As producer for Canyon Records Productions, I have had the pleasure of working with R. Carlos Nakai since 1983 when Canyon released his first album. Through the years we’ve received requests from his fans and students of the Native American flute for copies of his music. Part II solves that need in part with transcriptions from several of Carlos’ albums. Hopefully, the chapters on learning the flute will give beginning students a starting point and experienced players further thoughts to enhance their playing. Two of Carlos’ many collaborators assisted with these sections: flute maker Ken Light provided material on the care of the traditional flute and James DeMars, Ph.D., provided material on general music education, editorial assistance and transcriptions of two of his compositions.
We also wanted to create a reference source for those interested in studying Carlos’ music and his career. Thus, the inclusion of Part III which features a discussion of Carlos’ recordings by the eminent ethnomusicologist David McAllester, Ph.D. We hope this section will give readers a good perspective on the place of this unique artist who bridges, through his performances and recordings, the traditional and mainstream cultures of contemporary America.
-Robert Doyle
