Flute Circles

I attended my first Flute Circle at Forest Park Nature Center (Peoria, IL)
The group was hosted by Randy Starnes of Thunderbird Flutes.

I was expecting something on par with the drum circles I have attended in the past, a chaotic blending of beats and rhythms with everyone just ripping away on his/her own percussion instrument. Technically, this same scheme would work for these flutes. These are native American style flutes, hence tuned to the pentatonic scale.

The beauty of the pentatonic scale is that all the notes sound nice together, so in theory, Randy could have turned us loose and the result would have been beautiful music. Sadly, where this breaks down is when not everyone has the same key flute. Thus, the way a flute circle is run is much more orderly, we go around the circle taking turns doing solo work.

– Anyway, it’s fun, you meet people, and get to listen to and play a little music. …. It’s all good.

For more information on Flute Circles, visit the International Native American Flute Circle Listserv