Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Ron Warren talks about playing for the Pope

Ron Warren Native American Flute faculty for Timber Flute Festival in Elkins talks about playing flute for the Pope

With less than four weeks to go before the Timber Flute Festival in Elkins we are in the final preparations for a great event this year. While there is still space available for this years festival, word has gotten out and the festival continues to grow. We sincerely hope you will choose to join us for the fun and amazing music planned for this year.

Ron Warren’s concert performance during the Timber Flute Festival will be on Thursday evening June 26 and tickets are available through the Randolph County Community Arts Center. Thursday evening’s concert will feature the Native American flute trio with flutist Ron Warren, guitarist Lenny Stevens and vocalist/percussionist Janice Torres. Irish flutist Grey Larsen with guitarist Cindy Kallet will also perform that evening. Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for elders/seniors.

Ron Warren had the tremendous opportunity to play Native American Flute for the Pope during the stadium mass in Washington, DC on April 17, 2008. He was kind enough to share some of his insights about the event.
“My colleague, Tracy McDonnell, had invited me to perform with her amazing “Inter-cultural Choir” which encompassed singers from all over the metropolitan area. In truth, I love musical opportunities like this. It challenges me to explore all the capabilities of my flutes and forces me to make music outside my usual habits. Along with everything else, Tracy asked me if I could play a solo introduction for the Gregorian chant, “Veni Creator Spiritus”. Many of the ancient chants sound quite beautiful on our flutes.”

“The highpoint of the Mass is Communion. Just before the people receive communion, the Celebrant of the Mass (Pope Benedict in this case) speaks special words over the bread and the wine that will be shared. For many Catholics, this is the most sacred moment in the Mass.”

“And it was at this point in the proceedings that Great Mystery, or perhaps that trickster Rabbit, made an appearance. The Musical Director needed more music to fill the time while the Pope spoke his special blessing. Tracy asked me to start the “Veni Creator Spiritus” right away. I played the introduction, the Inter-Cultural choir did their lovely setting of the chant with African drums and then - the Pope wasn’t finished. They still needed more music. The Music Director signaled me to continue as a solo. I began to riff on phrases of the ancient chant, carefully watching the conductor while he watched the Pope.”

“For a magical moment in time, the beautiful solo voice of our Native American Flute echoed through the hushed man-made canyon of the baseball stadium, floating out an ancient European hymn to accompany the Pope’s blessing, while tens of thousands from all over the world quietly joined their hearts together. How fitting that at this most sacred moment, the only sound in the stadium was the voice of a Great Spirit that had been here in this land long before the Pope’s Church and is still here. What an amazing gift I had received, to have the opportunity to honor my People in this way.”

Note: For the Papal Mass, Ron played on flutes made by Colyn Petersen and Jim Gilliland.
Learn more about Ron Warren and his music at http://www.ronwarrenmusic.com

The West Virginia Native American Flute Circle is participating in this summer's 2nd Annual Timber Flute Festival which will be June 22-27 in Elkins, WV. This event has grown a great deal in just a sort time and will this year feature five different flute traditions including Native American Flute taught by award winning musician Ron Warren. Dances and concerts every evening allow for sharing and gathering new music. Late June in the Appalachian Highlands is cool and green with bountiful opportunities for outdoor recreation. This will be a memorable week that you do not want to miss. Practice and study in your instrument of choice and learn a new flute this summer too!

Our flute circle will meet this month at RCCAC as usual Saturday, June 14 2008 from 1-3pm - Hope to see you there too.

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Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Jan Seiden Memory of Time #19

Congratulations Jan!
Some really great news, Jan Seiden’s Memory of Time CD has been ranked #19 globally by New Age Reporter! This deservedly puts her in some great company as you can see from the list of accomplished artists that make the charts at this website. The link to the chart listing is here http://www.newagereporter.com/charts/top100.asp Lets hope that someone has already reviewed the album for the next issue of INAFA’s newsletter Voice of the Wind.

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Wednesday, May 07, 2008

May NAF News

The big news early this month was that Ron Warren, Native American Flute Instructor for this year’s Timber Flute Festival in Elkins, had been requested to perform for the Pope’s visit in Washington, DC. Details of the April 17 performance can be seen on Ron Warren’s website, http://www.ronwarrenmusic.com/calendar.html. Pretty cool I think and a great honor for Ron.

Cedar Mesa Music and Scott August are proud to announce the Scott August Signature Anasazi Flute. These instruments are made by Geoffrey Ellis of Earth Tone Flutes. You can see one at Scott’s website - the link is on your right. His site reports that he is now teaching lessons on the Anasazi Flute, and has had two workshops this year.

Keith Stanford of Cherry Cows Flutes sent me news about a charity FLUTE MAKING PROJECT. Keith says “Basically, several Flute Makers have joined together to work on a flute. A special piece of wood is first selected, then a song will be recorded, by a noted Recording Artist, using that Community Built Flute. The flute and CD will then be auctioned off, with the proceeds going to charity. For this particular Flute Build, a piece of wood that is over 50,000 years old was used to make this flute. Charles Littleleaf is the Recording Artist who will record the special song.” If you are a member of the yahoo groups basic flute making group you can see photo files of this instrument. (The yahoo groups are a pretty good way to network with other flute folks and are recommended in that the flute groups are pretty well moderated.) A flute like this one was detailed in the current issue of Voice of The Wind. This is a great idea and a very worthwhile way to create one of a kind flutes to help folks in a new dimension.

Also do not forget:
Jan Seiden is someone I mentioned last post as being a very talented flute performer you should hear as soon as you get the chance. Her official release party for the new album, Memory of Time will be May 13th.
I was fortunate to purchase a copy at Potomac Flute Festival and it is fantastic, below is a short summary of how you can hear Jan and get a copy of the album yourself.

When: Saturday May 17, 2008
3:00 - 5:00pm (doors open at 3:00pm, concert begins at 3:30pm, CDs available for sale and signing before and after the concert)

Where: 6800 Oakland Mills Road (Christ Episcopal Church) Columbia, MD 21045 www.ChristChurchColumbia.org
RSVP by May 12, 2008 to Jan at: flutejourney@yahoo.com

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