welcome
to
An Invitation to join the
L O P I N G W O L F
L O P I N G W O L F
Flute ‘n’ Drum Circle
This is updated as of October 24 2011, because I stumbled across some new info online. I'll bury it in the text below as soon as I figure out where the info goes.* (Also, I noticed font sizes were messed up, so tried to fix them.) -Dan
LOPING WOLF, formed in the Spring of 2006, is a group of friends bitten by "The Spirit of the (Native American) Flute", and subsequently “infected” with a “bad” disease – “Flute Fever”, a state of mind and a wonderful journey - a "disease" for which there is no known cure....
LOPING WOLF, formed in the Spring of 2006, is a group of friends bitten by "The Spirit of the (Native American) Flute", and subsequently “infected” with a “bad” disease – “Flute Fever”, a state of mind and a wonderful journey - a "disease" for which there is no known cure....
You are invited to join us on our Flute Journey and attend any and all of our events. Feel free to contact me in whatever manner works best for you. My contact information is pasted below in my signature block. So, as Sue and Ely say, “get your ‘A’ up there” (your ‘A’ minor flute), grab on and hold tight, because the “Journey” will be the BEST - a journey you will not forget.
PURPOSE -
LOPING WOLF seems to be “here” for three reasons:
[1] To play flutes and drums,
[2] To “lope after” and support Mary Youngblood - the First Lady of the Flute, and
[3] To play flutes and drums.
“WHY-LAWS” -
(This is my favorite legal statement. I know they are supposed to be “By-laws”, but ... why?)
[1] There are NO rules - only considerations.
[2] There are NO dues - however, donations gladly accepted.
[3] There is NO Board of Directors.
[4] And we do NOT worry. (We figured if there were something worrying us about FLUTES 'n' DRUMS, then we are doing something WRONG.)
BACKGROUND -
Since the "Spirit of the Flute" first came to each of us, we have learned that “The Spirit” knows no political boundaries, no nationalities, no tribes, no religious affiliations, no gender, no age, no amount of hair, and no body weight (now THAT'S a relief). “The Spirit” chose each of us for who we are. "The Spirit" does not care who are parents were, who we sleep with, or who we voted for in the last election.
"The Spirit of the Flute" manifests itself in the form of, what Mary Youngblood refers to as “a stick with holes in it” - a flute, whose “voice” is usually pleasant to the ear and whose “stick” is easy to play. It is a wonderful musical instrument.
Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition contains a great definition of “spirit” - “The life principle ... originally regarded as inherent in the breath or as infused by a deity....” This chosen definition of “spirit” encompasses the word “breath”, as the flute is classified as a “wind” instrument. So, after cutting and pasting together these thoughts, it could be stated that the “Spirit of the (Native American) Flute” is defined as “the Breath of the Creator, found within a stick of wood with holes in it.” Yep, that works for me.
Flute music of Mary Youngblood and John Rainer, Junior, as only two examples, reminds us of the “Breath of The Creator”. Flute music takes us away to deep, cosmic, and very comfortable levels of emotion. Listening to ourselves play flutes makes us feel like things are OK, that Creator chose us to channel “Its” breath - a humbling honor, to put it mildly.
However, it seems that none of us really had a choice. The Spirit of the Flute came to each of us and infected us with its terminal disease. Flute Fever makes us play because the sound of the flute appeals to us - it sounds good, and is easy to play. And, the appeal is so strong that we cannot resist, nor can we stop.
Because many of our flutes are tuned to a Pentatonic Scale, they are musically compatible with other players, a compatibility which makes it emotionally rewarding to play as a group. But what embodies the “Spirit of the Flute” can best be described by simply LISTENING to someone PLAY the flute.
And what about the drum in our name? Jim Brock told us the beat of the drum takes us back to the sound and feeling of our Mother and her heart, the first sound most of us ever heard. The feelings of life, time, order and love all come back to us as the drum plays with us. Our flutes sound empty without the drums and the other rhythm instruments we embrace in our Circle.
*Here - I'm going to locate my Oct 24 2011 update here -
*Here - I'm going to locate my Oct 24 2011 update here -
The work and contributions of Clint Goss continue to amaze me. His Flutopedia website is so great. I stumbled across a wonderful description of playing the Native American Flute that I had to share with you. Please look up http://www.flutopedia.com/playing.htm and read about “The Path….” (That's it. End *)
LOCATION -
LOPING WOLF hails from the Heart of Mary Youngblood Country, greater Northern California from the San Francisco Bay Area, up to the Oregon border and into Washington, down to Lake Tahoe and Nevada, and the Central California Valley. But if you look not much deeper, our roots are from places like Alaska, Florida, Europe, Asia, Africa, South American and even Australia. We have interested friends and contacts from all over the World.
And because we DO have interested friends and contacts from all over the World, it seems LOPING WOLF really has no "location" except Mother Earth. And getting back to the Spirit of the Flute having chosen each of us for who we are, it only makes sense to expand our energies, shed the restrictions of political boundaries, nationalities, tribes, religion, gender, and age, and to appropriately realize that who each of us is an "Earthling", if you really need to know.
INVITATION -
So, if you enjoy music of flutes and drums and feel you were called by their spirits, then you passed the audition and are invited to join LOPING WOLF - either actually, spiritually or just because you may want to be with us and play flutes and drums or simply listen. It does not matter. We have many levels of “membership”. (LOPING WOLF also has rattles, guitars, didges (sp?), dulcimers, harps, those jingly tingly things, Mason jars with a little water in them, duck calls and anything else that makes a pleasing sound - even saxophones! Just kidding, Tammy....)
We invite you to contact us via e-mail at flutecircle@lopingwolf.com or through our Website at www.lopingwolf.com .
MARY YOUNGBLOOD -
A single person is responsible for infecting us with “Flute Fever” - Two-Time Grammy Award winner and EMMY Nominee MARY YOUNGBLOOD - the First Lady of the Flute. Mary is our Queen. (The Brits even named a ship after her.... :-) LOPING WOLF listens to Mary's music CONSTANTLY, but to no avail - Flute Fever is here to stay. Mary is not curing us of "Flute Fever". Her music simply re-infects us every time we hear it, whether in person or on her CDs. Please check out her Website for a list of her events and descriptions of her music at http://www.maryyoungblood.com/ .
Mary is LOPING WOLF’s “Spiritual Leader”. She has a wonderful outlook on life, personified in her music. In real life, she is as personable as you would think - a Kindred Spirit. We all “lope” after her whenever we can and wherever she goes. LOPING WOLF would not exist if it were not for Mary Youngblood.
(A “drive-by fluting” is Mary’s term for gifting a flute to a young someone who peers longingly up at you from a crowd and is obviously bitten by the Spirit of the Flute - a charitable act that happens when you least expect it.)
A LITTLE MORE INFORMATION -
This “flute thing” is so huge that it baffles LOPING WOLF. We receive calls every week from people looking to join. Most of our information we share with everybody will be found on our Web page, so please check back often at www.lopingwolf.com.
And thanks to LOPING WOLF’s “in-house” producer Mike Ely you can catch examples of our fun times on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=busbydog&aq=f
Otherwise, we found that e-mail is the easiest way for us to get you a message. LOPING WOLF will try to identify ourselves in the “Subject” box, so you won’t think we are spamming you.
I address notes to you within my Bcc: (blind copy) address box to protect your address from other people seeing it, and to fool your E-mail provider into thinking you are NOT one of almost 300 recipients ("Spam"). (Our ESP told me this was a good way to do that. I know, I'm not too computer savvy, but, hey....)
FLUTE INFORMATION SOURCES & FLUTE MAKERS -
The Native American Flute (NAF) phenomenon is spreading around the Planet rapidly and changing daily. There is a lot of information and many flute makers out there, hundreds more sources than listed here. The following list is NOT all-inclusive and is presented in no particular order or priorities.
JP Gomez http://www.heartsongflutes.com/
Geoffrey Ellis http://www.earthtoneflutes.com/
Russ Venable http://www.rvflutes.com/
Stephen DeRuby DeRuby@sti.net http://www.deruby.com/
Colyn Petersen http://www.woodlandvoices.com/
Butch and Laura Hall http://www.butchhallflutes.com/
Alex Marshall and Ed Easter http://www.sierraflutes.com/
FairyRingMushroom Co. http://fairyringmushroom.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=page_2&language=en
FLUTE LESSONS -
Mary Youngblood
“Fluters” in the greater Sacramento area have an opportunity not to be missed. If you do not know, Mary Youngblood is local. She is the ONLY greater Sacramento personality to win two Grammys, and she lives right here in California’s state capital. She gives flute lessons at a most reasonable rate. http://www.maryyoungblood.com/ sheflute@comcast.net
Mike Oitzman http://www.naflute.com/
5-FINGER OR 6-FINGER FLUTES -
LOPING WOLF started out with 5-finger flutes, because they were a little easier to play. But now that we are getting so good - er – I mean, “EXPERIENCED”, we see the advantages of 6-finger flutes.
Besides, we now know that most 6-finger flutes can be played just like a 5-finger flute if you simply keep your 4th finger from the bottomed “glued” to that hole. We can discuss this more, later, in person….
Also, looking at the Stellar Flutes site, again, it appears there are 17 notes "available" on the 6-finger flute tablature charts. The 17-notes-available fact would give us more versatility in selecting songs we could play as a group, if we wanted to get "complementary" flutes in the same key.
That's all for now. More, later, I'm sure. I hope you will consider joining us.
-Dan
Sheree 'n' Dan DiCicco
10492 Gautier Drive
Auburn CA 95602-8514
(530) 269-2638 home
(530) 613-4197 Dan's cell
We are all related - more alike than we are different.
From the heart of MARY YOUNGBLOOD COUNTRY - www.maryyoungblood.com
At LOPING HORSE RANCH - www.lopinghorse.com
On the banks of LOPING CHICKEN CREEK we are the
LOPING WOLF Flute 'n' Drum Circle - www.lopingwolf.com
(A Clan of NCFC - The Northern California Flute Circle)
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