August Meeting highlight

A short update on flute circle meeting this weekend.

Lots of great music and singing in City Park with perfect weather in Elkins for the Augusta Festival. The weather did not hurt the turnout at all. Did I mention that the morning low temperature was 58 degrees? While the "dog-days-of summer" are not my favorite time of year we have a climate here that is as good as it gets for the Appalachians.

The corn dog vendor was not there at the Augusta Festival, and I was a bit disappointed but that was my only thing to rant about this weekend.

We had a surprise guest at the circle meeting, Brad Young the flute maker behind 4 Winds Flutes. He and his wife drove over from the Shenandoah Valley to take in the festival and that gave me a chance to catch up with Brad and see some of the awesome new instruments he is working on. He would have played flute more if I were not peppering him with questions about all of his new projects. It was a very fun afternoon of playing and we finished late only to return to the city park and then take in a backyard barb-e-que. Great Day. In the future I hope we can get Brad back for a concert or trunk show for those looking for a great instrument - he makes them.

I'll try to attach an image to this report of a new flute Brad had done. While melody flutes are not new to Brad this styling is new. The Mid E flute is red cedar and yellowheart with beautiful grain patterns and a handcarved turtle on the fetish block. The button you see on the high side is removable and this gives the player a fantastic "warble" in the harmonics if they choose to have one. Very fun flute to play though it takes me some mental adjustment to play with both hands. I guess I need to learn more about walking and chewing gum at the same time.

Several bits of news to share about the flute circle:
Paltalk is a good resource for flute-ites that I have been looking into lately and Brad Young actually plays flute there so it is a chance to hear his music. Keith Stanford is someone who is starting to teach flute making classes there as well. Keith has published the Ki-e-ta Manual for the Making of the Native American Style Flute. From what I understand folks have been meeting virtually one evening a week for instruction and tip sharing. I am going to try to make the meeting this week and I'll share how that goes. Interesting way to meet new flute folks from all over the place.

A member of our circle would like to share that the Anniversary Celebration of their Medicine Wheel as well as the dedication of a new Peace Garden on August 26th and all are welcome.

Another great event is this Wednesday at the RCCAC - the facility where we meet. August 16 Rita Brockway and John Vaughan will be performing. Rita and John perform on Flute and guitar respectively and are not to be missed.

Our next meeting will be Saturday September 9th from 1-3 pm at the Randolph County Community Arts Center in Elkins. We should be back in the Great Hall for September and I hope to see you there.