Native American flutes by Jonah Thompson. Video of Jonah completing and testing cedar flutes.
Jonah Thompson Flutes… A Personal Note
Did you like that title? ;-)
Native American Flutes are magical. They can be almost sell binding. If you play or have heard Native flute music you know what we mean. It just seems to bring a calm over your spirit.
One of the great things about a Native six hole flute, is that anyone can enjoy them. The flute is simple to learn and play. If you haven’t discovered them yet, you are in for a real treat.
Jonah Thompson learned to make flutes from his Uncle on the Navajo Indian reservation in Arizona where he grew up. His uncle, Bear, had a great skill that Jonah wanted to learn as a young person. To begin, he gave Jonah a flute and told him, “go sit under that tree and learn to play.” Not only did he learn to play and craft flutes but he became a very accomplished craftsman and musician.
Jonah shared with us, an experience that had special importance to him. Jonah studied music theory in college. When he decided to add music theory to his schedule, he needed the teacher’s permission because the class was already full.
When he went to look for the teacher he found and Indian teacher talking to another man. He asked if they knew where he could find the theory professor.
The Indian professor asked why he wanted him and Jonah answered, that he wanted to see if he would allow him to join his class. To Jonah’s surprise, the man asked if he was Navajo. Jonah answered yes and signed his entrance paper, he was the teacher.
Jonah didn’t realize the teacher was an American Indian because he had an English name. He explained that years ago, when the Navajo children were forced into boarding schools, they were not allowed to use their Indian names or speak their Native language. Many Indian families would ask white families if they could use their family names believing that it would give their children an advantage and good luck in the future.
So, Jonah said that he thought it was pretty neat that he got to study music theory from an Indian.
Jonah makes his flutes by hand. Each one is carefully sanded and oiled or stained and individually tuned by hand.
The animal wind blocks are cut from blocks of wood on the saw, then carved by hand. You wouldn’t believe it, but he says his tool of choice is an old grey utility knife like you might use for cutting open a cardboard box. He says that the “awkward knife” is easier to handle and he can work quicker with it.
Making the flutes is a lot of work but it pays off with a finished instrument that is just incredible. Jonah now receives invitations to perform all over the country and his flutes, especially the cedar ones are highly sought after.
We caught up with Jonah in his work shop one day as he was finishing some cedar flutes. Even though he was hot and dirty, he allowed us to shoot some quick video clips of him playing the flutes for us to share with you.
We put together a quick video below that we are going to use on the website if you would like to see and hear the flutes…
Both cedar flutes in the video are tuned to the key of F#, our most popular flute, for both experienced musicians and beginners because it is the same key as the CD lessons in our lesson book. You can see more of Jonah Thompson’s Native American flutes on our website with a choice of hand carved animal totem wind blocks.
