Flute circle

A flute circle is an organization of musicians which focuses on the Native American flute. Flute circles typically meet periodically to engage in educational and recreational activities surrounding the instrument. Most flute circles offer instruction on the Native American flute, especially for flutists who are new to the instrument. Many flute circles have a facilitator with experience in group music facilitation and humanistic music education to structure the activities and the music-making.¹

This use of the Native American flute in community music is notably different from traditional uses of the instrument for courtship, hunting, or ceremony.² This new use of the instrument has not been without controversy, and flute circles are generally advised to use the instrument in a respectful manner because of these considerations.³

Flute circle participants may span a wide range of experience and training in music — from professionals to novice flutists or enthusiasts of the Native American flute.⁴ Many flute circles focus on raising the level of musicality of the participants across a range of levels of musical experience using basic song forms, music improvisation, and techniques of experiential music education. These techniques include duet and ensemble improvisation forms that include drones, ostinato patterns, and call and response forms.^5: 21–25 Facilitation forms include traveling ensembles, showcasing, segmenting, and general conducted improvisations — techniques that are shared with other community music structures such as drum circles.⁶⁷

While some flute circles focus on aspects of indigenous cultures and indigenous peoples of the Americas, they do not typically relate to a single culture or tribe.⁸

Flute circles can also organize events for participants to play at events, festivals, school presentations, or in service settings such as senior centers, elder facilities, and group homes. Flute circles have also engaged in their own concerts, produced music albums, and broadcast live music performances.⁹

Flute circles are one type of community music gathering. Other types include drum circles, community choirs, facilitated dance, and community orchestras. However, Mary Jane Jones argues in her thesis that flute circles have particular attributes not found in other types of community music gatherings:

If the goal of flute players is to express themselves through a Native American-based musical means, it could be argued that they should be able to do that just as effectively through drumming or dancing. The answer may lie with the fact that, as a wind instrument, the flute uses not just the hands, but also the breath. Singing is the ultimate form of personal musical expression. The sound is formed from within the body and the words from within the mind. For people who feel that their voices are inadequate or are hindered from singing traditional Native songs because of their inability to speak their ancestral language, using the breath to produce sound through a simple cylinder may serve as a satisfying substitute. The flute can give them a voice.^1: 57

Several national organizations have formed to provide support to local flute circles:

• WFS — World Flute Society (U.S.A.)
• FTF — FluteTree Foundation (U.S.A.) (formerly RNAFF, Renaissance of the North American Flute Foundation)
• JIFCA Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine — Japan Indian Flute Circle Association (日本インディアンフルートサークル協会) (Japan)

A roster of registered flute circles is maintained by WFS⁴ and FTF.¹⁰

As of March 13, 2016, the roster of flute circles in this article listed 189 organizations in 9 countries, including flute circles in 44 States of the United States and 5 Provinces of Canada.

The chart below depicts the historical number of flute circles registered with the WFS (shown in darker blue) and its predecessor organization, the International Native American Flute Association ("INAFA") (shown in lighter blue).

The data for years prior to 2016 were gathered on March 13, 2016 from historical WFS and INAFA web pages provided by the Wayback Machine. The data for 2016 and 2017 were gathered from the live WFS web site on March 4, 2016 and January 3, 2017, respectively.

The data point for each year was taken on the first date in the year that the respective web site was updated. Data for the years 2012–2014 represents the shift in organizations from INAFA to WFS. The data roughly agrees with the Jones thesis, which reported 115 flute circles on the INAFA roster in 2010.^1: 53

However, rosters of flute circles maintained by WFS and INAFA only represent flute circles that are registered with those organizations; it is not known how many flute circles exist worldwide.^1: 53

This list of flute circles, sorted alphabetically by location (country, then state or province). Only the name and location are provided in this list, along with a link. The link may be (in order of preference) to a Wikilink, a web address, a link to social media, or reference(s) to one or more web sites that maintain rosters of information about specific flute circles.⁴¹⁰¹¹

Please note that inclusion in this list does not represent any endorsement or certification of the organization that is listed. You may click through the link or visit the referenced roster(s) to see details for that organization:

• Flute Dreaming Circle (Margate, Byron Bay, Mullumbimby, and Bribie Island)
• Earthsong Flute Circle¹¹ (ACT — Kambah)

• Northern Alberta Native American Flute Circle (Grande Prairie)
• Kiwidinok Flute Circle⁴ (Edmonton)

• Nanaimo Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Nanaimo)
• Vancouver Island Flute Circle¹¹ (Vancouver)

• Native American Flute Association of Ontario (NAFAO)
• Kempenfelt Bay Flute Circle & Muskoka Woodland Echoes Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Barrie)
• Loon Echoes Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (North Bay)
• Northern Woods Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Uxbridge)
• Muskoka Woodland Echoes Flute Circle⁴ (Bracebridge)

• Québec City Flute Circle⁴ (Québec City)

• Saskatoon Flute Circle¹¹ (Saskatoon)

• Flautas de Amor Flute Circle (Montenegro)

• Japan Indian Flute Circle Association Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine (日本インディアンフルートサークル協会) (across Japan)
• Tokyo Flute Circle (フルートサークル in 東京)
• Happy Beat¹¹ (Nagoya — Aichi)

• Dutch and Belgium Native American Flute Circle (Bergen op Zoom) - Last edited on 09-08-2009

• Auckland Flute Circle Archived 2016-03-15 at the Wayback Machine (Auckland)
• Flute Swaray Archived 2016-03-15 at the Wayback Machine (Kapiti)
• Kapiti Flute Circle Archived 2016-03-14 at the Wayback Machine (Kapiti)
• Palmerston North Flute Circle Archived 2016-03-15 at the Wayback Machine (Palmerston North)
• Wellington Flute Circle⁴ (Wellington)

• Andean Native American Flute Circle¹¹ (Cusco)

• Walkingthunder Native American Flute Circle¹¹ (West Midlands — Coventry)
• North Kent Native American Flute Circle¹¹ (Welling — Kent)

• Alaska Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Anchorage)

• Westside Flute Circle (Tucson)
• Voyager Flute Circle (Tucson)
• Tucson Flute Circle (Tucson)
• Payson Flute Circle (Payson)
• CherryCows Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Tucson)
• Quartzsite Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Quartzsite)
• Green Valley Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Green Valley)
• Central Arizona Flute Circle¹¹ (Cottonwood)
• Tucson Five Star Flute and Drum Circle⁴ (Tucson)
• Yuma County Flute Circle⁴ (Yuma)
• Arizona Flute Circle⁴ (Phoenix)
• Tucson Presidio Flute Circle⁴ (Tucson)
• Tucson Kokopelli Native American Flute Circle⁴ (Tucson)
• Raa-ca-coons¹¹ (Apache Junction)
• Montezuma Castle Flute Circle¹¹ (Camp Verde)
• Yavapai Flute Circle¹¹ (Prescott)
• Forest Sounds Flute Circle¹¹ (Sun City)
• Desert Whispers Flute Circle of Tucson¹¹ (Tucson)

• Bentonville Native American Flute Circle (Bentonville)
• Healing Hearts Flute and Drum Circle⁴¹¹ (Van Buren)

• Central Coast Flute Circle (Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo)
• Los Angeles World Flute Circle (Los Angeles)
• San Luis Rey Native American Indian Flute Circle Archived 2016-03-12 at the Wayback Machine (Oceanside)
• Ancient Winds Flute Circle (Orange County)
• Inland Empire Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Cherry Valley)
• San Diego County Flute Circle⁴ (Potrero)
• West Los Angeles Flute Circle⁴ (Los Angeles)
• Pax Lobos (Gentle Wolves) Flute Circle⁴ (Auburn)
• Orange County Wooden Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Anaheim)
• Mountainside Flute Circle¹¹ (Cameron Park)
• Southern California Flute Circle¹¹ (Modjeska Canyon)
• Yosemite Flute Circle¹¹ (Oakhurst)
• Coachella Valley Flute Circle¹¹ (Palm Desert)
• East Bay Flute Circle¹¹ (SF Bay Area / Union City)
• Northern California Flute Circles
  • Bay Clan — San Francisco / Oakland / San Jose areas
  • Joaquin Clan — Modesto / Fresno areas
  • Loping Wolf — Sacramento area
  • NoNahme Clan — Garden Valley area
  • Valley Clan — Napa and Sonoma counties

• Pike Peak Flute Circle Archived 2016-03-12 at the Wayback Machine (Colorado Springs)
• Purple Mountain World Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Evergreen)
• Southwestern Colorado Flute Circle⁴ (Durango)
• Native American Flute Players of Colorado⁴ (Colorado Springs)
• Grand Valley Flute Circle¹¹ (Grand Junction)
• Northern Colorado Flute Circle¹¹ (Fort Collins)
• Mile High Flute Circle¹¹ (Denver)
• Rocky Mountain Flute Circle¹¹ (Kittredge)

• Connecticut Native American Flute Circle (West Hartford)

• Whispering Woods Native American Flute Circle (Wilmington)

• Indian River Flute Circle (Cocoa)
• Central Florida Flute Circle (Plant City)
• Gainesville Flute Circle (Gainesville)
• Native Son Flute Circle (Hudson)
• Riverwind Flute Circle (Leesburg)
• Southlake Flute Circle Archived 2016-03-12 at the Wayback Machine (Clermont)
• The Journey Flute Group⁴ (Bonita Springs)
• Woodland Echoes Flute Circle¹¹ (Gainesville)
• Cotee River Flute Circle¹¹ (New Port Richey)
• Emerald Coast Flute Circle¹¹ (Pensacola)
• Sunshine Music Circles (St Petersburg, FL)

• Georgia Heron House Flute Circle / Healing Waters⁴¹¹ (Atlanta)

Georgia Flute Circle of Atlanta

• Boise Flute Circle⁴ (Boise)

• Henry Presbyterian Church Flute Circle Archived 2016-03-25 at the Wayback Machine
• Senachwine Flute Circle (Henry / Putnam)
• River Spirit Flute Circle (Peoria)
• Rainbow Warrior Society Native American Flute Circle (Rockford)
• Healing Winds Flute Circle (Hinsdale)
• Healing Earth Native American Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Hawthorn Woods)
• River Song Flute Circle⁴ (Evergreen Park)
• Living Water Native American Flute Circle⁴ (Downers Grove)
• River City Flute Circle⁴ (Chillicothe)
• Sangamon Valley Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Springfield / Chatham)
• Spirits on the Wind Flute Circle⁴ (Bolingbrook)
• Woodland Spirit Flute Circle¹¹ (Crystal Lake)
• River Spirit Flute Circle¹¹ (Sparland)
• Chicago Native Flute Circle¹¹ (Wilmette)

• Indiana Flute Circle

Indiana Flute Circle (Indianapolis)

• Fairfield Flute Circle¹¹ (Fairfield)
• Two Rivers Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (West Des Moines)
• Rolling Hills Flute Circle⁴ (Centerville)
• Cedar Valley Flute Society⁴ (Marion)

• Prairie Wind Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Topeka)

• Louisiana Native American Flute Circle (Baton Rouge)
• Red River Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Shreveport)
• Cedar Branch Bayou Flute and Drum Circle¹¹ (Holden)

• Spirit Raven Flute Circle¹¹ (East Boothbay)

• Maryland Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Timonium)
• Chesapeake Shore Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Stevensville)
• Windsongs Native American Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Havre de Grace / Bel Aire)

• Woodland Flute Circle Archived 2016-03-12 at the Wayback Machine
• Friends of the Native American Flute Circle⁴ (East Longmeadow)
• Flutes of Noepe Circle¹¹ (Vineyard Haven)

• Chippewa Valley Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Sanford)
• Paint Creek Flute Circle¹¹ (Rochester Hills)
• Gitchee Gumee Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Marquette)
• Mitigwake Giiwitaashkaa ("Forest Circle")⁴ (Midland)
• MagicWind Flute Circle⁴ (Clinton)

• Ten Thousand Lakes Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (St. Paul)
• Bemidji Area Native American Flute Circle⁴

• Hattiesburg Native American Flute Circle⁴ (Hattiesburg)

• Native American Flute Circle of St. Louis (St. Louis)
• Ozarks Heartland Flute Circle (Springfield)
• SpiritTalkers Native American Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Kansas City Area)
• Native Spirit Winds Flute Circle⁴ (St. Louis)
• Joplin Native American Flute Circle¹¹ (Joplin)

• Northern Winds Flute Circle Archived 2016-03-28 at the Wayback Machine (Bozeman)
• Big Sky Flute Circle¹¹ (Geraldine)

• Ni-Shudo Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Omaha)

• Desert Cloud Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Boulder City)

• Ancient Voices Musical Community (Manchester)
• Prana Flute Circle (Manchester)

• Skylands Native American Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Hackettstown)
• Open Flute Circle and Music Improvisation⁴ (Jersey City)
• Whispering Winds Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Monmouth Junction)

• Wind Spirit Native American Flute Circle Archived 2016-03-12 at the Wayback Machine (Albuquerque)
• Songs of the Mountain Flute Circle⁴ (Sandia Park)
• Desert Winds Flute Circle¹¹ (Eunice)
• Mesilla Valley Flute Circle¹¹ (Las Cruces)

• Songcatcher Flute Circle (Florida, Mid/Lower Hudson Valley)
• Great Spirit Native American Flute Circle Archived 2016-03-26 at the Wayback Machine (New York City)
• Finger Lakes Flute Circle (Rochester)
• Tall Pine Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Delanson)
• Silver Lakes Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Staten Island)
• Hudson Valley Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Staatsburg)
• Sunset Serenade Native American Flute and Acoustic Rhythms Group⁴¹¹ (Stuyvesant)
• Folkwinds Flute Circle¹¹ (Fair Haven)

• Asheville Flute Circle Archived 2016-03-12 at the Wayback Machine (Asheville)
• Neuse River Flute Circle (Roxboro / Raleigh)
• Piedmont Flute Circle Archived 2016-03-12 at the Wayback Machine (Chatham, Orange, and Durham counties)
• Bear Tracks Flute Circle⁴ (Hendersonville)
• Kokopelli Native American Flute Circle¹¹ (Highpoint)

• Cincinnati Native American Flute Circle (Cincinnati)
• Central Ohio Native American Flute Circle Archived 2016-03-12 at the Wayback Machine (Grove City)
• Massie Creek Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Cedarville)
• Miami Valley Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Dayton)

• Oklahoma Native American Flute Circle Archived 2015-10-16 at the Wayback Machine (Norman)

• Ni-Shudo (Smoky Water) Flute Circle Archived 2015-05-25 at the Wayback Machine (Omaha)

• Ashland Flute Circle (Ashland)
• Cascadia Flute Circle (Portland)
• http://www.columbiariverflutecircle.org (Hillsboro, Banks, Manning)
• Pacific Northwest Flute Circle
• Coos Bay Flute Circle¹¹ (Coos Bay)
• Mid Valley Flute Circle¹¹ (Corvallis)
• Oregon Flute Circle¹¹ (Eugene)
• Bear In-Stinx Flute Circle¹¹ (Grant's Pass)

• The Pennsylvania Native American Flute Circle (Harrisburg / Hershey)
• Warriors of the Light Flute and Drum Circle⁴¹¹ (Templeton)
• Susquehanna Native American Flute and Drum Circle (Gettysburg)
• Wind Dancers Native American Flute and Drum Circle¹¹ (Nanty Glo)
• Turtle Moon Native American Flute Circle (Reading-Berks, Pennsylvania)

• Rhode Island Flute Circle¹¹ (Cranston)

• Cherokee Foothills Flute Circle Archived 2016-03-12 at the Wayback Machine (Greenville and Spartanburg counties)
• Low Country Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Yemassee)
• Carolinas Flute Circle¹¹

• Smoky Mountain Flute Circle (Knoxville / Townsend)
• Flute Circle of Lebanon⁴¹¹ (Lebanon)
• Cherokee Winds Flute and Drum Circle¹¹ (Winchester)
• Texoma Native American Flute Circle¹¹ (Burkburnett)

• Lone Star Flute Circle Archived 2016-03-12 at the Wayback Machine (Austin)
• Heart of the Cedar Flute Circle Archived 2016-01-01 at the Wayback Machine (Richardson)
• Spring Cypress Native American Flute Circle (Spring)
• Greater Houston Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Houston)
• Fort Worth Flute Circle¹¹ (Fort Worth)

• Park City Flute Circle Archived 2016-03-12 at the Wayback Machine (Park City area)
• Utah Flute Circle Archived 2016-03-12 at the Wayback Machine 9812 Spruce Grove South Jordan ut
• Zion Flute Circle (St. George)

• Native American Church of Virginia Flute Circle (Bluemont)
• Northern Virginia Flute Circle (Vienna)
• Potomac Flute Circle (Springfield)
• Winchester Native American Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Winchester)
• Spiritheart Flute and Drum Circle of the Shenandoah Valley⁴ (Staunton)
• Virginia Piedmont¹¹ (Culpeper county)

• Good Medicine Flute Circle (Everett)
• Cascade Flute Circle (Kirkland)
• One Heart Flute Circle (Bothell)
• Firewheel Flute Circle (Everett)
• Spirit Song Flute Circle (Maple Valley)
• Wind Spirit Flute Circle (Puyallup)
• Saltwater Park Flute Circle (Des Moines)
• Golden Winds Flute Circle¹¹ (Goldendale)

• West Virginia Native American Flute Circle¹¹ (Elkins)

• Healing Spirit Flute Circle Archived 2016-03-12 at the Wayback Machine (Milwaukee)
• Central Wisconsin Flute Circle⁴ (Stevens Point)
• Clear Water Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Chippewa Falls)
• Downtown Milwaukee Healing Spirit Flute Circle⁴ (Oak Creek)
• Madison Four Lakes Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Madison)
• Mitakuye Oyasin Flute Circle⁴ (Ashippun)
• Kokopelli Flute Circle⁴ (Metro Milwaukee)
• Wequiock Falls Flute Circle⁴ (Green Bay)
• North East Wisconsin Flute Circle⁴¹¹ (Baileys Harbor)
• Wokini Flute Circle¹¹ (Ashippun / Waterloo)
• Spirit Lake Flute Circle¹¹ (Baraboo)

References

References

1. Mary Jane Jones (August 2010). Revival and Community: The History and Practices of a Native American Flute Circle (M.A.). Kent State University, College of the Arts / School of Music.
2. Frances Densmore (1957). "Music of Acoma, Isleta, Cochiti, and Zuñi Pueblos". Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology. 165. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office.
3. Edward Wapp, Jr. (1984). "The American Indian Courting Flute: Revitalization and Change". Sharing a Heritage: American Indian Arts, Edited by Charlotte Heth and Michael Swarm. Contemporary American Indian Issues Series, Number 5. Los Angeles: American Indian Studies Center, UCLA: 49–60.
4. World Flute Society (2016). "Flute Circles, Clubs, and Groups". WFS. Archived from the original on 2016-02-11. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
5. James Oshinsky (January 2008). Return to Child — Music for People's Guide to Improvising Music and Authentic Group Leadership (Second ed.).
6. Arthur Hull (1998). Drum Circle Spirit: Facilitating Human Potential Through Rhythm. White Cliffs Media. ISBN 0-941677-84-2.
7. Arthur Hull (2006). Drum Circle Facilitation. Village Music Circles. ISBN 0-9724307-1-7.
8. James H. Howard (1983). "Pan-Indianism in Native American Music and Dance". Ethnomusicology. 27 (1): 71–82. doi:10.2307/850883. JSTOR 850883.
9. Clint Goss (November 2015). "Thriving Flute Circles". Overtones!. 2015 (4): 9–11.
10. FluteTree Foundation (2016). "Flute Circles Directory". FTF. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
11. Odell Borg (2016). "Flute Circles in the USA / International Flute Circles". Retrieved 2016-03-12.