Neuse River Flute Circle

We have been granted permission to play again at DUKE Chapel, July 22nd, 2007!  The assistant conductor for music at Duke Chapel, Allan Friedman, has invited us to return to play hymns,  meditative and worshipful songs in the chapel.  Let’s fill the historic cathedral ceilings of  DUKE Chapel with the beautiful voices of the Native American flute.   All are welcome, but since there might be guests in the chapel praying, we will request that  our more experienced flutists play in this venue.   Some may want to just come and listen to the music in this beautiful setting.  This was one the highlights of last years NRFC performances, and it’s a great opportunity for us to share the NAF!  Plan to meet at the chapel by 2:45pm.  For those that can, we would like to go eat together afterwards!

When:    Sunday, July 22nd  from 3:00-5:00pm
Where:   DUKE Chapel, DUKE University, Durham, NC
Directions & Parking: From Raleigh via I-40 West, take the exit for Durham Freeway (NC 147 North).  Take the Fulton Street/Hillandale Road exit and turn left onto Fulton Street. Continue on Fulton Street until it ends at Erwin Road. Turn right onto Erwin Road. At the third traffic light, turn left onto Towerview Road. At the first traffic light (second intersection), turn left onto Science Drive.  Take the second right, into the Bryan Center parking lot. Visitor parking is available in the Bryan Center visitors lot and the Bryan Center parking deck. To enter the parking deck, turn right immediately after you enter the Bryan Center lot.  A limited number of spaces are available immediately in front of the Chapel.  Note: parking is $2 per hour.

We hope you all can make it! 

Flute Circlers!   Here’s info on our June flute gathering….

Eddie Thomas is hosting us at Trinity Academy this month. Thanks Eddie! The meeting will be at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 23rd 2007.  Eddie says: “Trinity is at 10224 Baileywick Road-Raleigh 27613…We’re basically at Exit 9 off of I-540 at Hwy 50/Creedmoor Rd.  Baileywick Road is the first turn to the right going inbound from the I-540 exit. Trinity is less than a mile up on the right.” (See http://trinityacademy.com/maps.htm)

Bring your flutes! Bring us your flute songs and stories. Get some playing tips & find out about new flute resources. Heard any good new CDs? Hope to see you there. We have several new members you’ll want to meet. Rumor has it there are some good places to play at Trinity….I hope to see (and hear) you there.

Keep making the music!

John Kincheloe

Hello Flute Folks,     Our next meeting will be on Saturday, May 12th at 10:30 a.m. at John Kincheloe’s house. We missed having a NRFC meeting in April, so we have a lot to catch up on! People have gotten new flutes! Learned new songs! Been to great places! Tell us about it – we all want to know! Who has some new songs?  Need to get a quick lesson? See you on the 12th! I’ll have a mike and speaker set up out in the yard for those who want to play. We can entertain the bluebirds nesting by my house.

We were sent a gift package from Grand Canyon Flutes. You will want to see that. It will give us a chance to look at “Nakai Tablature,” a useful way to learn songs and to write them down. See: http://www.flutetree.com/songbook/contemporary/IntroTab.html
It might be a useful tool for you. We’ll have some “sheet music” of songs on hand for you to keep.

We also look forward to meeting our newest members…Welcome!

Flutefully yours,

John Kincheloe

To All the Neuse River Flute Circlers,

Some thoughts.

We live in unsettled times. Madness and senseless fury breaks out on a university campus. A controversial war lingers on, bringing us difficult news each day. Civility and mutual respect sometimes seem to be things of the past.

But in the midst of this, I feel so fortunate to have discovered - almost out of nowhere - you, a group of people who have tied their lives to the music of wooden flutes. Every so often it strikes me what good hearted, creative, and kind people you are. Through your songs and your flutes, you are making a gentle music that restores calm, and caring, and good feelings to so many people. You are sharing an ancient musical voice that heals and calls us to our best selves.

So this spring day with birds cavorting in the yard, and lawnmowers whining up and down my street, I’d like to tell you all what a rare bunch you are, for having found and looked after this deep and important music.

That’s all.

Keep making the music!

John Kincheloe     

Jon Norris and John Kincheloe will be teaching a five-session introduction to the Plains Flute (aka Native American-style Flute, the double chambered flageolet, etc.) starting Tuesday, January 30, 2007. The course is being offered though Meredith College’s Community Outreach program. Classes will cover the history of the flute, it’s construction, how to play the instrument, and musical sources for the flute. It should be a good overview for folks just starting with the instrument. This class is full now, but it is likely the class will be offered again later. Keep it in mind if your are interested.

John Kincheloe
kincheloej@meredith.edu

In February the Neuse River Flute Circle will meet at The American Indian Company, 311 Blake Street in downtown Raleigh (near Moore Square).  The meeting is February 10 and we will start at 10:30 a.m. Flutes sound great in this store & we are hoping some folks will come ready to play some good flute songs. It will be good to get together and hear some flute music. Thanks to Chris for opening up his store for us! Maybe we can sell a few flutes for him…

Anybody heading up to the Potomac Native American Flute Festival (February 23-25, 2007)? The venue is the Montgomery College in Rockville, MD ( the same as for the last 2 years) The length of the festival is extended from Noon Friday through 4:00PM Sunday.  Here’s a link so you can check out what will be happening there:    
http://www.potomacflutecircle.net/

Bring your selves, your flutes, and a friend to our next Circle meeting! Hope to see you there!

 John Kincheloe 

Happy Flute Year to All!

The next meeting will be on January 13th at 10:30 a.m. at John K’s house. I live in Durham very close to the Rt.55 exit. Write me at kincheloej@meredith.edu if you did not receive directions to my house. 

We have much to show and tell (like flute goodies Santa brought you!) so it will be fun to get together again.

One thing we will do is to demonstrate how to create your own flute music CD. We will look at the Zoom H4 portable digital recorder. And we will look at Audacity — a free piece of music editing software. It’s a great way to start editing music on a computer. And then we can look at burning a music CD. [And if we have time, we want you Mac users to see how Garageband looks & works. Who in the NRFC works on Macs? Jon. Who else? Andrew is bringing some show-and-tell: a small microphone he likes.]  

Sound boring? Well…maybe it is a little boring. BUT the payoff comes when you get to hear your OWN songs in the RIGHT order on a CD. You might even get hooked on making music on a CD.

Come and learn some cool stuff with the rest of us!  We promise not to make it too teckie…

So, how does that sound? Of course, we’ll play & get into our usual mischief. Plus we’ll get an update on what used to be Eddie’s beard. (Because Santa brought him jaw surgery, remember?)
John Kincheloe

Bring yourselves and bring your flutes!

And don’t forget to bring a holiday-inspired dessert or other dish to go with the frybread. Mardi says her frybread is the best (her own authentic NDN recipe, don’t ya know). We are going to learn how it’s done.

The rumor is that we are going to have a recording session at Mardi’s. We may even end up with a holiday CD!

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What: Neuse River Flute Circle “Holiday Frybred Bash”
When: December 9, 11 a.m.- early afternoon
Where: Mardi’s house (Thanks again, Mardi!)
Wandering souls may call 919-308-6073 (John K) for directional assistance & the usual moral support.

Flutefully yours,
John Kincheloe

Join us as we explore the music and history of the Native American flute. All are welcome – flute players, flute makers, and those who just like the music. Our gatherings are very informal.  If you are among those who have been looking for other flute players, or if you simply want to learn about this incredible instrument, join us at our next meeting.  Note the location for this meeting! We are outside at a beautiful location.

When:    Saturday, October 21 at 10:30 a.m.
Where:   Meredith College Lake, at the Gazebo
                3800 Hillsborough Street 
               (Rain location: inside Johnson Hall)
 
 For directions or more information call John at 919-308-6073