Playing From The Heart
Learning to tap
into the music
that's within you.
PLAYING
FROM THE HEART One
of the beauties of the Native American flute is
that it is within reach of people who have no
musical background at all. The majority of Native
American flute players have no formal musical
training. I say formal because I believe
that most human beings innately have music inside
them. We respond to rhythms, melodies, and
harmonies from birth, or even while still in the
womb. It is all part of being human. Unfortunately
I meet many NAF players, or people that are
thinking about becoming one, that worry they
don’t have any musical training and therefore
they lack something when it comes to making music.
In my opinion, nothing could be further from the
truth. I say this as a person that has a life long
musical back ground, including a degree in
composition and a fifteen year career of writing
music for TV commercials and corporate films.
I’m not saying that musical training
doesn’t help, but a lack of it is no reason to
avoid playing the Native American flute. Music is a
basic expression of human emotional. If you are
drawn to music that desire for expression is
already stirring within you. Besides, there are
plenty of people with little or no musical musical
training that are world-famous musicians. Many
rock, blues and pop musicians have very little
musical training and yet we hum their tunes and buy
their recording all the time. They must have
something in their hearts... The
music is already inside you, you just need to get
it out. WHAT
IS PLAYING FROM THE HEART? This
may sound overwhelming to a beginner, but let's not
worry about anything other than solo NAF idioms.
These include moderate tempos, finger chirps,
trills and embellishments, serene melodies, a
smooth vibrato and a strong melodic movement toward
the low note of the flute. There are also some
traits you don't hear too much like blazing fast
riffs, chromatic melodies, and odd meters. I'm not
saying people never do these on the NAF, just not
very often so I wouldn't worry about these right
away, if ever. Knowing
what others are doing, and how the NAF is usually
played gives the player, especially a beginner, a
place to start. In other words, you've heard Native
American flute music that you like, so improvise in
that style. Let's look at some some thoughts about
"Playing from the Heart". THERE
ARE NO RULES For
example, if you wanted to, you could write a piece
that only plays the low note of your NAF over and
over again for 3:00 minutes and call it music. Is
it great or even good music? I know I’d be
bored by it, but someone else might not be. In
fact, I’ll bet you someone’s already
written a piece just like this, and if they
haven’t, well, I just did and now it’s my
piece. I call it “Low Note Ennui.” Guess
you’ll have to use the second hole for your
version. NO
RULES BUT... EVERYONE
HAS THEIR OWN PERSONAL STYLE HANDY
TIPS FOR "PLAYING FROM THE
HEART" #1.
Short Ideas are better for beginners #2
Simple Idea and Tunes #3.
Finger Patterns Another
advantage to this is that you can play your idea on
a flute in another key without any problems. The
consistency of fingering from flute to flute makes
this possible. Why not use it to your advantage?
Remember tip #1, simpler and shorter? Well, Simpler
finger patterns will be easier for beginners
remember too. #4.
Rhythm Let’s
look at the nursery rhyme, “Twinkle, twinkle,
little Star’ to see how one rhythmic idea ties
the a whole melody together. Sing the song and pay
close attention to the rhythm. Notice that the
rhythm of every line is the same as the
first line. True,
it’s not the most sophisticated rhythm
you’ll ever hear, but it’s catchy enough
for every child of western culture to learn.
The
same is true for lots of music. In many hymns, pop
songs, blues riffs, rock songs, big band melodies,
etc., the rhythm of the notes is frequently the
dominant part of the tune and which is catchy enogh
to help us remember it later. If you think about
it, most of the tunes that get stuck in your head
have a strong rhythmic drive to them, one that
repeats over and over. Listen for the rhythms you
play and repeat them as you build your ideas.
You’ll have the beginnings of a
song. #5
Listen for the notes in your head #6
Mistakes are your friends #6
Avoid wandering aimlessly Pretty
maddening. It makes sense that a beginner might do
this but doesn’t have to be this way. There
are some common ways of constructing a melody or
tune that are pretty easy and work well. Let's take
a quick look at some of these. (These aren't rules.
Remeber there are no rules.) #1 Melodies
are usually made up of smaller parts
called phrases or cells #2 Phrases
have some unifying features, usually a
rhythm and/or a grouping of notes (like
our nursery rhyme). #3 Try
to keep your phrases the same length. This
will help with pacing. Use the length of
your breath exhaling as a measurement if
you need to. #4 Think
in terms of fours . Melodies made up of
four phrases, or cells, are common in much
of popular music. Any division of two will
work (e.g. 2,4, 8, 16) but four is the
most common. #5 Repeating
notes and rhythms will tie your phrases
together, however... #6 ...Too
much repetition however is
boring. #7 Don't
rush from one phrase to the next. Take a
comfortable breath. #8 Ending
on the low note of the flute when you're
done with the last phrase of your melody
will accentuate that you're finishing it.
Think of it like a period at the end of a
sentence. (The ending phrase of a melody
is called a cadence we'll take a
closer look cadences later.) #9 Don't
over use the low note. A lot of beginners
end every phrase on the low not and it can
quickly get tedious. Try to save it for
when you really mean it. These
suggestions are just the beginning, but they are a
good place to start. I have tried to make each
point somewhat vague because there are no rules,
just some common practicies. We'll explore these
ideas in greater depth in future
articles GETTING
ZEN COMPOSING
FROM THE HEARTTM OTHER
POSTS IN THIS SERIES DO
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©
2006 Cedar Mesa Music. All rights
reserved.
Part 1
Playing
from the Heart is what the Native American flute
world calls improvisation. To improvise is to make
something up while performing. At it's most extreme
it means to play what ever pops into your head at
any given moment. Most of the time however, the
player is working within the idiom of one or more
styles of music, e.g. jazz, rock, blues, folk, even
classical. Music for Native American flute has it's
own idioms and it also draws frequently from folk,
blues, rock and some jazz as well.
The
first rule of “Playing from the Heart” is
there are no rules. None, nada, zero. If
you’re looking for the secret magic formula
for making great music then, please, when you find
it, let me know. Frankly, if there were rules that
would suck because then all music would sound
basically the same and we’d all be really
bored. There aren’t even rules about what
makes a piece of music great or just good. Most of
the time it just comes down to one's likes and
dislikes.
Just
because there aren’t any rules doesn’t
mean there aren’t common elements that you
hear in the music around you. There are things that
players, songwriters and composers do because
it’s part of our western musical culture and
people respond positively when they hear them.
Every style of music has their own traits and so
does music for Native American flute. There is a
basic sound and playing style that most NAF players
incorporate into their playing. They do this
because people like it. I've met very few musicians
who play a certain way because people don't
like what they play. Music is a two way street. The
player does something their audience enjoys and
they in turn are rewarded with positive feedback
for this. This causes more and more players to
adopt these techniques and pretty soon a style is
born.
Musical
styles, like fashion, change all the time.
That’s because someone tries something new,
people like it and are influenced by it. Everyone
from Joe/Josephine NAF player to the biggest rock
acts in the world are influenced by others. My
music is made up of many influences, including
music from all over the world, books, movies, art,
visits to the southwest, and my passion for music.
These influences are all then filtered through me
to become uniquely mine. So pay close attention to
the music you like. Try to figure out what it is
you like about it. Follow along and see how they do
it. Getting to know your influences will help you
make music that is uniquely "yours".
The
best way to get better at “Playing from the
Heart” is to just play. Play a lot. To get
started here are a few tips to help you find your
music.
One of the biggest complaints I hear from
people is that they play something they really
like, but can’t remember it later. This
happens to all of us so you’re not alone Like
anything you have to remember, the shorter it is,
the easier it is to remember it. Longer ideas are
just harder to recall. That’s one reason
nursery rhymes are short, repetitive and simple. It
makes them easier for kids to remember than, say a
Shakespeare Sonnet. It’s also a reason why you
sing pop tunes in the shower instead of the arias
from Pelleas et Melisande
It’s easier to go from simple to complex
than the other way. Try to start with a simple
idea, phrase or melody. You can always spice it up
with embellishments like trills, turns, and filler
notes later.
If you can’t write down, record or
remember the notes of a musical idea you can at
least memorize the finger movements of that idea.
Look for finger patterns and memorize those instead
of the notes. For example, say the first several
notes of your idea are just opening and closing the
bottom hole a few times. That’s a finger
pattern. Then you might play a descending scale
from hole #4 down to hole #1. That’s another
finger pattern. It’s much easier to remember
these finger patterns than trying to keep the notes
in your head.
Many times the rhythm of a musical idea is
catchier than the pitches. If you improvise a fun,
catchy rhythm work on exploiting that. For example
you might play a rhythm of four notes that goes:
long-short-short-long. That’s easy to
remember: long-short-short-long. You could play
this rhythm on many different pitches. In fact it
could be the driving element of a musical
idea.Twinkle,
Twinkle, little star,
How I wonder where you are,
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky Twinkle,
Twinkle, little star, How I wonder where you
are.
etc.
As you’re playing no doubt you’re
hearing the next few notes in your head. Practice
trying to find them on your NAF. The more you do
this the easier you’ll be able to find the
note. This won’t happen right away, but like
anything will come with time. Don't worry if you
don't always find the note you want. Why?
because...
I’ve discussed this with many other
artists that work in many different mediums and
everyone agrees that mistakes can be, or lead, to
wonderful discoveries. Like life, sometimes the
things you don’t plan turn out the best. I
can’t tell you how many times I’ve used a
“mistake” to enhance a song or become a
whole new idea. Keep your ears open for these
unintended gems. Let your mind follow them for a
while. True not all mistakes turn into good, usable
ideas, but you don’t have beat yourself up
because you played a note or a rhythm you
didn’t intend to either.
When I listen to beginning NAF players one of
the things that I notice is a tendency for their
ideas to wander aimlessly not unlike a sentence
that doesn’t have any punctuation and just
goes on and on with no periods or commas and
doesn’t seem to be making a point or going
anywhere and seems to be repeating the same words
just going on and on and we don’t know where
it’s headed or when it’s going to end
repeating the same words repeating the same words..
All
good music, whether for NAF or full orchestra, has
a sense of direction to it. How this is achieved
varies from piece to piece, but music being an art
that flows through time, inherently has movement to
it. A good goal while you’re playing from the
heart is to try to take your song somewhere, make
it move. Most everything we do has some movement to
it. Our hearts beat out a rhythmic pulse, our
breath moves in and out, we walk, run, we skip, hop
and jump (at least in our childlike states), we
dance...the list is endless. There is a wonderful
variety of movements in the human condition. Try to
incorporate some of that in your tunes.
We'll go into more detail about all this
in later articles including "Composing from the
Heart"TM my technique for teaching song
writting. Look for my next "Composing from the
Heart"TM workshop at the
Zion
Canyon Art and Flute
Festival
on October 13, 14, 15, 2006 in Springdale, UT, just
outside of Zion National Park.
How
to Buy a NAF, part
1
How
to Buy a NAF, part
2
How
to care for your
NAF
Playing
your first NAF
scale
Strengthening
your Fingers
Visit
the Cedar
Mesa Music Store.
You can also find a list of makers
who's flutes I play on my web site.
NAF
History and Construction
Distant
Spirits
Nominee: Native American Music Award 
Sacred
Dreams
Winner: Native American Music Award
New
Fire
Nominee: Native American Music Award, Nominee:
Indian Summer Music Award.
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