Wednesday, January 10, 2007

January news


Happy New year everyone,

This weekend (Jan 13) the WVNAF Circle will meet at the Old Brick Playhouse at the corner of 4th and Davis Ave in Elkins. One of our circle members graciously negotiated a roof over our heads for the afternoon due to home base (Randolph County Community Arts Center) being dance weekend headquarters. No hard feelings, they just reserve the whole place that weekend!

We now have 17 folks on the 4 county phone list who attend meetings on any regular basis and talking with other circles, this seems to bode well for a first year effort. We hope to grow as well in 2007 and begin to chart our journey collectively.

Another Randolph County school visit is coming up in February and Potomac Flute Festival is little over a month away! An announcement on PFF (2/23-25), follows this post.

A local event called The Great Turning will be held in Clarksburg, WV on March 23-25 and will feature Native American Styled Flute as part of the topics offered.

My holiday travel offered up the chance to gather with the Arizona Flute Circle . We met in a members home in Scotsdale, Arizona and it was great to see their group includes a super mix of accomplished players, makers, collectors and very friendly folks. Their community is awesome and they are a driving force behind the upcoming 3rd Annual Zion Flute Festival on June 8-10, 2007. It was fun to share holiday songs and see some very different flutes along side makers who we know well.

Next instalment, when my video card recovers, I'll talk about PVC flutes as a possibility for a first instrument. Robert Brandt and Sam Kurz both make a fine NAF style flute that will get you down river in the canoe and you can hand to a kid without worry or breakage. When I get pictures I'll go further on this thought.

Think Snow, it is January afterall!

Folks, please visit this web site for more details on the 4th annual Native American Flute Festival, being held in Rockville Maryland February 23-25, 2007