Thanks for taking the time to read my bio page its a little long but it is hard to shorten my journey with the NAF into a couple of paragraphs.

I had never even heard of the Native American Flute. I pretty much only listened to country music with a little hard rock thrown in on occasion. A friend of mine found out I was of Choctaw descent and one day handed me a tape of flute music by Kevin Locke. I thanked her very much and promptly threw the tape under the seat of my car. Several weeks later, I was sitting in traffic bored rummaging around in the car for something new to listen to. I reached under the seat and stumbled across that tape that had been given to me. I peeled the plastic off and popped it into the tape player. I then heard one of the most beautiful sounds I have ever heard. I was transfixed it was so amazing it called to my soul. Needless to say I was hooked. I listened to that tape until it wore out and then bought another copy.

I began to wonder more about the instrument itself and looked it up on the Internet. It seemed to be very simple; heck it only had a couple of holes. Then I started to wonder if I could learn to play it. Now keep in mind, I was almost kicked out of grade school band. I have never been able to play any instrument, and believe me I had tried several. I finally got a hold of a flute and began to play with it, at first it sounded horrible, nothing like what I had heard on that tape, but I kept at it. I played the scales until I couldnt stand to hear them anymore. But the more I played the more relaxed I became, the more relaxed I became the better it started to sound, and so the journey began. One of the really cool things about this simple little instrument is even though it is relatively simple to get pleasing noises from it you can spend a life time learning all the little nuances the flute is capable of.

As my journey with the flute continued, I became increasingly aware of strange little things surrounding this instrument. I had already felt the calming affect that it had on me. No matter how bad my day had been, when I played all the negative energy would just leave me. I was returning from vacation and had the chance to visit Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota. It was a place that I had always wanted to visit and upon arrival, I was a bit depressed at the swarms of people scattered across the grounds, I had been wanting to play my flute there, but I didnt really want to create a spectacle. It was just something I want to do for myself. I wandered around a bit; it is a beautiful place, just an oasis of trees surrounded by the plains. I wandered up an out of the way little trail, where the people were not so thick; I found a comfortable rock to sit on and began to play. The strange thing was for the 10 minutes or so I was playing it was as if I had the whole place to myself. No one walked by, I couldnt hear anyone walking around, it was just me and this sacred place. Words cant really describe it.

The third flute I own came to me in a very interesting way. I went to the Mohegan Sun Casino one evening. I had never been there and decided to go grab a bite to eat and gamble a little. After dinner I browsed through the shops and in one of them, they had some flutes in a glass case. Well of course I cant ever keep my hands off a flute. I asked the lady behind if I could play it. She brought it out and it had this little coyote jumping over a star on the side I asked who the maker was, she told me it was one of the guys from the group Coyote Oldman. I played the flute and fell in love with it. I looked at the price tag and then quietly handed the flute back to the woman. As I left the store, I told the woman behind the counter jokingly that I would hit a jackpot and come back and buy that flute. She laughed wishing me luck. I went downstairs and put 20.00 in a slot machine and about 30 minutes later hit a jackpot for over 400 dollars. I immediately went back up and bought that flute.

A few months later I was invited to attend an Inipi ceremony. I was changing into my clothes, broke out my flute and started to play, the notes were echoing down the valley, and as they returned to me, I heard the answering call of a pack of coyotes, I would play, they would sing, the duet continued for about 10 minutes.

So I continue on my flute journey, I cant count the times these odd little flute things have happened to me. I have met the most incredible people through the flute, many of them becoming life long friends. I have learned more about myself and how to interact with other people because of the flute. I feel that I am closer to my spirituality because of the flute. It has helped me grow in more ways than I can describe with mere words. At one point I was very caught up in the technical end of the flute, trying to learn notation, music theory, different keys of flutes, the technical aspects of recording flute, building websites etc. I had lost sight of just playing the flute. That summer Kevin Locke was playing at the Pequot Museum. I went to hear him play, he was every bit as amazing live as he was on that first tape that I had listened to. Afterwards I went up to him and started talking flutes; I asked him what key his flute was in. He grinned at me and said he was sure, I asked him if he knew how to read TAB, he grinned at me again and said no, he played from his heart, or a tree line or a mountain range. Well here was my flute hero so to speak he didnt care about keys or notation or any of that other stuff that I had been wrapped up in. I decided then and there that my music would always come first, just playing the flute, all the other things would come in good time if at all.

Every since I got back to just playing all those other things have amazingly fallen into place. My first paying performance was a result of me just playing around the campfire up in New Hampshire. My performances at nursing homes came as a result of just wanting to share the calm that comes from the flute with as many people as possible. Some of the best people I have ever met in my life are a result of seeking out more information about the flute. The flute has given me so much, and now I am trying to give back a little by playing, teaching and helping people to start their own flute journeys. I am not sure where it will lead me but I know I will be having fun along the way.

Walk Well,

Don Zimbelman

Jan 4, 2003