Public work, workshops

We each have innate gifts and abilities that sometimes get smothered or lay dormant. During a flute making workshop, skills that have been dormant or not recognized will be used and refined. People will work with sharp tools and fire. One young man who had been seriously burned as a child was very fearful of using the propane torch (to burn the finger holes into his flute). With some hand over hand guidance he was able to accomplish the job. This helped him to recognize many things about himself and to gain confidence by overcoming a fear he’d had for many years. He was then able to help others work with fire and continued to do so throughout the rest of our week together.

The process of teaching flute making begins by sharing information about my work and my relationship to the flutes. This includes thoughts on livelihood, respect, and how I choose to relate to the world around me. At this time, as throughout the entire process, people will be encouraged to ask questions. Dialogue will help us to get to know each other in an effort to build mutual trust and respect.

Each step of the flute making process will be thoroughly described and demonstrated to provide a safe and predictable environment, a healthy respect for the tools and a clear understanding of expectations. My efforts are directed toward providing an interactive environment where people feel empowered.

Each workshop is tailored to the time we have together, participants’ ages and (when possible) past experience. A typical basic workshop lasts about eight hours. Since I feel that it’s important for participants to leave with a flute that they can play, I have people construct their flute with bamboo. It’s a wonderful material that requires less wood-working and so allows us enough time to focus on the functional aspects of flute making and basic wood-working techniques. My hope is that participants will have the confidence and inspiration to apply the same techniques to creating flutes made of other woods and materials.