Judgmental Behavior and Playing the Native American Style Flute

I was listening to a flute CD that someone had sent me. It was an exuberant, openhearted expression of pure joy. To the discerning – might I say critical – mind it did not conform to the established standards of ‘good music’. But it’s limitations in that respect was more than compensated for by its enthusiasm. The Native American style flute is helping to liberate many of us from our habit of evaluating and criticizing everything. Especially as this behavior applies to self-criticism.

Why can’t we just relax and have fun? Why are we so hard on ourselves? The culture of correctness and perfection has taken the fun out of life. Playing the flute or expressing our selves in any way must be based on freedom from fear of criticism, especially self-criticism. Otherwise we’re perpetually caught in the spot light. Everyone is looking. And if we don’t do it right there will be a price to pay. That price is self-respect. Holding ourselves up to impossible standards or other people’s standards means that we are always setting ourselves up to fail. We live under a dark cloud of our own creation. Actually, we didn’t create it.

It started when we were children. Constant criticism of our performance. We were always doing it wrong. Who doesn’t? Life is a learning process in which we must have the freedom to make mistakes without fear of criticism. Nobody gets if right all the time – or even most of the time. Practice, practice, practice - until we end up hating what we are doing. We may become good at it but we’re not having fun anymore. So what’s the point?

In tune? We can become so devoted to being in tune we’re dead to joy. Making a fetish out of playing it right is like wanting the sun to shine the same way every day. ‘That’s the way it should shine’ say the purists. Not too bright. Not too dull. Just this way and this way only. What if I like it a little brighter? What if I don’t care? Who dares set the standards for what is the right amount of sunlight for a sunny day?

When we whole-heartedly grant others the right to do it any way they please or are capable of we can be released from our own self-criticism. Life is a Circle of such diversity that there is room for everyone. Let the breath of life go out through your flute into a receptive world. You can change your life and the world one song at a time.

Musical Orthodoxy

Musical Orthodoxy or How I Find Freedom Through the Native American Style Flute

There are certain recognizable musical forms. We may call them songs or numbers or tunes. They are often repeated note for note and recorded. They may be very entertaining. Or catchy. We would like to play like that. Be good. Be recognized and admired. Why can’t I play like Scott August, or Peter Phippen or one of the other recognizable players. Those guys and women are great. I don’t play like them because they are professional musicians. They are schooled and by natural gift endowed with the ability to craft a tune that attracts and holds your attention. Some have made it their life’s work.

That is not who I am. I will never – excepting Devine intervention – play like that. Good for me. Now, having given up on fame and public acclaim I can just let my music be me. It’s not easy because it takes some effort to let go. I consciously let go of the critical and apprehensive aspect of my ego self. But, once I do that I find that I can make no mistakes. If a note is perceived to be not right, then if I let the next and then the following note flow out the flute. Then the mistake disappears. The mistake has become incorporated into the flow of notes coming through the flute. The perception of mistake was part of the self-criticism program of the ego. Dad said I was a screw up and I had no choice but to believe him. But, Dad’s not here any more. Now I am that critical voice. Putting myself down. The flute is teaching me that there is another way. I can forgive myself in the present. I ignore that voice and go on playing as if I had never heard it. I am OK. I can do it right. Dad was wrong. I don’t have to listen to him any more.

I know a professional Jazz drummer. Jazz is about improvisation. He told me that guys in the group make mistakes all the time. Everyone just covers for them and the music goes on. No one criticizes or cares. It’s not that way – about judgment or failure.. The audience never knew it. The note or beat disappears in time. The music goes on.

So the music is mine and Gods to share. If someone else is listening they can’t tell that there was a wrong note. They don’t know that I cringed in fear inside. They aren’t aware that I had made a mistake and was called on it. They may or may not like what I am playing. They may call it just a bunch of notes. However, I hear the song. And so does God. We know that we are doing just fine. Thanks you very much.

I have never set out to learn how to play. I have never taken a lesson. I’m just gratefully messing around with this little piece of wood. It tells me that I’m doing fine. That’s all I want to hear.

A Flute Journey

I stand in a clearing. It’s just an opening in the woods with a little sun light penetrating to the forest floor. Down the path in the direction we call the Future lies a larger meadow, filled with light. From that meadow you can see the mountains in the distance. The sky is clear and the mountaintops are covered with snow. That clearing is my death. On a day not many days away I will enter that meadow. I will look around lovingly at the beauty of a world that I walked for too short a time. I will take a long look back down the path we call the Past. I will lovingly revisit the events of my life. Events that struck me with all the weight of a reality that now seem somehow just a dream. I will take my flute out of its bag and play my last tune. In that song will be all the joy and pain that I encountered on the path. Love and loss. What a wonderful journey. And, when the last note sounds and it’s echo has faded into silence. I will leave.

I remember picking up my first Native American style flute. It was a crooked piece of river cane lying on a blanket on the ground. Isn’t it wonderful how things are arranged so that we get every thing we need at the perfect time and place. It’s as if some divine intelligence were orchestrating each event. Is it not so?

The sounds that came out of that flute were weak and breathy but for me they were a wondrous discovery. Music was coming out of a hollow tube. Moving my fingers changed the sounds. A space of relaxation and discovery began to open up inside me. I had no goal in mind. I wasn’t intent on learning anything. I felt no need to do it the right way or be good at it. And, I didn’t care what others might think of these sounds. What a relief.

The flute has been my companion ever since. A friend whose gentle voice has soothing powers. The flute has been the catalyst for so many wonderful people coming into my life. It has become my profession and the source of my sustenance. It has taught many lessons and I’m sure has more yet to impart.

Thank you all for sharing this wonderful path with me.

Follow the Flute

The song is constantly changing. Never completely different but never entirely the same. The song constantly finds new ways to express itself. Discovering new pathways of sound through the confusion of life. Pathways that are clearer by far than anything I have ever known. I would not want it to be any other way. If the tone is sharp or flat relative to some artificial standard – what do I care. How boring to be trying to be always the same. Let freedom ring and come out of the Native American style flute and reach every crevice of conventionality. Playing the song because it’s there to be done. Not measuring or judging according to some external yardstick. Knowing that every note is enough in all places and at all times. My song unique. And your song as well. Gently blowing forth notes into the unknown. Not expecting to hear it again – perhaps ever. Letting life unfold and music go out into it. Becoming part of the grand symphony of the Universe unfolding and discovering itself. And always finding itself to be good, sufficient, whole and happy. The music is saying that in spite of every dark cloud and feeling of pain there is I – the music – I heal all discomfort.

I play for the desert birds as they wake in the morning. I hear their reply. They are the great, indefatigable singers. My song joins theirs. The song that has been playing as long as there has been air to carry the sound.

Sunday in the morning. Two days after dead of Winter full moon. The Sun circle has turned. The Earth is coming back again out of the darkness of the once was and into the light of a new year. Night is waneing and Day is waxing. May this year bring blessing to all the Brothers and Sisters. May it bring Peace on Earth and good will towards all men. May our enemies become our friends. And may light and healing flow out through our music to a waiting world.

Fear and Greed

What have we got to fear? With me it’s fear of loss. Loss of love. Loss of respect. Loss of security. I feel fear of failure. I don’t want to feel that others are judging or condemning me. This makes me afraid.

What have we got to be greedy about? I’m greedy/needy for recognition. Greedy for accomplishment or mastery of Life. I want to have it all and to keep it forever. Good luck.

The Native American style flute allows me to opportunity to confront my fear and greed. In order to learn and grow I must allow myself the right to make mistakes without labeling them as failures. To do this I must leave my fears behind. I accept that I am not going to be perfect all the time. This is OK. In fact only by giving myself the right to be imperfect can I continue to grow with my flute. My music is an exploration. Sometimes it leads to unexpected notes. Notice I did not say wrong notes. An unexpected note opens the space for a new improvisation to evolve. The improvisation finds a way to use the new note. The music improvises new ways to integrate the note into established patterns. This leads to new opportunities for expression. If we stay within the boundaries circumscribed by our fear of hitting a wrong/bad note nothing new happens. We are safe. But we are going in circles.

My greed wants me to be accomplished. I want to be confident that I have it wired. I don’t want to make mistakes. The mistakes that can lead to judgment or shame. Right! Try and make that one work. However, the music is a jealous lover. It will not allow of split attention. If my focus is on getting it right then I will not be surrendered to the music.

I know that the music coming through the flute can transport me to a place without fear and greed. The music is all that exists. Nothing else matters. My unique contribution to the universe is expressing itself in music. If no one hears – that’s OK. If the whole world hears – that’s OK too. What’s the difference? The flute has the answer.

Today we celebrate the birth of a man who sacrificed his life publicly so that the message ‘you are forgiven’ could get across. He told us that we can let go of our fear of failure. We can let go of our desire to be perfect. The Universe gives us the right to make mistakes. In fact it encourages us to do so.

Tuned In

What does ‘in tune’ mean? What is ‘being in tune’ any way and does it matter? Is your flute ‘in tune’? Is my flute ‘out of tune’? Am I out of tune? Are you out of tune? Are we ‘in tune’ with each other?

What happens if we are ‘out of tune’? Is that a bad thing? I’m getting confused – maybe I’m not in tune with what’s happening. Am I OK? Are you OK? Are our flutes OK? What will people think? Oh my God – I’m getting nervous about all this. Maybe something is wrong. I don’t want to be out of tune. Do you?

Now, relax and take a deep breath. We will try and sort out some of these questions. Then perhaps we will be in tune with tuning.

Music, like just about everything else in the modern world we live in has become standardized. If you want to be ‘in tune’ according to the latest (there have been many) standard then A is 440 Htz. This has not always been the standard. It is thought (though not proven) that Bach tuned to 415 Hz for A. Over the years there has been a steady creep upwards. This is because the higher frequency sounds ‘sweeter’ (what ever that means). I read somewhere – but don’t quote me – that what stopped the upward creep was opera singers. They rebelled because the high notes kept getting higher to the point that they were straining their voices to reach them.

So, by today’s standards if you want your flute to be in tune it should be calibrated to the big 440. Unless they have what is called perfect pitch most people can’t distinguish the difference between 440 Hz and 430Hz. Or 440 Hz and 450Hz. It sounds the same to them. Let’s draw a comparison with temperature. Can you distinguish between water that is 80F and water that is 82F? Or water that is 80F and 78F. Probably not. And if you could would that change anything.

There are flute players who carry around electronic tuners in their pockets. If a flute is not dead on at 440Hz they get all judgmental. They don’t even listen to the flute. Nor do they feel what is happening in themselves when they hear the sound. For them it’s all about what the electronic tuner says. I call these types tuning Nazis.

There is a myth out there that 432 Hz is the God ordained perfect pitch for A. Somehow 432Hz is thought to embody some cosmic harmonic or standard. This particular tuning is claimed to have profound effects on consciousness and on the cellular level of our bodies. But I have found no empirical evidence to support this claim. Lack of empirical evidence does not mean that this slightly lower tuning doesn’t have a different effect. I must confess that I prefer a flute that is tuned to about 432. This means that the flute is a little flat by contemporary standards. But I am going by the way I feel about it. Not by some standard of what is right or wrong. I’m not claiming it’s a magic number or sound. Or has healing properties.

So what does all this have to do with you and your flute?

For me the whole purpose of playing the Native American style flute is to relax and have fun. Playing my flute can help me get into a space where I am enjoying myself. Honestly, the last thing I am thinking about is whether or not my flute is in tune. I played my first simple river cane flute for a year and had a great time. Of course that little flute was way out of tune. I didn’t know it. Nobody complained. And, being “out of tune’ didn’t affect my enjoyment one bit. When I upgraded to another flute it was not to be ‘in tune’ but to get a clearer, sweet sound and more volume.

Relax, get in tune with your self and the world around you. Play. Is your flute out of tune? Does it really matter? Enjoy!

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.