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Native American Flute - Magical Beautiful Music
Native American with courting flute ~
The flute opens the heart and calls to the spirit ~
The Native American flute is unsurpassed in conveying love with magical, beautiful music. It opens the heart and calls to the spirit of an intended love as it touches the spirit of the one playing the flute.
The Native style flute has a history of over twenty five hundred years. The Seneca call it "Ya-oh-da-was-ta". Not only was it played for speaking of love but also for some celebrations and even today for ceremonies and weddings. The Native American flute is considered a sacred instrument from Creator. Often it is played in the early morning to welcome the new day or played just because it is so peaceful and spiritual and soothes the soul. To listen to this music is to travel to another place, another time, where there is only peace and serenity. The music is hauntingly beautiful.
There is nothing quite as loving and peaceful as the sound of the notes from a Native American flute drifting through the cool evening air to rest in the heart of a lover. So many years ago, the young Woodland Indian men made their own flutes and called to the young woman they loved with music from their hearts. The sound of the love notes gently flowing through the woodlands, from the flute of the young man courting his beloved, was magical and endearing. The love song fell on the right ear, for the young girl knew which music was hers and recognized the notes of her own young man, for it was his inner song. The music was formed in his heart and the flute sent it out to his beloved. It was a spiritual ritual of love, honor and dedication.
Native American flutes ~
Love Notes ~
The flute is an instrument of love and from it come the love notes that are born in the heart.
The Dakota have a beautiful story of a young man who was brave in battles and hunting the buffalo, but very shy about speaking what was in his heart. He could not find the way to tell the young girl he wanted to marry how he felt. In a dream, while sleeping by a stream in the woods, he was told by the Elk Men about a flute that all the animals helped to make, how woodpecker made holes in it with his beak and that all the voices of the birds and animals were in it. He was told that the flute would speak the words of love that his voice could not.
When he awoke, the spiritual flute was lying on a bed of sage near the spring. When he returned to the hill above his camp he played the flute and the music spoke to the girl he loved. She knew that the music expressed the words he could not say, and it went straight to her heart -- "I love you," is what she heard.
Another story, probably from Woodland tribes, is that Woodpecker made many holes in hollow branches of trees as he searched for insects. When the wind blew, it whistled through the branches along the holes. Anyone near to the tree would hear the music of Woodpecker.
History of the Native American Flute ~
Flute playing has made a remarkable and longed for comeback after being almost lost to time in the early days of strict and unfair reservation rules and laws. The very things that make Native American people unique and admired for today, like their music, was seen as too "Indian" in the early days of government trying to "civilize" American Indians.
It is believed by some that the Native American flute was first made by the Anasazi, The Ancient Ones.
Regardless of it's origins, it truly is the one musical instrument that belongs to the indigenous people of North America. No one is positively sure about the Anasazi creating the first flutes, but it is wonderful to believe that the sound of this spiritually inspired instrument of love would have drifted through the pueblos of such an ancient and honored people and their culture.
Anasazi Cliff Dwellings - Mesa Verde National Park
Kokopelli and the time of rebirth
Kokopelli, the mysterious flute player, embodies the spirit of music. His return in the spring is the time of rebirth. His origins seem to come from the ancient Anasazi culture -- yet no one really knows where his home was. Tribes of the American Southwest have known and revered Kokopelli for over 3,000 years.
Every year, towards the end of winter, people of villages all over the southwest would anxiously await the arrival of Kokopelli, for he was the symbol of fertility and brought assurance of well-being for crops and hunting, for restoring and replenishing, and for chasing away winter by playing his flute, so spring could once again warm Mother Earth. When the sound of a flute could be heard from a distance, the people rejoiced and made preparations to welcome their beloved Kokopelli. The singing and dancing would begin, for this was the time of rebirth.
The Hopi, who still live in the Four Corners area, are closely connected to the Ancient Ones and still today revere Kokopelli as a fertility god, sacred figure, healer, and giver of abundance. Throughout the Southwest, Kokopelli can be seen in rock art and petroglyphs. His hunch-backed figure, feathered head and shown as dancing and playing the flute, is unmistakable.
Kokopelli, fertility deity, the humpbacked flute player ~
Today's flute makers and musicians ~
We are fortunate indeed to be able to have the opportunity to enjoy some of the most spiritual music in the world with the great talents of today's flute makers and musicians.
Waking Spirit Flutes with Vance Pennington is a site that is a wonderful experience to visit. Vance makes beautiful Native style flutes and offers tutorials. His galleries show the different types of flutes and a little history on how the gift of flute making was bestowed upon him by Creator. There are many flute makers today who make astonishingly beautiful wooden flutes, some customized with totems of your choice. No two flutes are alike for each has it's own song to sing that comes from the heart of the one who plays it.
If you are wondering what gift to give to your beloved for any time of the year, try giving him or her the romantic and beautiful music of the Indian Love Flute. Both of you will truly enjoy it. Learning to play the Native American flute yourself will add even more to the romantic gift by giving your loved one a song from your heart.
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Relax and enjoy ~
Waking Spirit Flutes - Vance Pennington
- Native style Flute Endorsements
Native Flute Endorsements - read what some of the professional Native Flute players say about Vance Pennington - Waking Spirit Native American style Flutes
Creation of Native American style flutes
- Spirit Ended Flute Gallery
Spirit Ended Native American style Flutes hand-crafted by Master Flute maker Vance Pennington, creating unique quality, professionally tuned flutes that are crafted for extraordinary sound & playability.
Note from author ~
I have a friend who played beautiful music from her Native American flute. She played a lovely song for us at our Mother's memorial service, which was very heart warming. She said it was a song to help Mother on her spiritual journey. When I tried to to tell her later how lovely the song was and what it meant to me, I could barely speak. She patiently waited, with understanding and compassion. All I could manage to say was, "Will you teach me to play?" She said she would - that the music comes from the soul, but she would teach me how to use the flute to bring out its own spirit sound. I lost touch with her after the memorial, but I still have her song and her teaching in my heart.
Another friend, about a year after the memorial, let me borrow an old Native American flute of hers. When I first tried to play it, a very spiritual song came out. My friend said she wished she had recorded it, but was so astonished that she did not want to disrupt the mood. "Everyone has a spiritual song within them, " she said, "the flute hears it and brings it out." I still do not have my own flute, and will be getting one before long.
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Blessings and may you always walk in peace and harmony., softly upon Mother Earth.
Phyllis Doyle Burns - Lantern Carrier, Spiritual Mentor
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© 2012 Phyllis Doyle Burns