Ancient Period

We may never really know when and where the flute tradition first began in North America. Whatever its origin, the native flute became an important part of the musical heritage of North America. Most of the ancient predecessors of the native flute were elaborate derivatives of the whistle. Usually lumped together with the simple whistles, perhaps a separate category should be created and called something like "whistle flutes." This would include the multiple holed "whistles" made of bone and stone found in a variety of ancient sites throughout the country. Another ancient flute-like instrument was the Hopewellian panpipes, made of varying lengths of bone pipes sheathed in a copper band. The Hopewell culture also had single bone whistles, some with multiple holes. One made of a human bone seems to have been used in a fertility ritual. As we trace the origin of the most common Native American flute, that being the two-chambered duct flute, we encounter mystery. We know for certain that a flute tradition did exist, but when it began is unknown. Both tribal oral legends and the chronicles of travellers and explorers make mention of the existence of flutes. The legends are explored elsewhere in this program, so we'll look at the chronicles. A native flute is first mentioned as far back as the 1500s in the chronicles of explorers who rampaged through both the Southeast and Southwest. They unfortunately do not describe the flutes -- what they were made of, what they looked like or how they sounded. A native flute is again mentioned in the writings of numerous individuals travelling during the 1700s, primarily in the Eastern part of the country. Although many describe them as being make of cane or reed, they again do not describe what they looked like or how they sounded. However, we do have a few examples from this period and all are single chamber designs. It must be recognized that both the legends and the chronicles are discussing the native flute as it existed in the historic period, which began in the early 1400s. We can surmise from the early descendents of the previous cultures that flutes existed in ancient times, but since no ancient North American culture established a written form of their language, we must turn to artifacts to establish existence and dates. The difficulty in the eastern part of the country is that no organic objects have been found in their natural state. According to Dr. Vernon James Knight, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Alabama and Curator of Southeastern Archaeology at the Jones Archaeological Museum, especially in the southeast, no flute artifacts have been found at any of the known sites from this period. He suspects that these flutes were made from perishable materials and did not survive. In the southwest, with its drier climate, organic artifacts of many types have been found, including native flutes. In 1931, archeologist Earl H. Morris led an expedition to the Prayer Rock district of northeastern Arizona. Accounts of Morris's expedition identify the area as Atahonez Canyon. The valley is on the Navajo Indian reservation in Arizona. Morris's team excavated 15 caves. The largest cave contains 16 dwellings and was later named Broken Flute Cave. His team unearthed thousands of artifacts. Among them were four wooden flutes that have been dated between AD 620 and 670. In one dwelling, two almost completely intact flutes were discovered. The broken pieces of two other flutes were recovered from another dwelling. All four flutes are constructed of Box Elder and had six holes. According to Clint Goss, who personally examined these flutes, the playing style is similar in principle to the Japanese Shakuhachi. "The mouth hole is largely covered by the lips (maybe 70%) and the player blows across the portion of the rim of the mouth hole that has not been covered by the lips." This indicates a design different from what we now know as the contemporary native flute. We simply cannot find the origin of the contemporary native flute design in ancient times.

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Historic Period

It appears that the predecessor of the Plains flute was a flute found in the Southwest, specifically among the Tohono O'odham (formerly the Papago) and Yuman peoples that made of a common reed (Phragmites australis). It was constructed by hollowing all but one of the nodes. Holes were bored on either side of the remaining node and a channel carved between the two holes. In addition, there were usually three finger holes. A player would use a finger as block to cover the channel and direct air from the wind chamber to the sound chamber. The other hand then covered the the sound holes. From existing examples, we find that the native flute we refer to as the "Plains" flute emerged no earlier than the 1820s. Dr. Richard Payne believed the historic Plains flute originated with the Northern Utes and its knowledge travelled south to the Taos community, which further dispersed it to the other Southwestern tribes. It next travelled to the Plains tribes of Oklahoma, spreading then to other Plains and finally to other northern and eastern tribes. A number of attributes characterize the historic Plains flute. It has the channel or flue between the air and tone chambers cut directly into the flute body or placed in a spacer, commonly called a nest, that sat between the bird and the flute, sometimes in a indentation called a roost. The fipple, located at the foot end of the second sound hole (or in the nest) is sharp-edged and tapered in a distinctive angle. Many makers of the contemporary period, craft flutes in styles or types that they refer to as something other than Plains flutes and many claim these styles have a long history back into the historic period. The problem with this is that there are no historic examples further back than the late 1800s. They may very well be different styles, but they were developed in relatively modern times and still have the Plains flute as their ancestor. Perhaps the most well known of these other styles is the Woodlands flute, that based on existing examples, emerged no earlier than the late 1890s. There are too many flutes in existence from the 1850s on to substantiate the claim that this style emerged earlier, but no flutes survived. That it developed in the Southeast may also be conjecture since the first known example of this design was a flute collected in Montana in 1911 by Alice Fletcher. A detailed description of this design was made by the ethnomusicologist Frances Densmore during her various visits of the Seminole groups between 1931-1932. She found the flute in disuse and only one individual, Billie Stewart, who remembered how to make one. Her description of the flute he made for her gives us an indication of a design different from those she had seen in previous visits to Plains and Southwestern tribes. She stated that the flute "contained peculiarities not previously noted in Indian flutes," but gave no details on what they were. She noted that the block was placed in the channel between the two sound holes, not above the channel. She also noted that the fingerholes were burned in with an iron, rather than bored, and the edges were beveled with a knife. Densmore also described two "transverse holes" at right angles to the sound holes, but doesn't explain their function. We can surmise that design is that of the Woodlands flute, which is characterized primarily by the fipple having a blunted edge. We have no examples of this design, however, that predates the Plains flute design, which leads to the belief that the Woodlands design is a later modification of the Plains design. However, in light of the various oral stories and traditions, we cannot with all certainty, discount the possibility that examples of or similar to the Tohono O'odham design did make their way to the southeast and evolved into what we now refer to as the Woodlands flute.

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Recorder Myth

There is a common misconception that the European recorder was developed from the Native American flute. This simply is not true. A less common misconception is that the Native American flute was developed from the European recorder.

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Modern Times

The turn of the 20th century saw an unfortunate period of attempts to assimilate most Native American peoples into mainstream America. The Indians were faced with incredibly harsh assimilation rules and there was further relocation as treaties and reservations were illegally modified. Simple survival as a people and as individuals became forefront in the activities of Native Americans, especially during the 1930s and 1940s. As a result, many cultural aspects were forbidden or prohibited and their practice went "underground." Beginning in the late 1940s, as assimilation rules began to disappear, the flute tradition was among the cultural aspects that began to resurface. Native flute players increased and gained some prominence. Belo Cozad (Kiowa), Dan Red Buffalo (Lakota), Dick Foolbull (Lakota), George Watchetaker (Comanche), Abel Big Bow (Kiowa), Woodrow Haney (Seminole), and Doc Tate Nevaquaya (Comanche), among others, reacquainted both natives and non-natives alike with the native flute. Non-natives, such as Dr. Richard Payne, Thurlow Lieurance and Vernon McNeal also played a significant role the revitalization of the flute tradition. The 1970s marked the beginning of the period when flutemakers shifted from primarily making flutes for their own use to primarily making flutes in quantity for use by others. Many began deriving, at least partially, their livelihood from their work. The renaissance of the native flute was still in its infancy and only a relatively few makers emerged during the 1970s. Some learned their craft from relatives in previous generations. Hawk Littlejohn (who actually began making flutes in the 1950s), and Tim Spotted Wolf learned from their Grandfathers, while Sonny Nevaquaya learned from his father, Doc Tate. Others met Dr. Payne and discovered his wealth of knowledge, including Dr. Oliver Jones and Michael Graham Allen. Many turned to historic flutes for their inspiration including Raven Charles King and Arnold Richardson. And there were a number that taught themselves including Carl Running Deer, Zacciah Blackburn and Lew Paxton Price. The early 1980s added a few more makers including Lakota George Estes and Ken Light. The 1980s saw the emergence of two influences that had a dramatic impact on flutemaking. The first was R. Carlos Nakai, who has become perhaps the most prominent player in modern times. He not only influenced countless people to take up the instrument as players, but also quite a number of people to make them. His impact became most apparent in the early 1990s. The second was the release of a dozen books by Lew Paxton Price, that covered every facet of constructing native flutes. They have become the foremost reference on the subject and many contemporary makers consider his books an important influence in their work. This period also saw the introduction of numerous innovations in the crafting of native flutes. Power tools began to supplement hand tools to in some cases improve precision work and reduce crafting time. Makers began using more than cedars, cane and bamboo. Flutes were made in a wide variety of softwoods and hardwoods as well as domestic and foreign exotic woods. Plastic and metal tubes also found their way into flute making. A significant modification to emerge at this time was the carving of the flue into the block directly, thus creating a style that needed no nest/roost. This has become a standard feature on what is now referred to as the "Plains" flute, or what should perhaps be called the "Contemporary Plains" flute. Other innovations included the use of Western music tunings, such as pentatonic minor, diatonic and chromatic major. This led to the introduction of over two octaves of keys that flutes were tuned to. Multiple tone chamber flutes (usually referred to as drones or dual-chambered) began appearing as well as double bass designs (those of Michael Allen) that required additional mouthpiece fixtures. As the 20th century drew to a close, flutemakers offering their flutes to the public numbered over one hundred. There is indeed a receptive market. Professional and amateur players now number in the upper hundreds, flute circles have sprung up nation-wide and internationally, web-clubs and listservs abound on the internet, and hospitals, and other service centers are recognizing the benefits of flute music. Flutemaking, as well as flute playing, has crossed all cultural bounds and has ensured the flute tradition will survive well into the 21 century.

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Whistles

Whistles, considered by many archeologists to be the forerunner of the Native American flute, appeared of course in ancient times and continued to evolve in their own right. Early whistles were made of a variety of materials - bone, wood, cane, stone and clay. Over time, they came to be made almost exclusively from a material that was special, if not sacred, to a given culture - eagle bone in many cultures, cane in the southeast and cedar in the northwest coast. From ancient times, the whistle has been a sacred object, used in specific rituals to call spirits. Even when used during hunting or battling with enemies, it was still used in the calling of spirits. The whistle would not have been used for simple signalling, either in hunting or fighting. The human voice, duplicating natural sounds, would have been used for that purpose. The whistle was never considered to be a musical instrument, nor should it now be. Although replicas of bone whistles are available, many believe that should on ly be purchased for use in sacred rituals. Using the whistle for any other purpose is considered by many to be demeaning to the object and its true purpose. The high pitch sounds of the whistle can be duplicated on high-pitched native flutes offerred by many flute makers, and there are those who believe that this is a much more respectful option if you desire that sound. The preceding really only applies to bone whistles or replicas used predominantly in North Amercian cultures. There is a wide variety of exotic and unique whistles, primarily of South American origin, available today that are perfectly acceptable for use as musical instruments.

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