<<<Echoes from the Mesa™>>> The latest news from Cedar Mesa Music and Scott August.
IN THIS
ISSUE The theme for the
four day conference was Inspired by Nature
and I was asked to do a short performance each day.
Each one inspired by one of the four elements of
our planet: Earth, Water, Fire and
Wind. For the song Wind I decided
to use a high pitched clay flute, bird whistles and
wind flutes made by local maker Nashtavewa or Nash,
a Zapotec native of Oaxaca. You can listen to
Wind or watch a video excerpt MORE FREE
DOWNLOADS DESERT
MOON CANYON
CLOUDS LOST
CANYON --------------------------------------------------------------------- To help those
that want to purchase one I've added a post to my
blog title How
to buy a Native American
flute.
This article covers Workmanship, Sound Quality,
Tuning, and Playing comfort. There is also a
section on how wood can affect the sound and how to
check the tuning of a flute even if you've never
played a flute before. There is also a
section on How
to look like a Pro when buying a Native American
flute
filled with power tips to help you feel confident
buying your first flute. You'll learn how to place
the block correctly, playing your first notes and
how to check the tuning on a flute your considering
buying The Native
American flute is a wonderful instrument to play.
Its relatively easy, you don't have to read music
and lends itself to improvisation or "playing from
the heart". If you've ever wanted to learn how to
play this is a great place to start. --------------------------------------------------------------------- I recently got a
very nice drone from Rich in the key of A. It has a
very nice mellow sound, especially for being a high
key, yet its tone is clear and song like too. Rich
uses lots of different woods and a high gloss
finish like Laughing Crow flutes. Querencia flutes
have a very pleasing tone and his woodwork is very
impressive. From Dave, who is
located on the other side of the country in
Florida, I got a PVC Hopi flute. This flute
is like the Hope flutes made by Michael Graham
Allen with a slightly different mouthpiece. This is
an end blown flute like the Anasazi flute use for
Yellow
Light of Dawn
and profiled in my blog.
Being PVC though, they are much more economical. If
you've ever thought about trying one of these end
blown flutes Dave's would be a very affordable
start. I got a new flute
from Pat Haran recently. An F# made
of
black Limba
with accents of Redwood Burl, Padauk and a little
Turquoise. A very nice flute with a wonderful
mellow sound. I also got a high F# from Michael
Guilino of Moonlight Creek flutes. It has a very
clear tone and is quite small. Michael makes a lot
of five hole flutes and for this one I don't think
I would have room to cover the missing hole,
the flute is so small. Michael also gifted me with
a Hawaiian Nose flute which I hope to do a posting
about soon. There are a lot
of great flute makers out there and I hope to get
to all of them. In the mean time you can visit them
online through the Native
American flute makers
page on
the Cedar Mesa Music website and read about some of
them on my Native
American flutes
blog. --------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have any
photos of me performing email them to me and I'll
post them on the Cedar Mesa Music web site.. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday, July
23 I'm still putting
together my 2006 schedule. Look for more
information in the months
ahead. --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
