Motherflute

Motherflute is the title of this website about my work in music, musicology, archaeology and art. The idea of ‘mother’ and ‘flute’ together allude to a number of things, some abstract, some personal and some academic. Here are just a few references.

I am currently researching archaeological artefacts which have become familiar as ‘flutes’ which stretch back as far as forty thousand years into humankind’s deep history. These flutes are like the ‘mothers’ of all subsequent flutes.

I am interested in finding out if flutes might have been used in different ways by mothers in deep history to occupy their children like lulling them to sleep. Because women historically have tended to be represented, or misrepresented by men, these types of emphases on women and children in archaeological interpretation are in shadow. I wish all children in the contemporary world could have the chance to learn to play a musical instrument like a flute because it is part of their heritage.

I am also working at the intersection of the disciplines of art and archaeology under the title ‘Experimental Heritage’ on a UNESCO site working with phenomena of sound and music. I lean on my musical upbringing to guide me as much as finding new sources to work with, and the new sources paradoxically are things from the past. The memories and new experiences lead back to beginnings.