Something’s Happening Here

We know that something new is happening. Many people are being called from within to explore new ideas and behaviors. For one thing, music is coming into our lives in new ways. Drum circles and flute circles are forming everywhere. We are making our own music instead of just listening to the music of others. We are getting together with others to make music and exchange ideas.

We know that it is not about what is good for big business and big money. We are not consumers – we are people. People with ideas, feelings, needs and desires. It does not matter what name we use - Yahweh, Lord, Allah, Krishna. We are being called from within. It is a call to find a new relationship with our Mother Earth and with each other. A relationship of respect, appreciation, understanding and love.

Music is the universal language. It speaks to all hearts without the need for words. When we are making music we are communicating in a universal language. A good deal of that communication appears to be with our selves. As we play, as we listen to the tunes that come through us, we become aware that something more than our individual existence is being expressed.

Music is a gift that is given to us to use and enjoy. Remember who the giver is? The music that a person can express through a Native American style flute has a relaxing and centering quality. The flute is a tool. It is a tool that we can use to exorcise old fears and anxieties. Let go and let the flute teach you. As we heal ourselves we are changing the world. The healing opens a space for new ideas and behaviors to enter into reality.

We are sensitive, empathetic beings who want only what is best for ourselves and for others. Get a hold of a drum, rattle or Native American style flute and start playing. When the time is right you will find others to play with. The music that we are making is bringing the world closer together. Imagine.

Playing With the Native American Style Flute

We have learned how to work hard, practice and get it right. But, this is not what the Native American style flute is about. With the flute we can learn how to play again.

We have become so focused and goal oriented that it is difficult for most of us to just relax, let go and have some fun. With the Native American style flute you can change some of those constricting patterns. Just pick up your flute and start fooling around. Remember, the flute will teach you. You can’t fail or make mistakes – let go of that emotional attitude. If you will allow yourself the space to relax, explore and just have fun you will develop a relationship with the Native American style flute that will be different than anything else you have experience in your adult, goal oriented life.

It’s good therapy to have something that you don’t have to work at. Can you remember your very early years when you were learning to ride your bike? You didn’t need to be going some place you were some place – on a bike, learning new muscle memory, checking it out. That’s how playing the flute can be. It’s fun just like learning to ride a bike was fun.

Playing The Native American style flute in the pentatonic scale is not an intellectual experience. It is an intuitive experience. Just like learning to ride a bike is not an intellectual experience. You don’t think about how to ride a bike – you just get on and start doing it. Of course, you’re not proficient at first. But, as you continue riding it gets easier and easier. Pretty soon you’re not even thinking about it any more – you’re just flowing along, balanced and free. It’s the same with the flute. Give yourself a little time and without any special effort you start to hear music coming out of your flute.

Once we could ride with confidence we were always trying new things. Perhaps we weren’t even consciously aware of it. We were just enjoying ourselves exploring the experience of bike riding – taking a sharper turn, making a quick stop. We did it just because it was fun. You will find yourself doing the same thing with your flute. First, you go over the basics until you know them by heart. Then, when you are bored with that you will start to explore new notes, new speeds, longer jumps from one note to another. You want to do this just like you wanted to increase you proficiency with riding – because it’s there, because you love it.

The music carries you forward deeper into itself. What’s happening here? More and more people are picking up the Native American style flute and finding something that had long been forgotten. Discovering a part of themselves that was dormant – waiting to be awakened. A flower opening in the morning sun.

Let the Flute Teach You

Let The Flute Teach You

You are one with all that is.
The Universe is an expression of order and purpose.
All of its parts desire to be in Harmony with each other.
This feeling of Universal Harmony is called Love.
Music is part of the fabric of Creation.
The physical dimension of our Universe is made up of vibrating energetic particles.
We ourselves are vibrating energetic beings.
The vibrating waves of sound that we call Music have a cleansing and healing quality.
Music can have a calming and centering quality that facilitates the process of personal self-realization.
The highest form of self-realization is to be a co creative extension of that power we call God.
Music is Love expressed as sound.
Music is a gossamer web of sound vibration expressing order, creativity and uniqueness.
As you express the music from within you discover its value as a means of communication.
You will also discover that the music does not belong to you.
Music is Universal.
It is of all peoples, in all places, at all times.
Music emerges from a dimension of the Cosmos that is beyond time and space.
You are an instrument that is being played upon.
You are being used to bring into existence the sounds of Love.
If you are feeling the call to make music
Follow your spirit without hesitation.
The music that comes through your flute will help bring Peace and Harmony to you and those around you.
As you play you will be expanding your consciousness and contributing in an active way to the creation of Heaven on Earth.
It’s easy.
Thousands of people like you are playing.
With your flute you will embark on a new and enriching journey.
Begin to play a Native American style flute and express the sounds of your soul.

Craftsmanship or Good Enough is Not

Craftsmanship or Good Enough Is Not

There is a certain presence that has its place in a corner of my mind just behind my eyes. I call it a presence because it has a life of its own. This is my quality control inspector. The inspector has a mind/soul independent of me. I can, as I often do, be looking at a flute in progress. The flute has just completed a particular operation and is being held in front of my eyes. It looks good. But, from a certain angle there is something not quite right. Not there. It is good enough. However, the quality inspector says go back and make another minor adjustment. Good enough is not.

It’s not about making a perfect flute. The perfection I’m after is to be sought in the act of creating not the object being created.

Have I reached my ideal of what it means to be a craftsman? No. Am I striving for it? Yes. I will know I am there when the quality inspector not longer needs to be present. There is an aspect of my approach to my craft that is too goal oriented. I want to get things done, to see results, to finish product. Let’s face it - to make money. After all “time is money” is it not? In the midst of that ‘time is money’ space there is a discernable urge to let the ‘good enough’ be. Put that flute down and go on to the next flute. Oh, thank you God for the inspector. Or is God in the inspector? Saying - wait a minute, let’s look at that flute again. Let’s look at you again. I know when I feel that message that I have strayed away from the center. I am not a Craftsman I am a flute maker.

I consider it a great Grace to hear and be given the strength to act on that admonition. Having acknowledged the message, how can I not make the necessary shift in consciousness? I reorient the center of what I am and what I am doing. This shift is not about making better flutes – although better flutes will result. It’s about being a better me. Being a Craftsman and not a flute maker.

When I embody Craftsmanship the inspector is no longer needed. He is no longer present. In fact he not longer exists. The shift from goal orientation to a process orientation is complete and self-fulfilling. Being there in the work. Where every movement is part of a dance and the dance is the dance of Life. Colors and dimensions deepen and richen. Not making money to support a life. Centered in the middle of Life. Knowing with certitude that this is all that is necessary. Letting Life take care of providing the money.

Craftsmanship, Tools, Time and the Native American Flute

I have devoted myself to perfecting the craft of making a Native American Style flute. This is not a goal that I set out for myself with conscious awareness. It took place spontaneously. As often happens in life working with the flutes has provided me the opportunity to discover different aspects of my self.

My father was a craftsman of the old school German tradition. He acquired his craftsmanship mentality from his father and from his early training a cabinetmaker. I must confess that I did not inherit his tradition of craftsmanship willingly. My apprenticeship started at an early age. This apprenticeship consisted of standing by my fathers’ bench as he worked on whatever project inspired him at the moment. I would much rather have been outside playing with my friends.

When my father wanted a tool he would ask me to hand it to him. If he needed a third or fourth hand mine was available to him. I cursed the idle time in which I would stand at the ready for his next command. My heart was filled with anger as I dreamed of the ball game that was going on in my absence. But in spite of these negative emotions and without my being aware of it I was absorbing a tradition of Craftsmanship.

In that space at his bench my father loved what he was doing. It was not his job. It was his passion. He was absorbed in the process of creation. In spite of his austere, distant and silent demeanor part of this passion must have been passed unconsciously to me. He worked silently not talking about what he was doing. His lessons were not communicated verbally. There were few explanations. What was communicated was an attitude of concentrated effort and respect for the tools that enabled you to do your project.

My fathers tools were hung on a board above his bench. Each tool had its image painted on the board and a shelf or hooks that held the tool. A tool was taken from its place when it was needed. Its painted image remained on the board as a reminder. This was its home to which it would be returned when its job was completed. I realize now that these tools had a certain extra ordinary presence. I was not allowed to use these tools. God himself would have been in peril if one of those tools were to be missing from its place.

I grew up in an era when money was real. A new tool was a precious acquisition to be chosen with care. I can remember the Christmas when my father got his first electric drill. How pleased he was with that Black and Decker metal-bodied 3/8ths inch hand held drill. You would have thought it was made of gold. The drills electrical cord was kept coiled and tied with a string when not in use. The chuck key was taped carefully to the cord so it would be handy when needed. A place was made for it and its outline was painted on the board. Of course, I was not allowed to use it. To this day I choose each of my tools with care. I will agonize over tool catalogues, read reviews and seek advice before committing to an acquisition that will be with me for a lifetime.

He died at the age of forty-three. I was sixteen years old. I still have a few of his tools. They have been with me now for fifty years. I have little need for them in my work. They are reminders of a technology that was made obsolete many years ago by the advent of power tools. A hand drill, a brace and bits, various handsaws, a couple of hammers, some hand planes. They rest in drawers and on shelves in my shop. If I had the space I would display them like the antiques they are. Once in a while I’ll take them out, clean them and wipe on a fresh protective coat of oil.

There is a respectful satisfaction that goes with picking up a well maintained tool from its appointed place. Each tool has its history. How it was developed. Where it was made. When it was acquired. The objects it has contributed to making. Some tools are irreplaceable. Old and good companies go out of business for one reason or another. The tools they made were beyond compare and perhaps never to be equaled again. I watch a treasured chisel shorten with each sharpening. The cutting edge grows closer to the temper line on the steel. Will it last my lifetime? I am growing closer to the end of my craftsman’s life also.

For more information about John Stillwell and his Ancient Territories Native American style flutes visit http://atflutes.com/

Craftsmanship

For me, Craftsmanship involves the constant seeking after perfection. Craftsmanship flows from a personal dedication to finding the best in myself. After I have centered myself then I expand that space to encompass the shop and the flute in my hands. Acts of craftsmanship flow from this place of inner calm and concentration. Then, the work of my hands is in tune with the Greater Good.

When a craftsman is dedicated to making musical instruments his ear is his muse. For the instrument maker there is an ideal sound calling from just over the horizon. It calls from a place just beyond the best flute I have ever made. Striving for this ideal makes me focus on even the most minute detail that may have an effect on the sound. I feel I have an obligation to bring that Spirit to every flute I make. Because the flute player deserves no less. A flute made in this way is a success even if the sound of different flutes varies in tone. Because, even though I may prefer one flute over another different people react differently. Thus, every flute finds the right player. An instrument made in this way can bring Spirit into the life of the flautist.

There are individuals who learn how to do a trick - make something - that's cool. But, they are not necessarily craftsmen. Because, their flutes are not the creation of a craftsmans hands. Their flutes may actually sound pretty good. But, when you touch it, when you look at it, when you play it something is missing. You have the work of an engineer in your hands. Engineering/manufacturing (even when well done) and craftsmanship are not the same thing.

In my view a craftsman has a right to use any tool that is available to him. Our tools are a gift of hundreds sometimes thousands of years of experimentation by generations of craftsmen. In our own time electrical tools have made many procedures easier and consistantly accurate. From the first cast iron planer to the Dewalt that I have is a matter of sixty years. Countless improvments have forged a tool that allows me to thickness plane a piece of wood to a degree of perfection not possible with hand tools. It is my personal view that to not use this technology to produce the best possible instrument would a dereliction.

There are craftsmen who make flutes using the old tools - spokeshaves, wood gouges, files. These hand tools require a very unique mental and physical space to work in. A space where every second and every movement of the hand is an art form. That type of craftsmanship is certainly to be respected.

The Acacia Tree

The bees are buzzing in an acacia tree. The acacia, which is also called cat's claw, wait-a-minute, tear blanket. It is one of the least endearing plants in the desert. It's hook shaped spines will rip a scratch down your leg just like a cats claw. But, the acacia has one of the sweetist smelling of blossoms. It's fragrance drifts on the Desert air. And, The acacia waits until the other plants have finished blooming. Then it comes to life and releases its come-hither purfume. By acting in this way it has the bees all to itself. Spring has passed. Now, only one fragrance drifts on the breeze of early Summer. It has no competition. Calling in all the honey bees. The acacia doesn't compete with the other sexy flowers. It has learned that solitude is the best. Separating yourself from the herd. Not vieing for attention. Instead, finding a space that's uniquely your own. It takes much time and experimentation. Thousands and thousands of years of patient experimentation. To slowly, cautiously, intelligently, devinely allow Time to be the teacher. Infinite patience. The acacia waits even after it's branches are warmed by the radiant rays of Spring. It waits while the other plants awaken from Winters sleep and come to life. The acacia waits. A Desert plant - a conservative plant. But, not now. Now, it is giving out everything it can afford. Calling the bees from far and wide and pollinating itself. It is preparing to drop seeds - thousands of seeds. Out of those thousands perhaps one seed will germinate in a place where it can take deep root and thrive.

Ahh, the bees, the busy little bees. They were up before dawn. Waiting for this wise Desert plant to begin to call. They were up before the Sun had broken the horizon. Standing at the entrance to their hive. Waiting for the fragrant summons. In another hour the feast will be over. The breakfast complete. The Acacia pollinated. Even now, the Acacia is beginning the process of transforming those two different germ cells from two different plants. One from itself and one from a donor carried by a bee. Now, it is combining the accumulated wisdom of millions and millions of years. It will pass on into the world a replica of itself - improved. Another genetic experiment launched.

And, they say this world is all a shadow. This marvelous shadow certainly looks real to me. Yet, I know that it is enough to see only the shadow. I must live in awareness of the form behind the shadow. The Devine form that is casting the shadow. The shadow that I see as this material reality.

Are we ready? Are we ever completely ready? It appears not. Like the Acacia we take what we experience of from the environment around us. Then we start sorting out and recombine our experiences, trying to make something better, fuller, more loving, more inclusive, more respectful, more conscious. An improved way of being in the world. Something in tune with Universal Intelligence. We have the power to be able to read from deeper within. We can see what is ideal form, ideal behavior and ideal feeling. Then we turn this understanding into something higher still through the power of Love.