GREENPORT LIBRARY NATIVE AMERICAN FLUTE WORKSHOP

Above, you can see one of the first and most important stages in the workshop: CHOOSING. The different pieces of bamboo are laid out with different colors, sizes and textures. 

CONCENTRATION, FOCUS, and ATTENTION to DETAIL are some skills that are developed during this workshop when participants decorate their flutes.  Steady hands press beads into beeswax following a traditional method used by the Huichol Nation of Mexico.
Theres a point where the piece of bamboo can make a flute sound - once that happens the kids inevitably play, testing that one note to see how far they can go, and what they can do with their First Nations flute, even before it has finger holes.
One of my favorite parts of the workshop is the individual recording sessions. After I measure where to put the 6 holes in the flute according to each participant's hands, the flutes are ready to produce melodies. Everybody's hands are different, so the scales of the flutes are all different too.
I record a short song playing each person's flute. After playing the song I tell the person about their flute, what the strengths and weaknesses are and I give some pointers on how to develop a melody with that particular scale.
I make the sound of the recording "wet" with a good deal of reverb and echo - If you close your eyes when you hear the sound of the flute through the headphones, you can imagine we're in a cave, or an auditorium, or medieval cathedral...
I make a CD with the songs recorded for everyone in the workshop. The Greenport Library made copies of the CD for each of the participants.

Click: Greenport Library Native American Flute Workshop, for more pictures.