute by any of the Makers we have looked at so far? If so let me know what you think of it.
Scott August

Native American Flute Part 8: JP Gomez F#

Many of the best Native American flute makers I know live in Arizona. We've looked at flutes from two of these: Michael Gulino and Pat Haran. In this post we’re going to look a third, JP Gomez. I only recently got a few flutes by him, after I had finished New Fire, so I haven't released any recordings using his flutes, yet. However, once I got a few I've begun to play his flutes frequently during my live performances and have done some recording with them as well.

The F# flute
The flute I've choosen for this post is an F# made of walnut from his Concert flute series. It has very clean lines, but closer inspection reveals some wonderful little touches.


The flute made from walnut with a black walnut block, lace wood tips and maple bands. It is 25" long and has a 7/8" bore. This is a larger bore than most F# flutes, but I really like the clean sound that this produces. I can punch them with a hard attack and they almost never over-blow or squeak. Is this just a by-product of the larger bore? I'm not sure.

Details

JP pays close attention to detail in his craftmanship. One of the things that he has told me he really pays attention to is the matching of the two pieces of wood that make up his flutes. This is the seam where the top and bottom pieces are joined together. He wants it to be very hard to see on his instruments, as if it wasn't there. He also does some very beautiful inlay work on some of his flutes, which we will look at in a later post.

Mouthpiece and End cap

Another very nice touch on this flute can be found on the mouthpiece and end cap. These are both made from Lacewood, from Australia, which gets it's name from the lace like pattern, or rays, in the grain. This pattern is only visible when the wood is cut a certain way. JP has placed his mouthpiece and end cap so that the lace pattern faces the top of the flute. The side that the player and audience sees the most.


The mouthpiece is espcially nice as the rays in the grain seem to arc in layers as the wood tapers toward the end as can be seen in the photo above. A subtle touch, but one which I really enjoy.

The Sounds
This flute, has a lovely warm, woody classic Native American sound. There is a is a slightly hollow quality to it as well.
Listen to this flute

From the Player's POV
JP's flutes are very easy to play. Like all the flutes we've looked at so far, the finger holes are comfortably spaced and well laid out. The flute is very well tuned and does not require very much change in breath pressure when moving from low to high pitches.


With JP Gomez in Sedona, AZ.

JP lives in Sedona where he first heard the NAF. He has been making flutes for a long time and I'm sure we'll talk about him more in this blog. To find out more information about JP and other flute makers check out the Flute Makers page on my web site.

If you want to read more posts about other Native American flute makers visit my Blog index.

More information
For a more detail look at the construction of the Native American flute read the History and Construction article on www.cedarmesa.com.

Comments
Let me know if you enjoyed this post. Leave a comment below.
Do you have a flute by any of the Makers we looked at so far? Let me know what you think of it.
Scott August