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W.
Keith Park and Nicole (Stands Alone) Wynsen Keith:
I am told, that my Great-Great Grandmother was full blood Crow. Not much
is known of her except that at that time her heritage was never to be
discussed in the family. It was the custom of the time that any Indian
married or wanting to live among the ‘whites’ needed to
‘assimilate’, to drop all Indian customs and put away their heritage.
She did, and because of her devotion to the times or perhaps her desire to
stay alive, her heritage and ancestry were not recorded nor passed down,
and forever lost. My mother, being keen on genealogy and research, is
currently going over newly discovered information. Though she now has
pictures of her, no documentation has yet been found. Nicole:
My Grandmother is full blood Abenaki, now in her eighties and doing well.
She was born and raised on the Odanak reserve in Canada. Her mother and brother are acknowledged in the book
‘Western Abenaki Dictionary’ by Dr. Gordon Day as credited in helping
the author in the language translation. We
have chosen as our company name the Abenaki word for ‘mountain’, which
is ‘Wajo’.
Started
in1998. Development of the first flute (F#) took one year. The E flute
fell in place a few months later only because it shares the same inside
and outside diameters. The G
and A flutes took another 6 months of development; they share the same
inside and outside diameters as well. The low D is still being developed,
but the prototype plays well. The low C is still on the drawing board. Who/What Prompted Us To Make Flutes: Keith:
I have a background in music playing piano, saxophone and guitar, (and a
professional background in mechanical engineering and computers).
I never really had that ‘knack’ to play by ear and just pick up
an instrument and play unless using sheet music. I also have always had a
desire to work with wood (at an amateur level, usually restoring my own
antique furniture). One night meditating, listening to flute music, the
designs of a flute rustled through my mind. It didn’t take long for me
to run with that vision and see what I could come up with. Merging my
engineering ideas and woodworking hobby easily led to the desire to craft
a flute. With Nicole’s
inspiration and carving abilities we dove head first, without ever-even
holding a flute in our hands, we started designing. Nicole: I am an artist and enjoy crafting things, however, personally I don’t believe either of us alone would have had the notion to make flutes. I believe it has become our destiny together. So I would say ‘Keith is who prompted me to make flutes’ and ‘Destiny is what prompted me to make flutes’.
One
year after our first flute was finished, Nicole gifted me with a ‘Hawk
Littlejohn’ flute in F#. It
resides as a standard and goal as to what I want to achieve as our own
flutes evolve.
We
use the horizontal split-half technique (opposed to boring). And yes, a
few power tools are used, but the final roundness, finish, and tuning is
done strictly by hand. The goal is to produce a quality flute; true to
it’s key in tuning and expertly crafted to withstand the test of time.
It’s even constructed with periodic tune-ups in mind. It can easily be
resurfaced and tuned simply with sandpaper, a flat block and small file.
It is designed as a rugged and rough flute ready for that favorite
out-of-the-way place, hiking or backpacking (hence, as our name implies;
the ‘mountain flute’.).
We
craft 6-hole Woodland style flutes. We
have found that we can construct a 5-hole pattern by just eliminating the
drilling of the 6th hole.
This does not change the flutes overall dimensions. Final tuning
compensates. So if one desired the 5-hole pattern, it is easily done at
the manufacturing stage. But
I prefer the 6-hole for the extra range of sound and sound-effects one can
produce. The style is of the woodland tradition, which I interpret as a shorter straight-blunt mouthpiece, opposed to a longer tapered mouthpiece.
We
tune to the pentatonic scale using a digital chromatic tuner.
Keith:
The flutes were an inspiration from the heart and soul, and developed from
listening to Native American flute music over the past decades. I had
never seen a professional flute player in concert, read any literature on
flute making, or even owned a flute from another maker until 2000. Once I
had my first flute in hand and stumbled over the basics of learning to
play, the music just flowed. It
has now become a part of me. As I had spoke of earlier, I had never been
able to just pick up an instrument and play.
This I can, and I play for hours on end. As we produce flutes in
other woods, techniques and keys, the subtleties of each flute become
apparent. We are always amazed at the tones and sounds developed of each
flute. They each play uniquely, with their own voice and their own song
(a statement spoken by every flute maker and on every flute website,
but not really understood until you take the journey yourself.).
And speaking of a flutes own song, my next goal is to record a few of
them. Nicole:
This flute-making journey, like life’s journey, has not always been an
easy one. We started the journey together. We both enjoyed the music of
the Native American Flute for many years. My favorite music was that of R.
Carlos Nakai and Robert Mirabal. Our flute-making journey was ‘our
mountain.’ We stood at the bottom of the mountain and we urged each
other onward. We had no guide, no trail, no idea how to reach the top of
the mountain, but that is our journey, to reach the top. Each new day
brings us closer to our goal. We know nothing about our journey but what
the flutes teach us, we travel with them up the mountain. The first flute
we made, deemed #1, will always be the sweetest voice of all. Even now,
not another voice can be heard above hers. She is the strongest and the
sweetest. She is the ideal to which we strive to improve upon. She is
proof of our destiny. Together the flutes speak to our hearts and we
follow our hearts. I believe our ancestors are standing at the top of our
mountain urging us upward and onward. So our journey continues. Our
Prayer:
Wajo
Woodland Creations WAJO Woodland Creations 30751 Paseo El Arco San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675
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