The Native American flute is becoming an international instrument. I have a flute from Australia made my Tony Richards as well as Ojibwa maker Raymond Redfeather.

There are six holes and basically 5 pitches. The one middle hole, the finger is almost never removed. It is a pentatonic instrument as all cultures around the world have independently found this scale coming out of the earth.

Compared to the transverse orchestral flute it has almost no notes but as far as expression is concerned and overall sonic delight the Native American flute is superior. The wood is so expressive.

Early orchestra flutes were made of hardwood but the armature was metal. There were cork-covered keys although some were open hole but still not the sound of the Native flute.

The sublimity of the sound is because it is unfinished soft wood not transverse and there is a direct and full airflow. The skin of the fingers and the basically un-contoured round holes add to the natural and arresting sound.

For a guitarist it is a particularly relaxing instrument. The ease of playing and the "fingering" of the native flute make it easy for a guitarist to play because it is as the guitar is, a finger placing and lifting exercise.

Lots of world music, American music included, is based on the pentatonic or diatonic scale so the native flute is a solid and cogent sounding melody instrument so its use is a great possibility in a collection of instruments sited for popular music.

The bends on the native flute are every orchestral flute player's dream and blues licks on the flute are as cool as slide guitar. The bent 4th on the native flute is just as liquid as you can get and you can play with that and other notes in infinite variation.

In 2000 I met Odell Borg, Ojibwa flute maker at the National Association of Music Merchandisers just walking by his booth. I left with 4 flutes in different keys.

Now I have collected around a hundred flutes of all woods and styles by different makers. I have my favorite makers now but I definitely haven't tried them all but I will boil it down to three in the article, Borg, Brent Haines and Raymond Redfeaher.

Odel Borg and Raymond Redfeather are both good friends and fellow Ojibwa tribe members. The main difference in flutes is that Odell states on his website; "A note about Native American flutes - just as a "French horn" is a particular type of musical instrument, "Native American flute" refers to a particular type of musical instrument and does not imply that it was made by an enrolled member of a federally-recognized tribe. Although Odell has Native American ancestry (Ojibway) and his flutes are owned, used and endorsed by many prominent Native American musicians, High Spirits flutes are not "Native American made" as specified by the U.S. Government. If it is your desire to own a flute made by an enrolled member of a federally-recognized Native American tribe, you can find flutemakers through a web search."

Odell must have an Ibromsky working in the "factory." Odell has a small shop in Patagonia, Arizona. They turn out the best bang for the buck but it is, in some way, a "tourist" flute made by machines. They are inexpensive and sound damn good and this is the opinion of a lot of players not just me.

He doesn't use exotic woods as Brent Haines does but within the cedar, maple and walnut flute variety in all ranges, from bass to soprano, it is hard to beat the Borg for price and function.

Brent Haines makes a hardwood exotic wood flute. He uses unnatural finishes that make for a glassy and hard that is resistant to moisture. This makes for an extremely loud flute with a great cutting power and sonority for ensembles

Haines is not a member of a tribe nr has he played a tribe member on TV but it matters not. An instrument is an instrument no matter who makes it and there are two kinds; good and bad. The Haines flute is mighty good.

They can be pricey but there are flutes below and above. One weak point of the Haines flute is sometimes one that is not quite in tune. It will only matter if you are playing with pianos and non-tunable instruments but it is and can be a pain even if you are playing with multiple guitars. You want to be in tune and I believe that Brent's newer flutes are better tuned.

My favorite flutes are the Raymond Redfeather's. Redfeather studied flutemaking with Coyote Oldman, one of the first flutemaker/performers in the business.

Raymond has access to a flute collection that is over 100 years old and this collection contains a number of different style flutes.

One thing about Raymond's style of building that I like if he has a focus on the natural sounding flutes uses very little finish on them and he approximates, what I feel is the flute as it existed hundreds of years ago.

There is a major difference in that the tools, materials and the advancements in flute making have coalesced with Redfeather's desire to keep in spirit to the original flute makers and players.

His flutes are the sweetest and most melodious of the flutes that I am covering. Not as loud ad cutting as the Haines the Redfeather is rich in wood sound. They are astonishingly sublime in the mating of wood and wind.

Copyright 2006, new millennium Guitar Publishing Co., ALL RIGHTS RESERVED