Music of the Day, 10 July 2025

supporting and energizing the spirit

A conversation with a dear friend about the flute family of instruments led to me exploring the fipple flutes—which are broadly defined as everything but the transverse (or concert) flute. In particular, I was curious about the differences between recorders and American Indian¹ flutes.

Reading the introduction of the linked page above, I should have known I’d get distracted from my mission … and sure enough, I got sidetracked by the links to examples. Absolutely no regrets, though: I discovered some great music, and was pretty sure that I’d be featuring a piece today.

“Shaman’s Call” is the first piece on R. Carlos Nakai’s album Earth Spirit, which was released in 1987. The YouTube link in the article goes to the entire album, which I didn’t realize until I started playing it. And I still haven’t gotten further than this track; it’s the right combination of soothing, supporting, and motivating for me. I plan to listen to the full album as I work today.

If this lovely melody has worked similar magic for you, I encourage you to check out Nakai’s website. It has links to his music,² and he’s still performing. His remaining 2025 schedule includes several shows in the Midwest and on the East Coast.

1. I know this is a problematic label for a diverse group of peoples. I chose and use it in general contexts like this one because the vast majority of my friends and students with Native heritage preferred it over other options.

2. it appears all of it can be listened to from the website; when I looked at one album’s page I quickly backed out, because I knew I’d get distracted from completing this essay if I started playing tracks