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Flute Lore, Flute Tales: Artifacts, History, and Stories About the
Flute is my new E-book published under Couchgrass Books. It is aimed for YA, 8 to 18-year-olds, though
it is for anyone.
Explore the flute’s four types as they have
appeared on most continents since prehistoric times. This book follows the
discovery of artifacts and the historical impact of the instrument. Stories are
included in many chapters. Myths, legends, and fairytales are re-told as they
pertain to a regional flute. Sumer, the ancient Mediterranean world, Africa,
India, the Orient, the Americas, and Europe are presented. The last pages cover
eminent flautists, women musicians, jazz flutists, and finally, musical groups
and performers who have made the traditional and folk instruments popular
again.
Available at Amazon and Lulu Bookstore. Soon to be available as a Nook Book at Barnes & Noble, and also in the iBookstore at iTunes. The paperback is in layout phase and planned also, although because of the color photos, it will cost more than most paperbacks.
This is a book I had planned
for years. I began researching it in the
1980s, and while I established my used bookstore at eBay, I collected
flutes. I obtained them, tried them,
learned about them, and then I would sell one and obtain another. During those years, archeologists were publishing
stunning new evidence of prehistoric flutes.
If I had written the book in the 1980s, it wouldn’t have included
information about flutes older than anyone ever imagined.
I nearly went out for a career
in flute performance. As a teenager, I
took from Minnesota Orchestra flautist, Sidney Zeitlin. Although I didn’t go to a music conservatory, I
continued to play at college, and after that, played for weddings and for
musicals until I was in my early 30s.
My mother was a string teacher and my paternal grandfather was a
professional French hornist. He played
for Sousa when the great composer was an older man. He wasn’t even sure Sousa knew his first
name. The story is that while they were
traveling by train, Sousa came into his train car and addressed my grandfather
by his first name, Burr.
Music was part of my upbringing
although my father never followed that career.
He tried the violin but liked playing baseball better. Yet he could hum along with French horn
concertos.
I wanted to sing but I didn’t
have a voice. So the flute was a great
instrument to learn. It wasn’t until I
was much older that I learned how ancient the instrument was. Its legacy and its place in societies
fascinated me. I consider it a magical instrument
because of a belief concerning its effect on the player. Now when I play, it is to remember the
flute’s personality and how it was good for mine.
At first, I wanted to collect stories
about the flute. But delving into its
amazing history, I couldn’t help but tell its authenticated story. And the flutes around the world – it is
almost as if the instrument was a part of being human, usually the first
melodic instrument in a society, developed apart from other world flutes. Its sound accompanied many human stories
which are couched into its history, enhancing it rather than conflicting with
it.
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