FluteFlights.com:The book, Campfire Flute, teaches NA flute

Jump-Start Flute learn the Native American flute in minutes

JUMP-START FLUTE: Picture yourself sitting around a campfire with your friends. You are far out in the woods, away from noisy civilization. The fire cracks and pops, and all are content as they find themselves literally melding with nature. Now you reach into your backpack and pull out your beautiful Native American flute. You blow a few soft notes. The children, nestled in the arms of their parents, sleep peacefully. Now you add some structure to the tune you've started. The notes are sweet as they weave themselves among the smoke and blissful life-giving heat. Before you realize it, you are becoming one with the flute. Those around the campfire are gently taken to a new place, a new space. Any tension that may have been present in any of you dissipates as the beautiful melody of the flute encircles and embraces you.

Of course, you can play the flute in any setting—not just around a campfire. You can play the flute for your children, your lover, your friends, your pet. Your beautiful music may even calm down an enemy or two. And it doesn't matter if you're sitting around a campfire, or out on your patio, because the flute will perform its magic on you and everyone around you, regardless of the setting. All you have to do is play it. And that's what Campfire Flute will do for you. It will take you from knowing absolutely nothing about the flute, to playing it with expertise and authority, and with that expertise you will experience a great peace. Even if you've never played any kind of musical instrument before, you can play the flute. Not all of us have the potential to be great musicians. Not all of us are physically gifted so the instrument we choose to play becomes putty in our skilled grasp. And not all of us have the musical imagination to compose our own tunes from scratch. But this doesn't mean we can't enjoy the instrument we might choose to play. Countless enthusiastic people who have wanted to make music have undoubtedly muttered to themselves in frustration, "If I could just find a good book to show me how, I'd be a terrific musician." If you have had these same thoughts, this book is what you've been looking for.

Bottom line? Jump-Start Flute is the perfect introduction to playing the NAF in the Native American way.

MAGIC MODULES TO LEARNING THE NATIVE AMERICAN FLUTE -

Have you ever played with a child's construction set? Think building blocks, Legos, Tinker Toys, Erector Set, etc.. All these sets have modules that allow you to fit them together into something brand new. The two module tables in Jump-Start Flute give us this same construction-set power. Even if you have no background in music, these four-note modules will let you build your own flute tunes. And you will sound like a pro in mere minutes. Each table has 15 modules, making a total of 30 modules. This gives you the power to compose an almost infinite number of tunes! If you are interested in a fast track to learning the Native American flute, these module tables will truly jump start your efforts.

The illustration to the left is specifically the NW corner of Module Table 1. Each tabbed note has a duration of one beat. The table has three columns and five rows, making 15 modules. Module Table 2 has some tied notes, but it's not pictured here. The modules from these two tables can be intermixed, and when you become more comfortable with playing your flute you will undoubtedly welcome the chance to intermix to make more interesting tunes.

Jump-Start tablature details

MODULE DETAILS -

What makes the EarthFlute series so inovative is its powerful tablature notation. We call this new tablature notation "TurboTABs". This tablature is an expansion of the traditional tablature by implementing a few features of standard music notation to make each note more meaningful. If you would like to know the details of TurboTABs, just click.

The left-hand illustration shows two modules that, at first glance, look to have the same notes. They do have the same notes. But the tied pairs are different, and this seemingly minor detail makes the modules sound different. Module Table 2, not shown on this page, uses many tied note pairs in its modules. Tied notes greatly add variety to your playing. The main books go into even greater depth with its tabbed tunes, but the Jump-Start Flute book is a perfect start that will keep the frustration of beginning students of the flute to a minimum. This is the way you want to learn the flute. You need an intelligently constructed method so you don't spend unnecessary hours trying to learn the flute. The EarthFlute series is this intelligently constructed method, regardless of which EF book you might go with.

Jump-Start Flute sample tablature Vision Quest

A TUNE FROM THE BOOK -

There are many practice tunes in the book that are composed from the module tables. To the left is a short tune that shows how easy all this really is. The Jump-Start book will show you how to interpret each note in the tablature, and this particular tune is a typical 4-bar tune from the book. (Some of the tunes are eight bars long.) Regardless of what type of 6-hole you might play, these introductory tunes will sound wonderful to anyone who listens, and that includes yourself. Whether you are a serious musician, or a hobbyist, this book will take the pain out of learning the Native American flute.

Jump-Start Flute Native American flute book index page

The Jump-Start Flute book assumes you know nothing about the Native American flute. But even if you do, you will find the included 19 tunes fun to play. The last tune in the book, First Prayer, is one of the easy tunes from the Celebrate the Native American Flute book, and this tune is a perfect segway into whatever method book you have. (Remember that this book, Jump-Start Flute, is part of whatever EarthFlute package you might buy.)