Fall
Specials:
OK folks, here is the deal of a decade, actually
two. I haven't priced flutes like this since the early 90's, but economic times
having been greedily manipulated into what they have become, must sell, must
pay bills, must survive. Besides, I can work as hard as anyone and better than
most.
The Silvers are priced as listed, most are at least $100 off. At
this stage of the game it really doesn't make sense to hold back my primo
blanks, so this group contains some real beauties!
The Standard model
flutes are all $225. Standards have polished brass spacer plates, but there is
only one way I make flutes, so attention to detail, voicing, etc. are always my
best work. If you have been wanting an Amon Olorin Flute or adding to your
collection, there has never been a better time, at least in the last 20 years!
Get something good out of this chaos.
*** STANDARD
SPECIALS
All flutes in this section are $225.00
From top to
bottom:
24" F# Waterspirit - The flute at the top of the first photo
was intended to be a Silver edition 24" Waterspirit, regular price $425, but a
flaw appeared, a hairline crack that repaired almost invisibly, so made it a
standard edition and priced with this group. Silvers have to be perfect.
22" F# Waterspirit - with Mark III walnut block (the
Mark III block design is the third adaptation of the original Sonoran/22"
Waterspirit block - US Patent #D427228)
22" F# Waterspirit - with
Mark III walnut block
22" F# Waterspirit - with Mark III walnut
block
Sonoran in G - with Mark III walnut block
Sonoran
in G - with Mark III walnut block
*** SILVER
SPECIALS
Silver Edition
flutes - From my most beautiful and unique cedar blanks. From top to
bottom:
Silver 24" D# Largebore (see model description below) with
walnut step block . Regular price $525. Sale price $395
Silver D#
Largebore with walnut step block. $395
Silver 5-hole DRB reproduction
with Eagle head carving (see model description below) $395
Copper
Edition DRB reproduction - with walnut step block (New! Copper spacer plate)
$300 - reg. $395
Next one is a brother to above flute also at $300
Next one is also a Copper edition 5-hole DRB repro. with walnut eagle
block $300
Silver 24" F# Waterspirit with walnut waterspirit block $325
- reg. $425
Silver 24" F# Waterspirit with cherry waterspirit block
$325
Silver F#-Raven flute with walnut raven block $375 - reg. $495
Silver F#-Eagle with walnut eagle block $375 Silver G-Eagle with cherry
horse block $375
Silver Sonoran with walnut Mark II block $295 - reg.
$395
Silver Sonoran with cherry Mark III block $295
Silver
Sonoran with walnut Mark II block $295
Silver 22" F# Waterspirit with
walnut traditional Sonoran block $295
* *
*
These instruments are offered on a first-come, first served
basis. Call or email for information and availability. All sales are final, so
if you are not satisfied due to someone else's opinion, too bad. (Of course, if
something crops up unforeseen, my replacement policy will be honored). Offer
expires when we are somehow able to access the proceeds from our work instead
of allowing it to be hoarded by those who have bought control of our political
system.
MODEL NOTES:
Sonoran
The flute is an
instrument of wind. The Sonoran connects the player with the winds of the
desert Southwest and is named for the "desert that sings". The most recent
version of the g-minor 6-hole flute designed from tuning specifications
originally learned by Dr. Richard W. Payne in his field research of traditional
tunings and passed to me by R.Carlos Nakai, who had learned them from Dr. O.W.
Jones, a colleague of Dr. Payne's. The first of the two tunings learned this
way was the f#-minor "Waterspirit".
Waterspirit
The f#-minor
tuning comes from the Great Lakes woodlands people who called the flute,
"mine'wiscan". This flute tradition was intimately connected to a spiritual and
physical relationship with water. The Waterspirit block design speaks both of
long curving and flowing lines of moving water, but also the power of the water
circle (also represented) to shape even the hardest elements of the land (the
sharp tip). I look for dramatic natural annular grain structures to symbolize
ripples on still water.
D# Largebore
This tuning was an
invention in 1995 utilizing the same traditional pitch intervals learned in the
f#-minor and g-minor tunings. The intent was to produce a low-pitched flute
that retained the ergonomic playability of my other flutes, in other words, was
not so big that it could not be handled by most normal-sized players. Success!
Low, mellow, and very resonant. Feels alive in your hands. The Step-block
design was inspired by an old Lakota museum flute from the Chandler-Pohrt
collection. Seven steps for the seven directions.
Carved head
flutes.
Early on I discovered the function of the four front slots on
the Daniel Red Buffalo flutes. Adapting the principle to my other tunings, it
makes possible shaping the end of the flute with an animal or bird carving,
and/or to achieve length balance while maintaining precise control over the
instrument's tuning. I sometimes matches the head design with that of the
block, but also use differing pairs for more complex symbolism. The head shapes
are meant to be visually evocative but also a tactile miniature sculpture. The
inside of the carving is shaped to allow view of the interior of the flute.
"DRB" -Dan Red Buffalo Courting Flute Reproductions
My
contemporary interpretation of flutes from the work of one of the last of the
great Lakota traditional flutemakers from the latter 19th and early 20th
Century. This model has been a staple of my work since 1985. These 5-hole
designs in A-minor use the same traditional pitch intervals as the six-hole
flutes. The instrument that started it all was the old DRB courting flute
carried by my old friend and mentor, Gandalf. He called it his "Lady". Watch
out for imitations.
Effigies
The traditional use of effigies
is to learn and spiritually access an animal's character and/or to seek their
assistance. My designs are meant to show in simple lines a relationship to
each, but foremost of course, the block piece is precisely functional as a
vital element in the instrument's sound-producing mechanism.
About
Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata)
I primarily use this cedar for
several important reasons. The traditional mythologies and origin stories
always refer to the flutes as being made of cedar, and the cedar wood and its
leaves are used for many traditional and ceremonial purposes. I was told by a
young Blackfoot man that when you have a serious problem, take it to the cedar,
as you will always receive the truth. In addition, cedar is a perfect material
for flute making. It produces a light and resonant instrument that projects its
special voice. Hardwoods, exotics, etc. are heavy, don't have the feel of the
sound vibrations; more suitable for furniture in my opinion, but fine for
making the wind-block pieces. Actually a member of the Cypress family, Western
red cedar is the antithesis of a uniform wood. It's character varies remarkably
from tree to tree, in grain structure of course, but amazingly also in color;
each tree's wood seems to have its own. It varies from a rarely seen off-white
hue to an equally scarce semi-sweet chocolate color. Most often it is a subtle
reddish brown. The process of making a flute begins with the "quest" for the
cedar. Most cedar comes from milled boards that are covered in knots. Not good
for flute carving. So, it is the rare find of beautiful clear wood that is
joyfully suitable for a flute and, rapture, the really unique pieces! Silvers!
I precisely mill, prepare, and then choose the blanks for each flute with the
intent that either the forthcoming piece will portray a specific theme, or
(which is more fun) I let the flute show me these things as it is worked. A
splendid example of the inherent variability and uniqueness of everything. I
have been complimented that my flutes are "miraculous". Flattering, but not so.
It is the cedar that is the miracle.
Finishes
The
naturally-formulated linseed oil and beeswax based finishes I use are hand
applied to the flutes in a process that takes most of a week to complete. What
is meant by "hand applied" can be taken literally. Each flute receives enough
repeated attention to achieve the semi-gloss potential of these fine finishes.
After long search they were discovered from Germany and are not only great in
terms of beauty and functionality, but contain no harsh or potentially toxic
petrochemical ingredients - at all. My shop smells like cedar and linseed, not
like chemicals. Perfect!
A Short Essay on Indigenous North
American Flute Tunings
A grandfather's vision of the traditional
flute in modern times was passed to his son and then to me because of a dream.
The humble hobbit is visited by the traveling wizard. So it's Tihs Ho! and off
we go. Along the way I ran into Tom Bombadil, who can change into a
bear.
My response has been to do my best to honor this gift and charge
by contributing my work-energy to promoting and sharing the historic but
on-going indigenous flute tradition of North America. First, to learn the basic
construction techniques and to understand the physical principles involved, and
then to extend into a philosophy that honors the performance capability
inherent in a simple instrument and its elegant tuning design, but to always
try to remain true to the traditional concept of equal diameter open holes,
equally spaced; to emulate the old patterns that relied upon anatomical
measurements of the maker, but to access modern techniques to strive for tonal
accuracy over the entire range of the instrument. This experience of learning
how to respect the tradition, over twenty five years of experimentation,
development of my artisanship, and the good graces of many who have helped me
along the way, has been an awesome exploration in discovering my life as a
human being. I once musically introduced the poet Robert Bly, and was honored
to demonstrate my commitment to his mythopoetic colleague Joseph Campbell's
credo of "follow your bliss".
As an observer and collaborator (perhaps
conspirator) in what we have been calling "The Renaissance of the North
American Flute" *, I have witnessed a contemporary evolution and renewal of a
nearly lost tradition. I am proud to have been involved in all of this, and
equally humbled by the relationships I have had with a group of artists that
have been instrumental in its development. I have learned much from these
beautiful people. This serene music speaks of the finest of human expressions
and having shared my passion for it with many others is a source of continual
renewal.
But all cannot be related in superlatives. I feel compelled to
add the following out of respect for the spirit of the old ones:
A
number of the many, many new flutemakers who originally worked from the designs
introduced in the mid-eighties by the first generation of modern flutemakers
and then passed along to subsequent craftspersons, are now manipulating these
tunings in an apparent effort to either achieve a successful market niche, or
to dumb-down the original tunings with the intent of somehow making already
simple, elegant tuning designs easier to sell to the novice. I am always
telling people that the NA flute tradition has no "standard" tunings or
fingerings, one of the fascinating aspects of this genre that contrasts so
interestingly with the dominant standardized music system that was brought here
from Europe and its evolution from folk music into the mechanistic philosophy
of the industrial revolution. The tunings I work with are just a few of the
many that are indigenous to the this particular landscape, so elegant in their
design, so human, so wonderful, that to mold them into something ego-based
raises my hackles. Call me an aesthetic, a dreamer, whatever, but I am working
on a vision that offers this music to everyone who seeks harmony in a world of
contention, an opportunity to experience something that is lacking in what the
dominant culture force feeds us in a very compelling way. Can the flute change
the world? I think it can.
So please, don't allow a market-driven
"artist" to take your hard-earned bread for a very different purpose than
providing access to the exquisite experience of participating in something fine
that is intimately connected to this land and its historic peoples. Try this
one: "What college did you attend?" "Oh, Shaman (pronounced 'shame-on')
U.".
Some entrepreneurs have even achieved the ability to mass-produce
them, and others appear to be exceedingly talented beginners who promote
themselves as masters but in fact have not yet learned how to follow through or
apparently just don't care about the attention to detail that it takes to make
a flute sound like these potential customers have heard in the many beautiful
audio recordings. If they can produce "concert quality" flutes from the get-go,
then they are geniuses compared to someone like me who has been working a big
chunk of his life floundering around. These listeners want to participate in
this beautiful and personal music. Awesome! They don't want a Chief Black and
Decker wall hanger. So it saddens and angers me to hear of their disappointment
when what they get is the old bait and switch from the disingenuous that have
sacrificed undiscovered magic to the god of Buck. So, if you can avoid being
assimilated, please do yourself a favor. There exist good and good value flutes
out there in i-land. Caveat emptor.
*Since 1992 and up until 2010
R.Carlos and I called our annual Montana workshops "The Renaissance of the
Native American Flute". So why the change using "North" instead of "Native"? A
couple of reasons. The first is semantic. The term "native American" was
invented by the dominant society to somehow offer an alternative to "Indian".
Columbus was just ignorant; they didn't want to sound stupid. Most of my tribal
member friends here on the reservation call themselves Indians. Everyone with a
brain knows that they are not from India. It also avoids the whole "native
American" term, which is an imposition on folks that are indeed Americans (some
begrudgingly so, but amazingly patriotic nevertheless in light of historic
abuse), but are also striving for recognition as unique peoples in an attempt
to avoid cultural reductionism and to hope for a modicum of respect for having
been here first, and having developed the foundations of their culture in this
land. A subject worthy of study.
In truth, we are all native to this
landscape now, are not Europeans, Africans, Mexicans, Asians or any other of
the many, many immigrants and throw-away people who have made the American
culture such a unique and interesting group. One cannot separate culture from
the landscape, and indeed a culture gets its best identity not from what is
pop, but from their homeland.
When I first met Tom Bombadil, we talked
at length over elk meat and a beer about the term "native American". Tom's
opinion about it was that "native American" was better applied to all of us
more recent immigrants and their descendants who live here now and got the
whole "America" thing started, and that the indigenous tribal folks were better
served by calling them what they call themselves. "Indians" works, but if you
really want to be p.c. learn the tribal language translations of "people" or
'human beings". If you feel compelled to simplify with a single term, you are
on your own.
Being true to the leadership role that Tom and I have
apparently attained by trying to get things right, we offer the term "North
American Flute". It takes the concept one step further in connecting this piece
of the Earth to the flute that arose here (no matter what its ultimate origin
may have been), a unique and beautiful representative to the body of World
Flutes.
Towards harmony.
©Ken Light 10/1/11
* * *
Check out my recent YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZxFJq3orQE
Still
accepting registrations for RNAF workshop. Late fee is waived. Go to:
http://www.aoflutes.com/rnaf.htm
for registration information.
PF-Series flutes - the perfect gift
for a beginner, outdoorsperson, or just about anyone who needs a quality native
flute at a great price. Mention this offer when you order and get free
shipping. $70 total My credo is that everyone needs a flute, so pick out
someone you know who really needs to be making this music, and set them up with
a PF. "What a great idea, Ken!"
>>> Harding cases to fit
are $25 or $30
All sales are subject to stock on hand. Offer
expires Dec 20 Surprise the heck out of someone with a gorgeous new flute
from Amon Olorin Flutes. First come, first served. - Call me or email -
406-726-3353 or email Ken Light :
aoflutes@blackfoot.net
BELOW: Custom order Five-Hole
Courting Flute Reproduction:
updated
06/02/11
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