 “Some flutes are special and the people that play them are special. together they are going to live a life of healing. I make the flutes and send them to their new owners and into the universe with prayers for success.” Bill Hughes, Ph.D. Christine's Corner: Welcome to a corner of the Bill Hughes Flutes website on Hospice and Healing Flutes. I am Christine Oravec, otherwise known as Utah Chris. One fine day, Bill gifted me with a flute by surprise. After I got to know it pretty well, it took on its own life. It became a Hospice and Healing flute. Here I hope to share with you some information, experiences, stories and tips on using the Native American Flute in hospice and later on healing in general. What kind of life do my flutes have? My first flute, a tiger maple E flat, started as a demonstration model for one of Bill’s workshops, although it had the same great quality as a commissioned concert flute. The moment I played the fundamental note the full round sounds captivated me. I go with it on trips to rehabilitation and nursing homes, private residences, demonstrations and even board meetings. It’s seen pain and fear and suspicion; it has stirred interest, fascination and tears; and it has accompanied people as they transit to the life beyond this one. It’s been dinged, dropped, grabbed, forgotten, and retrieved, and still plays perfectly for hours on end. If I bring other Hospice flutes on my visits, this one comes too because it is a reliable and trusted friend. I’ve been playing for Zion’s Way Hospice in St. George Utah as a volunteer for much of the past two years. For a while I was the only flute player in the southwestern corner of the state that played Native American Flute as alternative palliative care. Since I started I’ve discovered several flute players across the country doing similar work. Our only connection is the Web or an occasional meeting at a flute festival. Please feel free to use this website as a place to obtain information, seek out inspiration, and reflect on the adventure of our flutes’ lives. Utah Chris
The Hospice Flute: Choosing Your Instrument
There are no hard and fast rules for selecting a Native American hospice/healing flute. In this column, I will discuss my experience choosing a hospice flute without suggesting it’s the only way to go. The first flutes I played in hospice were a tiger maple E flat and a bubinga G. The E flat came first, so I learned to play a lower flute from the beginning. Bill made the G for me so I could play more with other mid-range flutes. Both flutes came with me to hospice sessions. My clients started to hint that the G hurt their ears on the high notes, and they preferred to listen to the low, soft tones of the E flat. Soon, Bill made a Kauri wood flute for me. It was the lowest, longest flute I could play (bass C, 29 in. end-blown) but it had spectacular tone and resonance. I didn’t take it out for routine visits because it was a soft wood, and I didn’t want to ding it. (Okay, okay, it took a little time to learn to play it well.) Finally, the C and the E flat went on the road, and the G stayed at home. No more concerns about high notes. In fact, the C charmed everyone. It seemed to have a personality for hospice work. Yet the issue of wear and tear remained, even though it had a hard carrying case that kept it from damaging contact with car doors, bed rails and wheelchairs. It’s also clear that a 29 in. C flute is not for everyone. I just happen to have very big hands and long arms and even then the C pushed my limits. The puzzle became how to design a low-key hospice flute that had great sound, was easy to play, and responded well to health-care environments. In my next column, I’ll discuss the issues hospice flutists face if they want to play a lower-key flute with comfort and feeling. Utah Chris
The Special Role of Hospice Flutes ______________________________________________
In our last segment, I discussed my search for an ideal hospice flute. In this section I will describe the most important condition this flute must meet. Imagine this situation: a hospice patient has an estimated 24-48 hours to live. She or he is gasping or “panting” rapidly, using the upper chest muscles. There may be gaps or apneas in the breathing cycle that become longer as time goes on. Ultimately the gaps take thirty seconds. . . then a minute. . . then a last gasp occurs. Ninety seconds pass without a breath. The heart stops beating and no more oxygen reaches the brain. The passing is accomplished. In your role as flutist, you watch carefully and play notes in time with the breath. You can be so close to the patient’s breathing that you accompany the moment of passage. This can be a profound and moving experience that leaves you exhausted but spiritually alive. You bring about this synchrony of sound and breath by watching the patient’s chest and abdomen area intensely and playing along with their rise and fall. Fluting with the breath can also ease the agitation and anxiety of rapid breathing. First, you engage the rhythm, then you slow down and “entrain” the breath to follow. Often when the breathing slows I have watched the struggle cease and the patient “let go.” An end-blown flute, especially a long one like a bass/baritone C, forces your head and eyes downward making the patient’s breathing hard to see. A side-blown or transverse flute allows you to view the patient more easily by sighting directly over the fetish, block, or bird. A transverse flute also allows for more flexibility in your posture in case a session lasts for an hour or more. We’ve developed two criteria for hospice flutes: low key; and transverse design. In the next segment I’ll discuss one more criterion and introduce you to my new hospice flute. Utah Chris
My Hospice Flute
-------------------------------------------------------------------- What came of all this experimentation? My hospice flute is a bass/baritone C, sideblown, with custom-fitted finger holes. Sideblown flutes often end bluntly with a large flat surface just above the blowpipe so they look, in my opinion, top heavy. The upper end of this flute tapers in a pleasing way so it resembles a straight-blown flute as much as possible. I placed a turquoise cabochon on top of the tapered end to enhance the flute’s healing associations. The wood is a light but strong walnut. A final important feature of a working hospice flute is to be light enough to hold, particularly in a transverse position, for a long period of time. A typical session may last more than an hour, and playing a lower-key flute in a hard, dense wood could be very tiring. And the sound? The tone of this flute is full, soft, with dusky overtones and incredible reverb. Yet it plays both standard modes and the diatonic scale, so I can use it for popular music as well as traditional Native American songs. Recently, a client of mine received a smudge ceremony for purification and cleansing, and then gave me the honor of letting me play freely for an hour and a half. At the end of the session, he said, “I’ve had other musicians come and play the silver flute and the violin, and they were very good. But it was just music to me. The wooden flute enters my heart and puts me into another world—a world of spirit.” To all who read this column, have a peaceful and blessed new year.
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