Plains Flute

Though it is theorized that the Plains Flute may have originated in the distant past amongst the Tohono O'odham of the Southwest, based upon an ancient Meso-American design, many people are surprised to learn that the earliest known examples of this woodwind instrument date no further back than the early 1800s. While Native Americans have been playing whistles and flutes for millennia, written accounts and museum pieces are able to give us a glimpse at only a few hundred years of Plains Flute history and these earliest documentations originate in the northern Great Plains region, between the Great Lakes and the Upper Missouri.

Honoring Plains American Indians
In your search for the right Native American flute for your needs, we encourage you to spend some time learning about the Plains Indians, without whom, no American would be able to enjoy this beautiful instrument today.

The map at right outlines the historic home of the tribes that have come be called the 'Plains Indians'. This vast area stretches from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the Mississippi, from Canada's boreal forest perimeter to northern Mexico. Historically, some Plains tribes lived mainly by hunting while others practiced agriculture and many built new lifeways around the coming of the horse.

Anthropologists now estimate that some 95% of the Peoples of the American continents perished as result of disease following first contact with Europeans. The ensuing policies of genocide and relocation undertaken by the United States government resulted in further incalculable loss of life for original inhabitants.

Most pertinent to an understanding of the losses and sufferings of the Plains Indian Peoples is the intentional extermination of the buffalo by government employees who saw this eradication as the fastest means of subjugating Native Americans who had depended upon the buffalo for millennia. Today, the only remaining wild buffalo live in Yellowstone National Park and, shamefully, even these last remnants are under threat of extermination from non-Native ranchers.

By the early 20th century, researchers had become convinced that all Native American tribes were about to vanish from the face of the Earth, due to the depredations they had suffered and most anthropological literature from this time reflects this misunderstanding. Fortunately, for all mankind, Native Americans of almost countless tribes are alive and well on both continents, continuing to pursue lives of deep cultural meaning and purpose. In the Great Plains Region, alone, the following tribes are some of those who call this diverse region their historic and current home: Arapaho, Assiniboine, Arikara, Blackfoot, Crow, Comanche, Cheyenne, Gros, Hidatsa, Iowa, Kiowa, Kaw (or Kansa), Kitsai, Lipan, Lakota, Mandan, Missouria, Nez Perce, Osage, Otoe, Omaha, Pawnee, Plains Cree, Plains Apache (or Kiowa Apache), Ponca, Plains Ojibwe, Quapaw, Shoshone, Sarsi, Santee, Stoney, Tonkawa, Ventre, Wichita, and Yankton.

Whether you have strong Native American roots or none at all and are considering purchasing a plains flute to discover the music that is in you to play, please honor the Plains Indians tribes and their experience. Music has tremendous power to build respect and friendship. Your Native American Flute can help you to appreciate the value of all Native People, without whom, no one could enjoy these beautiful flutes.

Historic Plains Flute Materials
So far as we have learned, eastern and western cedar was the chief material used in the construction of early Plains Flutes and thanks to the special qualities of this wood which is resistant to warping, moisture and insects, many of these flutes remain with us to this day. Other materials included box elder, cane, pipewood and ash.

The magnificent flute, shown to the right, is made of sacred red Pipestone (Catlinite Pipestone), embellished with lead inlay and a dog fetish. This courting flute is attributed to the Sioux Nation, Minnesota, early 20th Century.

This is an unusual and remarkable instrument because of the religious connotations of Pipestone.

Historic Documentation of Uses of the Plains Flute
The oral traditions of many tribes include beautiful stories about flutes, including an oft-cited origin story of Woodpecker giving the first flute to a young Plains Indian Man. One version of this story tells of how the young man had failed to win the heart of the young woman he loved. No matter what this young man did, his beloved would pay him no attention and so he wandered off into the forest, feeling very badly. There, Woodpecker was drilling holes in a tree limb. The tree limb broke off and fell into the young man's hands. When he blew through it, covering the various holes with his fingers, he found he could make a sweet-sounding music that matched what he was feeling in his heart. The young woman was going along and she heard this music coming from the forest and followed it, for it had captured her heart. This was how the young man won the hand of his sweetheart with the first flute, as the story goes. It is also documented that flutes used for courting were thrown away once the object of a man's affections was won. They were not to be used again.

Researchers may run into confusion in the erratic terminology used to describe Native American Flutes in the earliest written documentation of them. Europeans use the terms flute, flageolet, fife, pipes and whistle interchangeably in these early documents. When European-Americans first encountered Plains Flutes, they often wrote of them as sounding strange or rude. Used, as they were, to European tunings, hearing something different must have struck them as off-sounding. Despite this, the first written accounts of this instrument are interesting to read.

Artist, George Caitlin, who lived amongst a number of the Upper Missouri tribes during the early 19th century, wrote this account of the Plains Flute as an instrument of courting in 1832:

Indian Agent, Henry R. Schoolcraft, penned the following account in 1851:

In 1869, Rev. Alfred Longley Riggs who was a missionary among the Santee People, wrote this extremely detailed account of the flute:

In addition to their use in the arts of courting, the Plains Flute had various ceremonial uses specific to different tribes. Beyond this, it is worth speculating that flutes were used simply for individual pleasure. Today, nearly all Native American flute makers encourage their customers to use their flutes to find the songs within them. It is reasonable to conjecture that this positive attitude is also a tradition; one that welcomes all people to take a flute in hand and play the music they sense within their hearts.

Cited earlier in this article is the near-miraculous endurance of the Indigenous Peoples of North, Central and South America, despite the devastations of disease and government-mandated genocide. Having survived these almost unimaginable hardships, North American Indian Peoples were then subjected to further mistreatment through efforts to 'assimilate' them into the non-Native culture of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Families were encouraged to move off the reservations - the last strongholds of Native culture - into urban cities, and Native American children were taken from their parents and put in boarding schools, effectively breaking the ties of tradition. By the mid-20th century, the custom and craft of the Plains Flute was remembered by few. But for the dedication of a few remarkable individuals, this important instrument might have been lost.

The late 1950's - 1960's saw a vital cultural rebirth of pride in Native American heritage. For centuries, Indigenous North Americans had been told they were inferior to European newcomers, and generations of this type of thinking had created a crisis of low self-esteem amongst many Native Americans. The second half of the 20th century of American Indian History is now, perhaps, remembered for the formation of the American Indian Movement, and concurrent with this was the reawakening of interest in Native music, including the Plains Flute.

A number of gifted men are cited as integral to this Indigenous musical renaissance, including Comanche artist Doc Tate Nevaquaya who began researching the history of the Native American Flute in the 1960s. Nevaquaya utilized materials stored at the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian to understand the construction of traditional flutes, and he gained access to 19th century recordings of Native American music. Reportedly, he listened to these recordings, drawing inspiration from them for his art and for the new music he began to create. Today, Doc Tate Nevaquaya's son, Sonny Nevaquaya, is carrying on the tradition and is a gifted flautist and educator.

Also notable in the story of the re-emergence of interest in the Plains Flute is Dr. Richard Payne (1918-2004), a scholar and collector who devoted years of his life to writing about Indigenous musical traditions. His books include: The Native American Plains Flute, The Hopi Flute Ceremony, and Indigenous Aerophones of the Northwest Coast. Dr. Payne's work inspired many new musicians, both Native and non-Native, to begin exploring native flute music.

In the 1980's, new musical opportunities arose as a result of widespread interest in World Music and the development of a blended style of music that would be termed 'New Age' in which modern and traditional instruments were frequently orchestrated into an emergent fusion music. No one embraced these opportunities with more energy, spirit and talent than R. Carlos Nakai, who is now cited as the world's foremost Native American flute player. Of Navajo and Ute ancestry, R. Carlos Nakai has recording more than 30 albums and published a celebrated book on the Native American Flute, The Art of the Native American Flute. In addition to playing both his traditional and fusion music at numerous public venues, Nakai is the flutist featured in the breathtaking soundtrack for one of the finest television documentaries on American Indian History: How the West Was Lost.

Other acclaimed Native American flute players include Ronald Roybal, Charles Littleleaf, Mary Youngblood, Joseph Firecrow, Jay Red Eagle, and Robert Tree Cody.

Happily, there are many, many exceptional musicians who have turned their talents to the Native American flute, and their music can be enjoyed both in person and on published recordings. The work of Nakai and his contemporaries is largely responsible for the popularity Native American flutes and music enjoy today, encouraging people from all walks of life to listen and play.

In order to ensure that your purchase of a Native American-style flute is a happy one, there are three questions you can ask yourself:

Question 1. What Are Your Needs In A Flute?
Are you a beginner who will be happy with the most economical, student flute or a serious musician with more specific requirements? Is the flute for a man, woman or child? This is important to identify, as the size of flutes varies so much. Ask the individual flute maker which flute size you will be able to play, based upon your arm and hand measurements.

Question 2. What Is Your Budget For A Flute?
You can spend anywhere from $50 for the simplest student flute up to $1500 or more for custom, professional flutes. Identify how much you can afford to spend, and do a lot of looking around to find the best quality for your money. Remember, there are many poor quality Native-style flutes out there that may look fancy with a lot of beads and feathers or other adornments, but that do not play well. Buy from trusted, endorsed flutemakers, only, even if you are only buying the least expensive good flute on the market.

Question 3. Who Will You Buy Your Flute From?
This brings up the somewhat controversial question of Native-made versus Non-Native-made flutes and deserves clarification. While searching on the Internet, you will find many websites selling Native-American-style flutes which are not crafted by Native American people. This is not automatically a bad thing. The negative aspect of this is that some flute sellers illegally attempt to pass their flutes off as Native-made when they are, in fact, not. They may be manufactured by non-Native U.S. residents, or they may come from China or another foreign country. There is nothing wrong with non-Natives making and selling flutes, but it is illegal for anyone to sell a flute falsely listed as being Native-made. Such makers are legally obligated to describe their flutes as Native American-Style Flutes rather than Native American Flutes. Do not trust any website that does not make it clear whether the flute maker is Native or not. You have the right to know, and Indigenous Peoples have the right to avoid exploitation of their heritage.

In searching for a Plains Flute, you will likely soon discover that there are very few Native Americans flutemakers who have websites. Only a handful will show up for most searches, whereas there are many more non-Native-American flutemakers offering instruments for sale. Again, there is nothing wrong with purchasing your flute from the latter category of craftsmen, and in fact, many famous Indigenous musicians endorse and celebrate the work of these instrument makers, but just be sure any non-Native flutemaker is disclosing that he is not of Indigenous origins before you do business with him.

We have created the following tabular guide to introduce you to some excellent flutemakers, both Native and Non-native. This guide will give you a sense of the price range, special features and other notes associated with each of these respected companies.

Notes On Plains Flute Tuning

Historic documentation of Plains Flutes includes models with as few as 4 and as many as 9 holes (including a thumb hole). Today, most Plains Flutes have 5 or 6 holes, though variations certainly exist. 5 hole flutes are sometimes referred to as 'Lakota Style' or 'Plains Flute' and 6 hole flutes are sometimes termed 'Southwestern Style' but this terminology seems to be used very unevenly.

Those researching the history of the Plains flute are likely to encounter a myth that these instruments have always been tuned to the Minor Pentatonic scale. Current scholarship on this subject indicates that this simply is not true and that there was no conventional tuning amongst the Plains Flutes of antiquity.

Today, however, the modern flutemaker will typically create concert-tuned flutes that 'make sense' to the ears of modern Western players with Minor Pentatonic instruments being the most common. These flutes can be played in duet with other flutes or other instruments. Modern Plains Flutes are available in numerous keys. For example, one flute maker, Odell Borg, currently offers flutes in A, B, C, D, E, F# and G.

It is important to understand that the Native American Flute is not simply a museum piece. It is a living instrument, in that it is evolving in the hands of today's flute makers, just as it evolved in the hands of those who were making these woodwinds in the 1800s. While some view innovations as incorrect or threatening to the integrity of the Native American flute, others welcome them.

The above illustration shows a cross-section of the flute, and it is worth studying the remarkable construction of this special wind instrument. The Native American Plains Flute is the only flute in the world with this specific double-chambered construction. The following is a brief glossary of terms for the various parts of the flute.

Mouthpiece
This is the portion you blow into. On Plains Flutes, this is frequently tapered, but not always.

Wind Chamber
Your breath first travels into this part of the flute.

Stop
This blocks your breath, which is then forced through the very narrow opening at the top of the stop.

Flue
This narrow passage smoothes out the flow of air into a thin stream. This is the part of the flute that is like a whistle mechanism, but on the Plains Flute, it is typically mostly covered by the block.

Block or Fetish
This external element creates a seal over the narrow air channel. In some Plains Flutes, the block may simply be a leather strap, but on more decoratively-made flutes, the block can be a beautifully carved animal fetish. The block is also sometimes referred to as the 'bird' or 'saddle'.

Fipple
The fipple is a sharp edge at the edge of the sound hole which splits the breath of air and directs it down into the sound chamber.

Sound Chamber
This the part of the flute that determines pitch. The longer the sound chamber, the lower the pitch of the Plains Flute.

Tone Holes or Finger Holes
These are where the fingers are placed in playing the flute. When the tone holes are open, the length of the sound chamber is effectively shortened, creating a higher pitch. When the holes are covered, this lengthens the sound chamber, creating a lower pitch.

Four Direction Holes
These are optional, but found near the open end of many Plains Flutes.

Open End
The open end of the Plains Flute may be a simple round, but it can also be carved into animal heads such as ducks and birds, depending upon the taste of the flutemaker.

While the majority of antique Plains Flutes were made of cedar wood, flute makers today choose from many different beautiful woods, and sometimes resins or plastics in the least expensive flutes. The following is a list of materials frequently used in the making of Plains Flutes today:

• Ash
• Basswood
• Beech
• Birch (red or yellow)
• Butternut
• Cedar (western red, aromatic, yellow)
• Cherry
• Fir
• Hickory
• Mahogany
• Maple (birdeye, tiger)
• Oak
• PVC pipe (some flutemakers express concern over possible toxicity)
• Recovered hardwoods
• Redwood
• Resin
• Pine
• Poplar

The block element of the Plains Flute may often be made of a different wood than the main body of the flute.

Some flutes feature inlays of turquoise and other semi-precious stones or metals.

Some flutes may be decoratively painted.

Native American flutes have gained tremendous popularity over the past three decades because of their wonderful sound, ease of playing and personal spiritual significance. Native Flute instructors always emphasize the fact that everyone can play this instrument which requires no knowledge of western music reading or previous musical experience. This is quite true. Even a beginner can get an appealing sound from a good Plains flute the first time he picks it up.

In addition to offering the simple satisfaction of being able to make music, the Native American flute has become popular because it offers fun. Students can take their flute with them wherever they go: to school, to the woods or beaches, to gatherings and events. The chance to play with other musicians can be very enriching and instructive.

Beyond the pure pleasure of playing music, there are spiritual benefits to be enjoyed from regular playing of the Plains Flute. Some Native American prophets are calling our era a time of change and transition in which Americans are finding that earlier plans for using resources and controlling nature are proving to have been mistaken, in the long run, and discovering that a different way of living is essential to our ultimate survival. Indigenous elders from all over the globe are urging all people to rediscover their spiritual connection to the Earth, to quiet down, to slow down.

Indigenous lifeways do offer an alternative, proven to work by the fact that these modes of living sustained millions of humans for countless generations while leaving air, water and soils clean. Slowing down is perhaps the major key to beginning to perceive our place on the Earth in a different way, and music is a excellent first step towards this calmer, more interconnected mindset.

Recommended Books and Films on Plains Indian History

• Black Elk Speaks, John Neihardt
• Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown
• In The Spirit of Crazy Horse, Peter Matthiessen
• Video Documentary: How The West Was Lost

Recommended Books on the Native American Flute

• The Art of the Native American Flute, R. Carlos Nakai
• Love Flute, Paul Goble
• Flute Magic: An Introduction to the Native American Flute, Tim R. Crawford

Recommended Websites about the Native American Flute

• The International Native American and World Flute Association
• NativeLanguages.org
• National Music Museum

The Plains Flute May Be Right For You If...

• You have Indigenous Plains Indians ancestry
• You respect and admire Plains culture
• You want an instrument that is easy to play the first time
• You want an instrument on which you can improve with practice
• You enjoy soft, soothing tones
• You appreciate beautiful woods and workmanship
• You feel you have music inside you waiting to come out

Native American flute makers encourage their patrons to quiet their minds and play the musical feelings they sense within. While you are playing this deeply personal music, you may begin to notice things around you that you didn't take time to pay much attention to before. You may be sitting out in a field, and start to notice that in the summertime, little gold and blue butterflies seem to be everywhere certain flowers are. You may see and hear the presence of birds with a fresh outlook. Perhaps taking your flute outside to play will mean you begin to notice a change in the seasons, or even phases of the moon or the rotation of the stars. You may feel the sun shining with great warmth on you and your flute, or have the wind whisk your breath away and play a wild tune of its own through your instrument. This simple act of playing the Native American Flute on a regular basis may become a form of healthful meditation and prayer for you which allows you self expression while grounding you on the Earth and teaching you the part you have to play here.

Native Flutes Walking wishes you joy through music, and a good journey along the Native flute path.