Join 8,000 drums worldwide on March 21, 2008

I encourage you to be a part of this worldwide drumming event. To help spread peace and heal mother earth.

"According to a Sacred Prophecy revealed at the Otomi Ceremonial Center by the Otomi Elder Sages as a Vision of our Venerable Ancestors, the day when the sounds of 8,000 Sacred Drums join together will be the beginning of the healing of Mother Earth"

WHEN: March 21, 2008

TIME: 10 AM - 12 PM (CST) / 8 AM - 10 AM (PST)

WHAT: Play your drums prayfully. Send your prayers for understanding, tolerance, healing and happiness to those around you.

For more information: http://www.indigenousuniversity.org/sacred_drums.htm

NAF Playing Tip #29: Native American Flute Pairings for 3rd and 5th Harmony

Barry Higgins (White Crow Flutes) has a really nice representation of minor 3rd and 5th harmonies listed on his website.

Here's the link: http://www.whitecrowflutes.com/duets2.htm

The diagram on Barry's website is one more way to look at the pairing of flute keys when preparing play a Native American Flute duet in harmony with another flute player. In musical terms, the the "3rd harmony" and the "5th harmony" are the most pleasing to the ear (at least in western musical theory). A "3rd harmony" is actually 3 half steps/semitones (i.e. adjacent keys on the piano) from the primary note. A "5th harmony" is actually 7 half steps/semitones from the primary note. The 5th harmony is also known as the "perfect fifth".

Related musical theory articles:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmony
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_third
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_fifth
  

Related blog posts and duet exercises:

• http://naflute.blogspot.com/2006/04/naf-playing-tip-15-compatible-flute.html
• http://naflute.blogspot.com/2006/06/playing-tip-23-flute-keys.html
• http://naflute.blogspot.com/2006/04/naf-playing-tip-16-echo-canyon.html
• http://naflute.blogspot.com/2006/04/naf-playing-tip-17-follow-leader.html
• http://naflute.blogspot.com/2006/05/naf-playing-tip-18-butterfly-exercise.html
• http://naflute.blogspot.com/2006/05/naf-playing-tip-19-catch-up-exercise.html
• http://naflute.blogspot.com/2006/05/naf-playing-tip-20-tag.html
• http://naflute.blogspot.com/2006/06/playing-tip-21-composition.html
  

This Playing Tip is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License

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Weekend Events: March 14 - 16

You can alway check out the Northern California Flute Circle Calendar to see what's happening further out, but I encourage you to login every week to review what's coming up for the weekend events!

NOTE: If I missed an event for the weekend, please add a comment with event info so that others can know!

Saturday, Mar 15

• Loping Wolf at California River Festival
• Azteca Mexica New Year, San Jose, CA with Guest Flute Player: Xavier Quijas Yxayotl, Noon

Sunday, Mar 16

• Loping Wolf Flute Circle1 - 3 PM
• Azteca Mexica New Year, San Jose, CA continues

Upcoming

• Mar 22 - Ann Licater Concert, East West Bookstore, Mtn View 7:30PM

Ann Licater in concert

Flute for the Soul Concert with Ann Licater


WHEN: Saturday, March 22

WHERE: East West Bookstore

ADDRESS: 324 Castro St. Mt. View CA

TIME: 7:30pm

TICKETS: $12 advance, $18 day of event

To Reserve Tickets,

Please Call 800-909-6161 or http://www.eastwest.com/march_events.html#22b

DETAILS


Ann will perform using more than a dozen indigenous wood and clay flutes from around the globe. Her CD Following the Call reached No. 14 on the Top 100 NAR charts. SPECIAL MUSICAL GUESTS: Destiny, The Harpist from the Hood, Didjeridoo Artist: Paradiso Turturici, and Suellen Primost,cellist-extraordinaire.


Ann's website: http://www.fluteforthesoul.com/

Wanna promote your event? check out upcoming.com

I just stumbled into a cool new online site dedicated to promoting events. It's called "Upcoming.com" (http://upcoming.yahoo.com/). I haven't used it yet, but it looks like a great place to look for events as well as promote events online. The best part is that it's free.

Play around with it. Try entering some different searches into the "find events" search box. I could find any "Native American Flute" events, but hopefully (with a little word of mouth marketing like this) more things will appear. I am going to submit some of the NCFC events and see how it works. If you have a local flute circle, are a recording artist or are organizing any event, be sure to post it there.

Post a comment of what you think about this (or other similar) event marketing resource.

Flute Racks by Old Turtle Flutes

I discovered another source for nice looking flute racks. Check out these beauties from Mike Knight / Old Turtle Flutes: http://oldturtleflutes.com/Racks%20and%20Stands.html

With prices between $41 - $60, they are definitely reasonable.

Meadowlark Ceramic Flutes by Jon Kulias

WOW. Check out these flutes by Jon Kulias of Meadowlark flutes. I have not played or held one in my hands, but I sure want to. Jon exhibited his flutes at the Potomic Flute festival. Check out all of the amazing works of ark on his website. He also includes a set of pictures highlighting how the flutes are made: http://meadowlarkflutes.com/process.php

Design of the Week Award:

Also, I have to give kudos to the design of the "Fluton" a bean-bag cusion for your flute.

Here's a pic:

Loping Wolf "Barn Raising" this weekend

Sheree and Dan DiCicco are getting ready to sell their home. As many of you know, they put a tremendous amount of their personal energy and resources into scheduling and delivering all of the great flute circle events for the central and northern Sacramento area.
They need some help this weekend (Saturday, March 8) to help tidy up and prepare their (empty) Lake of the Pines home to get ready to put it on the market.
If you can help between the hours of 9 AM - 2 PM, it will be a great way to say "thank you" to Dan and Sheree for all of their time which they dedicate to helping make the Loping Wolf Clan such a success.

Afterwords, everyone is invited to their new ranch for a potluck and flute/drum circle.

For more info, check out the Loping Wolf Clan website: http://www.lopingwolf.com/
To get access through the Lake of the Pines gate for this event, contact Dan DiCicco at:
flutecircle@lopingwolf.com

New Flutes from Earthtone Flutes

Geoffrey Ellis has some beautiful new flutes which are looking for homes. As you can see from the image above, Geoffrey has been perfecting his craft of inlay the last year and he's doing some amazing things with it now. Take a look at his latest inventory here: http://www.earthtoneflutes.com/

Also, check out the Flute Portal: http://www.fluteportal.com/

YouTube video from Xavier Quijas Yzayotl

Here's a nice video of Xavier Quijas Yzayotl:

Great Resource for Guitar Songs/Chords

I just stumbled upon an excellent online resource of songs with lyrics and guitar chords. I've picked up my guitar again recently and I've been playing alot, so I was looking for some good songs to practice. Here's the link: http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/chords.htm

Rob also has an excellent tutorial for his text-based song notation: http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/chordguide.htm

World Wide Telescope coming this Spring

If you are like me, and love to look at the stars, you'll be amazed by a new project coming this spring from Microsoft Reseach. It's called the World Wide Telescope and it promises to do for the universe, what Google Earth did for navigating the planet. It stitches together the greatest images from all of the telescopes of all of the viewed universe. It provides tours of beautiful images, all in correct orientation. It will be a free download.

Here's a couple links:

• http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/


• http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/224 (download the High Def version of the video...)

Awesome online sound clips of Central American flutes

Clint Goss sent me this link to a set of instruments housed in the Princeton Art Collection. The link shows pictures of several clay flutes and ocarinas, along with a map of where they originated in central America. There are sound clips for each instrument.

Link: http://princetonartmuseum.org/Jaguar/jaguar.html

Good Heart Journey to the Sutter Buttes

Stan Padilla Invites you to Join Him With a Good Heart Journey to the Sutter Buttes

WHEN: Sunday, March 30, 2008
TIME: 7:00 am - 5:00 pm

The Sutter Buttes have been recognized as a sacred place for generations. The Buttes, the geographical, spiritual and magnetic center of the Sacramento Valley bio-region, is a very serene and contemplative place. Join in this pilgrimage with like-minded people for a day of walking,exploring, and contemplation. This will be the only private walk which Stan will be doing this Spring. To make reservations for the March 30th walk, please contact Stan as soon as possible. The walks fill up fast!

If you do go, don't forget to pack a few flutes to play along the way.

Reservations are made by sending a check for $50 per person to:

Stan Padilla
P.O. Box 3097
Auburn, CA 95604

All reservations must be paid in advance.
For more information:
Call Stan at (530) 637-4158 or email atstanpadilla@hughes.net

A map of meeting place, time, and other information will be sent when areservation is made.

The Middle Mountain Foundation is sponsoring an open walk on March 16th. To make reservations, contact www.middlemountain.org

Azteca Mexica New Year Ceremony

Mark your calendars. The Azteca Mexica New Year Ceremony is planned for the weekend of March 15-16, 2008 @ the National Hispanic University in San Jose, CA. Xavier Quijas Yxayotl will be playing on Saturday at Noon. Every year, this is a specatular event. It's an opportunity to experience the culture of native Mexico, and a great opportunity to see Xavier perform.

Here's a complete agenda for the event:

Saturday March 15

• 6AM - Sunrise Ceremony
• 10 AM - Ohlone Nation
• 11 AM - Zuni Nation
• 12 noon - Danza Azteca, Naming Ceremony, Guest Flute Player Xavier Quijas Yxayotl
• 10 AM - 5 PM: Arts & Crafts Vendors, Children's Activities, Community Resource Booths
• 6 - 8 PM: Silent Auction for the Peace & Dignity Journey: Winner Announcements

Sunday: March 16

• Official Schedule still being confirmed
• More Danza Azteca
• Danza Maya de la Yucatan
• More to be confirmed...
• 10 AM - 5 PM: Arts & Crafts Vendors, Children's Activities, Community Resource Booths

For more information contact:

Yei Tochtli Mitlalpilli

Calpulli Tonalehqueh

408.510.1377: cell

Weekend Events: Feb 22 - 24

You can alway check out the Northern California Flute Circle Calendar to see what's happening further out, but I encourage you to login every week to review what's coming up for the weekend events!

NOTE: If I missed an event for the weekend, please add a comment with event info so that others can know!

Saturday, Feb 23

• The Marysville Indian Pow-Wow, Noon - 6pm
  Allyn Scott Youth & Community Center (YES- the event is inside!!)
  1830 B Street (Hwy 70)
  Marysville, CA 95901
  Loping Wolf Clan members will be attending and playing the flute
  

Sunday, Feb 24

• Joaquin Clan Flute Circle2 PM

Yosemite Flute and Art Festival, September 26 - 28

Mark your calendars! The First Annual Yosemite Flute and Art Festival is scheduled for September 26 - 28, 2008, in the town of Oakhurst, CA.

This event is being presented by our friends in the Yosemite Flute Circle. The Northern California Flute Circle is going to help sponsor this event, and everyone is invited to come enjoy the music surrounded by the beauty of Yosemite.

Details are still in the works, but you can count on some great live music, excellent flutes for sale, unique arts and craft, brilliant workshops and beautiful surroundings. Plan on staying for the weekend to get the full experience. This is the first year of the event, but this will grow into an annual event at Yosemite.

For more detail about the event, contact Rick Dunlap at: yosemitefluteandartfestival@gmail.com

Weekend Events: Feb 15 - 17

You can alway check out the Northern California Flute Circle Calendar to see what's happening further out, but I encourage you to login every week to review what's coming up for the weekend events!

NOTE: If I missed an event for the weekend, please add a comment with event info so that others can know!

Friday, Feb 15

• Main Street Cafe in Georgetown, 9:30 AM - Cliff Habig with his cowboy poetry, harmonica, and Native American flute, accompanied by Marion "Doc" Cole and Mignon on their NA flutes and drum.

Saturday, Feb 16

• Valley Clan Flute Circle, Napa, 3-5 PM

Sunday, Feb 17

• Loping Wolf Flute Circle, Lake of the Pines Clubhouse, 1-3 PM

Sacred Mountain Drums Online Drum Making Video Series

I stumbled onto an excellent 5 part video series on how to make a Hoop Drum. It goes through the complete process of building a drum.

For the complete video on DVD: http://www.sacredmountaindrums.com/

• Video 1


• Video 2


• Video 3


• Video 4


• Video 5

Sponsor a participate on the Longest Walk

Just a reminder that the Longest Walk starts on February 11. It costs about $10 a day to sponsor a walker. Longest Walk participants will embark on a 5 month journey from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. arriving on July 11th. The Longest Walk south route is being led by AIM co-founder Dennis J. Banks. It is an extraordinary grassroots effort on a national level to bring attention to the environmental disharmony of Mother Earth, sacred site issues, and to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the original longest walk. If you are moved to help the success of this event, you can get more information online at their website: http://www.longestwalk.org/