Artist crafts Native American-style flutes

SOMETIMES LIFE’S JOURNEY veers in an unexpected direction. David Webb can attest to that.

Webb creates and plays Native American-style flutes and is among the featured artists at the Paint, Metal and Mud artists’ cooperative and gallery in Kalispell. How he ended up making flutes is a story that began with the spiritual journey of a friend.

“A good friend of mine brought a [native] flute up from Dallas,” recalled Webb, 59, who at the time lived in Rapid City, South Dakota, with his wife Sally.

His friend was dealing with some anger-management issues and had been encouraged to find a way to channel his anxiety. A Native American flute seemed to soothe his soul. Webb played his friend’s flute during a Fourth of July get-together in 2009 and immediately was drawn into the peace he found in playing it.

A year later Webb made his first flute.

“Never in my wildest imagination did I think I’d be doing this,” he said.

Webb spent 37 years as a photogrammetrist, a specialist who makes reliable measurements of the earth’s surface from aerial imagery and sensors. “It’s basically a map maker,” he explained about his profession. After he retired he was ready for something else to fill his time.

Webb had dabbled in music. He played trumpet in high school and through the years puttered around on the harmonica and African and Native American drums.

“I had the music in me,” he reflected.

He didn’t have any woodworking skills per se, even though he’d spent plenty of time as a kid in the lumber yard because his dad was an architect.

For Webb, making that first flute was a matter of necessity being the proverbial mother of invention. Each native flute plays in a different key, so to acquire various flutes in different keys would have been quite an investment.

“I realized this is going to get expensive, so I better learn how to make them,” he said with a smile.

To learn the craft, Webb spent countless hours corresponding with a dozen of the best Native American flute makers in the United States.

“I was compelled to follow a path and journey into this unique and spiritual art,” he said.

WEBB HAS no Native American heritage, but has found the haunting sounds of the flutes are appreciated by a wide spectrum of people.

“It calms the soul,” he said about playing his handmade flutes.

Webb tapped into a market for his flutes by going to art fairs. His ability to play the flutes once again was driven by necessity.

“People would say ‘I’m not a musician, do you have a CD?’” he recalled.

So Webb bought some sound equipment and started recording his own music. That process was facilitated by a flute retreat he attended at Flute Haven, a nonprofit native flute school in Pennsylvania where he learned about recording and facilitation.

“We recorded 78 tracks. My CDs are a spin-off of that recording camp,” he said.

In addition to developing his flute-making business, Dakota Windsong Flutes, Webb has found many opportunities to perform as well, ranging from an exhibit opening at the Bigfork Art and Cultural Center to a private concert in Calgary. He plays at weddings, wine tastings and other social events.

“It’s rare to have someone who makes flutes and plays his own instruments,” Webb said. “I’m one of a handful.”

WEBB AND his wife relocated from South Dakota to Kalispell in May, and he set up his studio and workshop in their home. He makes flutes from a variety of woods. Traditionally native flutes were made from whatever was available, such as aromatic cedar or juniper. He likes working with black walnut, which he calls “the Goldilocks of woods ... It’s not too hard, not too soft and is easy to mill, lathe and sand.”

“Every flute wood has its own voice,” Webb explained. “Aspen sounds different than African Bubinga or blue stain ponderosa pine.”

Native American flutes are said to be the third oldest musical instruments in the world, preceded only by drums and bone rattles.

Webb has seen his business grow since moving to Kalispell, something he attributes to what he sees as an enhanced appreciation of art and music in this area. Kalispell is his wife Sally’s hometown. A Flathead High School graduate, she is a retired special education teacher who taught for a time at Elmo and Lakeside schools.

Webb works a couple of days a week at Paint, Metal and Mud, located in the Kalispell Grand Hotel building. He will be on hand for the Dec. 2 Kalispell Art Walk and is the artist cooperative’s featured artist on Dec. 9. He’ll also have his flutes on display at Majestic Valley Arena’s Holiday Extravaganza Nov. 11-13 and the Artists and Craftsmen of the Flathead holiday show at the fairgrounds Nov. 25-27.

Private lessons in making and playing Native American flutes is an additional facet of Webb’s business.

“I want to continue the cycle of this wonderful cultural instrument,” he said.

Webb can be reached by email at dakotawindsongflutes@gmail.com.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.