Learning the songs

(fall '07)ARLEE — Navajo flute maker Paul Thomson was in Arlee last week to teach and perform.
Thompson has been making native flutes for over 20 years. He began as a boy, when he first wanted to play. “I learned to play transverse bamboo flute,” he said, “but I wanted to play native flute.”
So he began making his own.
“These things have been around for thousands of years,” he said, fingering a flute. Originally, the flutes were made of many materials, Thompson stated. From bird-bone for whistles to ash and other woods, the flutes were made of materials at hand.
Thompson said playing and flute making are like life – you have to let the process flow. “I have no conception of time, “ he stated.
Thompson was in Arlee thanks to the efforts of Julie Cajune, Director of Salish Kootenai College’s Tribal History Project.
In collaboration with Npustin, a native nonprofit that promotes indigenous arts, Cajune brought both Thompson and Seattle “world flutist” Gary Stroutsos to Arlee to teach the eighth graders in SKC’s Youth Empowerment Program. The program is a cultural enrichment and academic program, said Kim Sprow, Prevention Specialist at both Ronan and Two Eagle River schools.
The Youth Empowerment Program focuses on at-risk youth, encouraging them to take control of their lives through traditional native arts.
“We’re trying to get young people interested again,” Cajune said.
Interested they were.
Young men and women practiced diligently, playing on New Mexico river cane flutes. Student Jasmine Ellenwood-Auld said they had to be comfortable playing five distinct chords, before they could learn any songs.
She and the other students piped away on the flutes, which are “sized for children,” she said. “They have smaller holes that are closer together,” she explained, so that the youths’ fingers better fit the instruments.
While Stousos taught them the basics of music, Thompson smiled at his charges. “For me, because they’re native flutes, I’m here.”