History of the Native American Flute

Chris Healey

Birth Of A Flute

After doing some research on the native American flute I have found out quite a few

surprising things. The native American flute is not just something that was used to make music,

as most would think. This tool was deep set in tradition with native Americans. The flute was

used to in ceremony, courting, story telling and ritualistic purposes. When a native american

would use one in the process of courting the man would spend days making the perfect flute to

play it to the woman he desires. He would play the flute outside her hut and if she came out to

the sound of the flute it meant she would have him. If she didn’t come outside than he was

erquired to destroy the flute and make a new one for another woman. But once they two were

joined they either threw the flute away or never played it again.

The complete native american flute history is not fully known because in the early

twentieth century native american children were forced from there homes and taught to speak,

dress and interatact with the modern society that had formed round them in “Indian Schools”.

Much of the culture and tradiation was lost and can never be unveiled because of this. The

modern society actually found the sound of the flute to be foreign and unenjoyable. Luckly there

are some people who have helped keep the native american flute alive. Because of those people

it is very common to her the native american flute in our current day music. However the flute

has been westernized and is not used for the traditianl perpouses as it was originally intended.

Historically flutes can be traced back as far as the early nineteenth century. The native

American flutes we are building in this class and the ones most people recognize is thought to be
originated from the northern Ute tribe. They were often made of wood and other plant like

material but on occasion they have been know to be made out of bone. The oldest known flute

was collected by an Italian explorer named Giacomo Costantino Beltrami when he was tracking

through what would be known as Minnesota in 1823. The two chamber flute is a construction

only know to have been used by the natives in northern America at the time and was a

completely geographically unique design. Because of the lack of a written language its very hard

to get the whole picture of the native American history and the finer details. Many of these

details have been lost to time and modernization of the native people.

Of the very limited information that can be found on the native american flutes, there are some

things that are very apparent to me. These flutes are not just made for no reason, they had so

much time and emotions forced into them. They not only made music but that natives also found

a way to make them speek. The sound they make has so much meaning that the people can

literally understand what the artist is playing. Traditionally native artist songs could only be

played by the creator and no one dared to betray that commitment. The main point I am trying to

get across is these Flutes don’t just make a beautiful sound and fill out hearts with peace. They

have so much more meaning to them they most of us could ever understand. I think its is very

important to keep traditions and knowledge passed down to generations to come. The world

would be at a loss with out them.