Two experiences have had a profound impact on my flute music.
The first was in 1994 as a member of the Sri Chinmoy Peace Run team running 11,000 miles across the USA, I ran my first marathon in Texas. On that early morning in the mist ahead of me a large eagle barely visible, was perched on a fence post. As I began my run, holding the freshly lit Peace Torch, the eagle turned towards me, looked at me, let out a high-pitched cry, then gracefully launched its body with a flap of its large wings, disappearing into the mist.
A couple of hundred yards later I saw the eagle again - this time on the opposite side of the road. As before, the eagle turned towards me, calling out, and took flight as I approached - my last sighting of this magnificent bird. At that moment I had an overwhelming awareness of the Navajo Indians who once lived in this area, and the sacredness of the eagle in Native American folklore, and that this noble bird embodied their Spirit, welcoming me as a peace messenger on my peace journey across their lands.
On the completion of my run, members of the Sri Chinmoy Peace Run Team presented me with a music cassette by Carlos Nakai, the highly respected Navajo-Ute Native American flute player. The haunting sounds of his music captivated me, and for years reminded me of my marathon peace journey and the sighting of the eagle, and its embodiment of the Native American Indian Spirit.
The second experience was on a visit to China in 2006 with Sri Chinmoy and his students. An adventurous group of us climbed the sacred Huashan mountains near Xian in Western China. These towering granite peaks have been the home to Taoist monks and nuns for over 3,000 years. They live in isolation in temples on or near the four summits.
As I neared the first of the snow covered summits I suddenly heard a most beautiful sound echoing through the falling snow. I sat to meditate. Many minutes passed before I continued climbing the icy track, then as I rounded a stunted pine tree I saw a Taoist monk dressed in black, sitting alone at the open doorway of a temple, playing a Xiao (pronounced 'sho') - a long bamboo vertical flute played as part of their meditative practice. Holding his meditative music in my heart, I continued climbing in the pristine silence of the cold mountain air.
So again my heart was filled with the haunting sounds of a flute! On sharing this story with a friend after we descended, he was so inspired and moved by my experience that he very kindly gifted me a Xiao. Then for over two years, until I purchased my first Native American flute, I played the Xiao each morning as part of my meditation - still holding within the depths of my heart the sublime experiences of the tranquil mountains echoing with the haunting melodies of the monk's playing.
My flute journey has expanded a great deal since then to include other flutes; first the Native American Indian flutes, then the Indian Bansuri, then the Shakuhachi (Japanese Zen flute).
I resonate with this emotive description of playing the Native American flute...Play the notes as if "singing" the notes through your flute - and "sing" the notes like they express a mood or feeling. "Sing" the note through the flute like sun beaming through misty Redwood trees. "Sing" it like the power of ocean waves. "Sing" it like a morning dove greeting the day. "Sing" it like a mountain lion stalking. "Sing" it like gently rippling water reflecting the moon. "Sing" the meaning from the centre of your being, up through your flute, and out to the world!!
October 2008 - Getting to know the D drone after having it sent to Italy, where we were staying in an ecovillage.
Pratika-Sahayak in the Music Alchemy concert
Playing the Xiao flute - the very first flute I owned, a gift from a friend.
"Music will play a most important role in bringing about world oneness, for music embodies the Universal Heart, the oneness-heart. Music transcends the barriers of nations, nationalities and religions."
Sri Chinmoy