Students craft their own instruments
Woodshop class takes on Native American flute project
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Thursday, March 2, 2017
INUVIK
A Native American flute project at East Three Secondary School is proving a technical challenge for woodshop students.
Isobel Jellema, left, and Marshall Brown make precise measurements. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL photos
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"There's a lot of measuring and not as much cutting as most other projects," said student Marshall Brown.
"I think I might be about halfway (finished). Right now I'm just measuring where the air will come out when I blow in it."
Teacher Alex Scharf was using the flute project as part of a Grade 8 and 9 introductory woodworking class.
They were building southwest Native American flutes, which they also saw in live demonstration a couple of weeks before.
"The project is fairly challenging for them," said Scharf. "Some of them are having some trouble with the technical details, like how accurate they have to be to get the right notes. But they're really interested in it, really excited about it."
Scharf chose the flute project to expose students to shop tools and working in a shop environment. Compared to a regular classroom, it can be quite a different experience.
"I think they're enjoying it a lot," said Scharf.
"They were really keen on building flutes. When they got started they maybe didn't realize the challenges and the different levels of difficulties, so they have to be paying attention and be focused on the job to do a good job and have a flute that plays music when they're done."
The toughest part is nailing the accuracy and positioning of the holes and having them the right size and shape, he said.
The students were splitting time between the shop and classroom activities. Scharf predicted it would take another couple of weeks for students to finish their flutes.
"It's pretty fun," said Brown.
"I'm excited to finish the flute and be able to play it."
