It has Arrived! My first Native American Flute!

It has arrived!!!

It’s October 2011 and now I am a proud owner of a Native American Flute and its in my hands. What on earth am I doing?  I don’t know how to play this instrument! Can I do this? Now what? I know nothing, only that I love the sound!  HAHAH!

Okay! Let me see, I  hold the flute like this.  I place my fingers like this…Hummm!  My fingers are not liking this and not feeling so comfortable! But I will keep them there!  They need to stay there! Now, put the mouth piece next to my lower lip and blow air into the flute.  Here we go! Hummm!  This is not sounding so great!  Why, when Joe plays his flute, it sounds so beautiful and easy. Okay! It’s from the heart! Let me try this again! My fingers here, the mouth piece here. Lets try again and again and again and…  Now its sounding even worst!  Oh Great!  Now as I am playing, Joey (pet bird) starts to scream! Even he’s not feeling it. HAHAH!  Okay! Lets go! Again! Feel free! Relax!   I don’t think its suppose to sound this way! This is not right….

It’s time to contact Joe, my flute friend and mentor!.  I emailed him and he explained that the flute will collect moisture and will make the flute sound funny. He explained what to do.  So I let the flute dry a bit before playing it again! After a while I realized why a Native American Flute performer, bring tons of flutes with them, because one is lucky if you get 15 minutes out of one flute…due to the moisture. Hummm! Now I get it. Oh! But I only have one!

Saturday came around and I attended the FREEDRUM drum circle.  Now while Dave, the facilitator was making the announcements, he also mentioned SPIRITDRUM, which meets every third Thursday of the month.  It is a more quieter circle.  It’s geared to relax the mind and be creative with softer tones. Since he was aware that I had purchased a flute, he shared with everyone that I will be bringing my flute!

What? Huh? Did he just say flute? I did a double take toward him and said “Oh! Oh! Yeah! of course! I will BRING my flute”  Then I started to laugh as normal.  Then started to think, no pressure now, its only been two days since I purchased my flute. This was like being pushed down the stairs and saying “Good Luck! Safe landing! Adios!  See ya!” 🙂

Throughout the next couple of weeks, I continued playing my flute every morning and evening.  I position my fingers and mouth piece and still was getting those strange sounds but I continued no matter what.  I would remember these words “Play from the heart”.  “Let the heart flow!”.  “Don’t think!”  “Just play!”  I started to listen to other music, like piano soloist and accompanied them.  So I can feel, where I belong with the flute.  That helped quite a bit because I was not thinking, I flowed into the song.  That was when my heart started to feel different.  Like a  disappearance of one self and becoming one with the flute. This is the most unbelievable feeling, one actually feel invisible. I love this feeling!

SPIRITDRUM came around and “Yes!” I brought my flute with me.  This was it!  I will just leap myself off the cliff with faith and hope someone will catch me at the landing.  Did I feel sure of what I was doing? No! Was I a bit nervous of any strange sounds coming out? Yes! Did I know when to come in while everyone was playing? No!  But here I am with flute in hand.  Everyone started to play their soft sounding instruments and drums of choice and creating a beautiful rhythmic tones and harmony.  As I was feeling the music and feeling every pulse, I picked up my flute and out came a soft sound then a strange one, which I wanted to die but kept on playing.  When one plays an instrument with others, you have no ideal what direction it will take, but I kept on.  Kind of winging it as the rhythmic sound moved along.  After the gathering, I was so relieved.  I did it. However it came out, however the sound, I did it.  From this day on there was no stopping!

My first flute, will always be special.  Because of this, I wanted to give it a name that represent me, my journey, my life.  Three years ago I had purchase a little figurine from the “Willow Tree” collection.  The one that represented me 100%  is called  “Freespirit”, “Dancing through life with laugher”.  I treasure this little piece because its my essence. It’s who I am.   So I decided to name this flute “FreeSpirit”.

This flute is an instrument, but not just an instrument that I play, it also teaches me.  When I play, I become one with the flute.  It is a healing instrument, which I will explain at my next blog.  Playing from the heart, not knowing where it will take me.  When I play my FreeSpirit flute, it spreads its wings and flies, soars through the sky like an eagle.  (To be continued…)

~~Did I get pushed off the cliff? Was there pressure to speed the learning? To move forward? I would answer with “Yes” but it was up to me.  I did bring my flute, I did play, however and whatever the sound would be.  I am very grateful that Dave pushed me forward and because of his support and confidence, it helped me move and leap forward. Also the support of all my friends.  They were the ones listening as I played, they are the ones playing other instruments and mending into one solid rhythm and harmony.  There are no words to explain my gratitude.

I love where I am at now.  I am still learning.  It has only been four months and so far I have three Native American Flutes.  For me, this is like a miracle and many individuals have become part of this miracle which I will always cherish and treasure.  And my first flute, “FreeSpirit” has taught me to play from the heart, feel from the heart, connect with element of the wood, voice my song, voice my feelings.  I believe this is a gift from my creator as I follow my heart and dreams…

We see with our eyes. We know with our hearts. Outside…Inside. ~~Cantus Fraggle