2024 Workshop Program
The following is the list of workshops for the 2024 Native Rhythms Festival. All of these workshops are free, except as noted, where a nominal fee is charged to cover the cost of materials the attendee will take away from the workshop. All of these workshops have limited enrollment (most limited by the space in the workshop tent). Early (on-line) registration is strongly encouraged.
Workshop Registration
Use the instructions at the bottom of this page for advanced registration for individual workshops. Seats in all workshops will be allocated on a first-come/first-serve basis, beginning with advanced registration from this page. Any remaining seats (not allocated by advanced registration) will be available for on-site registration on a first-come/first-serve basis at the workshop check-in tent. Once all available seats have been allocated, a waiting list will be established for each workshop.
When registering, please limit your selections to 5 workshops that you actually plan to attend. PLEASE do not register for workshops that you “might” want to attend. It’s not fair to others if workshops reach their stated capacity only because numerous people who aren’t sure they will attend have registered, and others who really want to attend are blocked from registering. If you have more than 5 workshops that you want to attend, list those additional workshops in the stand-by section of your registration message and you will be placed on the waiting list for them.
Upon receipt of your registration request message, our workshop registrar will send an e-mail to you to confirm your registration or indicate your position on the waiting list. That confirmation message will come from the e-mail address workshops@nativerhythmsfestival.com. Nothing else will be accepted as confirmation of your registration. You may wish to print out your confirmation e-mail message from workshops@nativerhythmsfestival.com when it arrives, and bring it with you to the festival.
In the past, some of our flute enthusiasts have registered for all workshops, including those they did not actually plan to attend. This prevented people wanting to attend those workshops from registering. We ask all to please be respectful of others. Do not sign up for workshops that you don’t definitely plan to attend.
On-line advanced registration will open when the workshop schedule is published and closes at the end of the day on Sunday, November 3, 2024. A waiting list will be maintained when the workshop capacity is reached.
A workshop check-in tent will be set at the entrance to the large workshop tent. All advanced (pre-registered) registrants must check-in at the workshop check-in tent upon arrival at the festival on the day of their workshops to confirm their presence and their plan to participate in the workshops for which they have registered. Seats not confirmed in this manner will be reopened and made available to those on the stand-by list.
Although most of the workshops are designated as “space available” and likely will be able to accommodate all who wish to participate, we request that those who wish to participate in them submit an advanced registration request below so that we will have an idea of the number of people to expect and can plan accordingly.
Index of 2024 Workshops
- Basic Introduction to the Native American Style Flute (Indian River & Riverwind Flute Circles)
- Understanding Pow Wow Drumming (Lowery Begay)
- Learning About Smudging and Wrapping a Feather for Smudging (Joyce Bugaiski)
- Children’s Workshop: Indian Picture Writing – A Children’s Workshop (Joyce Bugaiski)
- What You Didn’t Know About the Cherokee Trail of Tears (John Ellis)
- Introduction to Peyote Stitch (Anne Fay)
- Intro to Neck and Shoulder Massage Using a Chair (Randy Granger)
- Crafting Songs from Snippets (Jonny Lipford)
- Rhythmic Connection: Drumming and Fluting Together (Painted Raven)
- Flutes in a World of Electronics (Tom Ransom)
- The Art of Storytelling (Dr. Frankie Rinaldi)
- Chasing WindDancer (Ed WindDancer & Monica Sigala)
Descriptions of 2024 Workshops
Title: Basic Introduction to the Native American Style Flute
Leader: Indian River and Riverwind Flute Circles’ members
Fee: Free
Scheduled Date/Time: Anytime
Program Length: Variable
Location: Main festival grounds near the Workshop Tent
Class Size: No limit
A separate vendor-style booth will be set up near the main workshop tent for on-going instruction in the basics of playing the Native American Style Flute. Skilled players, including volunteers from the Indian River and Riverwind Flute Circles, will rotate in leading this workshop. Participants are encouraged to bring their own flutes. Instruction will include hand placement in properly holding the flute and covering the playing holes, mouth placement and basic breathing techniques, playing the basic scale, and other basic playing techniques. Instruction techniques will vary by instructor.
Title: Understanding Pow Wow Drumming
Leader: Lowery Begay
Fee: Free
Scheduled Date/Time: TBA
Program Length: 1 hour
Location: Workshop tent, main festival grounds
Class Size: Space available
If you’ve ever been to a Pow Wow, you hear the drummers playing and singing for the dancers. You also have heard drummers on our Native Rhythms stage during CreeAtive Native’s cultural experiences. But have you ever wondered about the traditions of the Pow Wow drum? At this workshop, learn about the meaning of Pow Wow drumming and singing.
Title: Learning About Smudging and Wrapping a Feather for Smudging
Leader: Joyce Bugaiski
Fee: Free (but small donation to NRF would be appreciated)
Scheduled Date/Time: TBA
Program Length: 1.5 hours
Location: Workshop tent, main festival grounds
Class Size: 25
This workshop will teach what smudging is about and how to smudge yourself or someone else. You will learn the significance of smudging and why we smudge.
You will also learn how to smudge your home or objects to rid any negative or stagnant energy from your home or objects.
The most common smudge herb to work with is sage. We will gently touch on other herbs, resins or woods that are also used for smudging.
In this workshop, you will also create your own personal “smudge feather” that you will take home with you as my gift to you. We will create a small handle on the quill of the feather by wrapping in leather or covering the quill with a bead wrap. It will be your choice to wrap the handle in leather with a fringe at the end of the feather or create the handle with a bead wrap.
The bead wrap is a simple stringing of beads and going around the feather quill until it is covered with the string of beads.
Time permitting, we will smudge in this workshop. Please be aware, there will be some smoke while learning this particular practice. If you have allergies/asthma, please be advised to keep yourself safely away from direct smoke.
Materials provided: Turkey feather, leather, beads, thread and some sage for demonstration.
Also, you may bring your own special feather if you choose to do so. You may also find a feather from some of the vendors at Native Rhythms Festival that would be suitable for this workshop.
Some educational material from Author, Dawn Leith-Dougherty will be given/used with her permission during this workshop.
“I love sharing my art and mostly ‘self-taught’ skills with anyone who wishes to learn. I find great joy in seeing the excitement of someone who has just learned how to do something new that I have taught them. It fills my heart and spirit with great satisfaction of knowing traditional skills and crafting will continue on for generations.
In my adult life I have overcome many obstacles to reach my goals in learning and sharing.”
Joyce’s art has been published many times, including 6 editions of the Cherokee Heritage Calendar, and has illustrated 2 children’s books. She has also won over 100 awards for her art, including several at previous Native Rhythms Festival competitions. Joyce currently serves Native Rhythms as the competition coordinator and regularly leads workshops teaching crafts such as various styles of beading, dream catcher making, etc.
Title: Children’s Workshop: Indian Picture Writing – A Children’s Workshop
Leader: Joyce Bugaiski
Fee: Free (but small donation to NRF would be appreciated)
Scheduled Date/Time: TBA
Program Length: 1.5 hours
Location: Workshop tent, main festival grounds
Suggested Ages: 6 – adult
Class Size: 20
Making a necklace with a pictograph medallion and beads. Also learning about the significance of pictographs and writing a short sentence using pictographs.
“I love sharing my art and mostly ‘self-taught’ skills with anyone who wishes to learn. I find great joy in seeing the excitement of someone who has just learned how to do something new that I have taught them. It fills my heart and spirit with great satisfaction of knowing traditional skills and crafting will continue on for generations.
In my adult life I have overcome many obstacles to reach my goals in learning and sharing.”
Joyce’s art has been published many times, including 6 editions of the Cherokee Heritage Calendar, and has illustrated 2 children’s books. She has also won over 100 awards for her art, including several at previous Native Rhythms Festival competitions. Joyce currently serves Native Rhythms as the competition coordinator and regularly leads workshops teaching crafts such as various styles of beading, dream catcher making, etc.
Title: What You Didn’t Know About the Cherokee Trail of Tears
Leader: John Ellis
Fee: Free
Scheduled Date/Time: TBA
Program Length: 1.5 hours
Location: Workshop tent, main festival grounds
Class Size: Space available
What most people know about the Cherokee “Trail of Tears” can be expressed in a single sentence: “The army gathered up the Cherokee people and forced them to walk nearly 700 miles to Oklahoma, where many died – giving us the name Trail of Tears.” Few know that the course actually began when President Thomas Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase, partly to have land west of the Mississippi to which the Eastern tribes could be relocated. Or that the Cherokee removal resulted from a treaty signed by former tribal leaders who had no authority to speak for the Cherokee people. Or that Principal Chief John Ross’ wife died of exposure after giving up her blanket to a cold child. And that there was not a single trail.
In this workshop, John will walk you through all that the Cherokee people did to attempt to satisfy the American expectations to be able to remain in their historic homeland. But how their successes actually made the Whites even more envious of what they had accomplished, and ever more aggressive in pushing them out, even after the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in favor of Cherokee sovereignty.
This workshop will be jam-packed with information to give attendees a new understanding of this tragedy of American history.
John Ellis first learned of his family tree’s Cherokee branch when researching for a junior high school genealogy project that emphasized the students’ family nationalities and ethnicities. The story he learned was about a family who traveled the Trail of Tears until they “deserted” the trail near Springfield, MO, his maternal family’s home, and where he was born. Over the years he has learned much about the history of the “removal” and wants to share that knowledge in this workshop.
The suffering on the Trail of Tears provided the inspiration for his first CD, called “Echoes From the Trail”, a tribute to the memory of those who were forced to make the journey, those who survived and those who didn’t. It consists of a dozen songs from the old Cherokee Hymn Book (first published in the Cherokee syllabary in 1829), all to the tune of familiar hymns and gospel songs. It was recorded by Johnny Kee, John’s stage name, honoring the Kee branch of his family tree.
Title: Introduction to Peyote Stitch
Leader: Anne Fay
Fee: $15.00 for kit you’ll work with and take home
Scheduled Date/Time: TBA
Program Length: 2 hours
Location: Workshop tent, main festival grounds
Class Size: 20
The “Introduction to Peyote Stitch” workshop introduces flat, even count peyote stitch. This workshop covers the basics of starting a project, doing peyote stitch, following a pattern, ending a thread and starting a new thread, and zipping two peyote stitch edges together. The end result is a strap or loop of peyote stitch beadwork that can be used as a key fob or fidget toy. This workshop also addresses some of the challenges that left-handed beaders may face.
Peyote stitch is an off-loom bead weaving technique. Peyote stitch may be worked with either an even or an odd number of beads per row. Both even and odd count peyote pieces can be woven as flat strips, in a flat round shape, and as a tube. Peyote stitch is used in traditional and contemporary beadwork.
Native American beadwork using bone, antler, and other beads has deep roots. Beadwork evolved when Europeans introduced glass beads to the indigenous people of the Americas. The stitch got its current name in the late 1800s, originating with the Kiowa and Comanche Native American tribes. It was used to decorate gourds and other objects for peyote rituals performed by members of the Native American Church. Today, you’ll find peyote stitch in jewelry, accessories, objects, and dance regalia beaded by Native Americans.
Many cultures around the world have used the technique now commonly known as “peyote stitch” in their beadwork. Examples of peyote stitch have been found in artifacts from Ancient Egypt. What name the Ancient Egyptians gave to the stitch is unknown, but there’s no mistaking the “up bead, down bead” pattern of peyote.
(history from Wikipedia and Interweave)
Anne Fay is a beadwork artist based in Melbourne, Florida. Her beadwork journey began at the 2019 Native Rhythms Festival, where she attended a workshop on flat stitch beadwork taught by the talented Joyce Bugaiski. Little did Anne know that this workshop would spark a deep love for beaded wearables and art that has continued to this day. Anne placed first in the 2022 Native Rhythms Festival Art Competition with a ten-inch diameter beaded medallion, “Ursa Emerging”, executed in two-needle flat stitch with a peyote stitch edging (see photo above of her with it).
Title: Intro to Neck and Shoulder Massage Using a Chair
Leader: Randy Granger
Fee: Free
Scheduled Date/Time: TBA
Program Length: 1 hour
Location: Workshop tent, main festival grounds
Class Size: 20
This workshop will explore the history and definition of massage therapy as well as the basics and guidelines. Attendees will work with a partner and trade the learned techniques to ease muscle tension in the neck and shoulders areas of the body. Not meant as formal education or medical treatment.
Randy Granger is a Licensed Massage Therapist in New Mexico since 1991 with advanced training and a member of AMTA, a meditation teacher, minister and workshop facilitator across the USA. Native American flute music will accompany the workshop.”
Title: Crafting Songs from Snippets
Leader: Jonny Lipford
Fee: Free
Scheduled Date/Time: TBA
Program Length: 1.5 hours
Location: Workshop tent, main festival grounds
Class Size: Space available
In this hands-on workshop, we’ll take those fleeting 10-15 second snippets you often find yourself playing and turn them into complete, expressive songs that resonate with depth and emotion. Guided by the insights and techniques from my Songwriting Shortcuts book, I’ll show you the process of expanding small ideas into cohesive 3-4 minute compositions.
This workshop is designed to elevate your flute playing by focusing on the art of melody creation, crafting irresistible hooks, weaving compelling verses, and shaping the overall form of your song. Prepare to engage in collaborative songwriting with fellow participants, creating one or two beautiful songs as a group. This shared experience will not only deepen your understanding of the songwriting workflow but also foster a sense of community and mutual inspiration.
By the end of our time together, you’ll leave with a newfound confidence in your ability to craft full-length songs from simple snippets, ready to share your music with the world. Join us for this unique, experiential workshop and discover the magic of turning brief moments into lasting melodies.
Stop by the Horizons Flute Store booth at Native Rhythms and pick up a copy of Songwriting Shortcuts to complete your songwriting experience.
Jonny Lipford, an accomplished teacher and performer of Native flutes, has leveraged the “Songwriting Shortcuts” framework to craft over 250 original compositions. His extensive body of work reflects a profound passion for music and a nuanced mastery of his instrument, blending time-honored techniques with innovative songwriting methods that resonate in both his performances and educational endeavors.
Title: Rhythmic Connections: Drumming & Fluting Together
Leader: Holly Red Feather of Painted Raven
Fee: Free
Scheduled Date/Time: TBA
Program Length: 1.5 hours
Location: Workshop tent, main festival grounds
Class Size: Space available
Enjoy connecting through rhythm with Holly Red Feather of Painted Raven (the Native American flute and world music duo of Annette Abbondanza and Holly Harris). We will connect through learning basic African Djembe drunning skills. This will be followed by each individual having an opportunity to play flute with the group providing supportive drumming. Participants are encouraged to bring their own flute and/or hand drums. A limited number of Djembes will be available.
Drawing inspiration from Mother Earth, Native culture, nature and wildlife, and combining the ancient Native American flute with today’s modern instruments and musical styles, is what creates the signature sound of award-winning Painted Raven, the Native American flute and World Music project of songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Annette Abbondanza, joined by flutist and percussionist, Holly Harris.
Title: Flutes in a World of Electronics
Leader: Tom Ransom
Fee: Free
Scheduled Date/Time: TBA
Program Length: 1 hour
Location: Workshop tent, main festival grounds
Class Size: Space available
A few years ago Radio Shack ran an ad campaign that said, come in to our store and our staff will De-Mystify Electronics. That is what Tom aims to do in this workshop! He will demonstrate and talk about microphones, wires, amps, effects processors, speakers, recorders, loopers, sound effects, Midi instruments, and any other piece of electronics that can be associated with the Native American Flute. Bring your questions and join Tom for an hour of Electronic enlightenment.
Tom is the audio/video guru who spends most of festival weekend in the workshop tent providing audio and video (typically an on-screen slideshow) support for our presenters. During the rest of the year he travels around central Florida to several flute circles enhancing participants experience with audio effects. Tom also provides audio for Dock’s Silverhawk Flute Gathering and smaller concert events. His expertise will make this workshop very informative, especially for those just getting interested in performing and recording their flute playing.
Title: The Art of Storytelling
Leader: Dr. Frankie Rinaldi
Fee: Free
Scheduled Date/Time: TBA
Program Length: 1.5 hours
Location: Workshop tent, main festival grounds
Class Size: Space available
What I will cover in this workshop…
- What is story telling?
- Why should one tell a story?
- How to choose a story and how stories will often pick you.
Then I will share two stories as examples.
I’ll go over the dos and don’ts of telling a story and cover ideas for where and when stories can be healing. Noting that humor always heals. If time permits, one-minute stories can be shared by the workshop participants.
Dr. Rinaldi has been a Storyteller with the Brevard Theatrical Society from 1984-2018. She is the author of six books and shares stories at organizations such as Zonta, Rotary, and church organizations.
She has conducted storytelling classes at the Sheppard Center and Senior centers.
Website: www.redfoxpublishing.webs.com
Title: Chasing WindDancer
Leader: Ed WindDancer & Monica Sigala
Fee: Free
Scheduled Date/Time: TBA
Program Length: 1 hour
Location: Workshop tent, main festival grounds
Class Size: Space available
Enjoy an up close and personal adventure with Ed Winddancer! In this open forum he will talk about many aspects of his culture, regalia, flute, and songs. Great opportunity for kids as well!
In Ed’s unique and one of a kind stage performances, you experience the history and rich sounds of the American Indian flute, and receive a rare opportunity to experience authentic traditional American Indian dance. He teaches about his heritage, culture, and explains in detail, his traditional attire along with its history and significance.
Personal Professional Instruction
Accelerate your flute playing by taking private lessons from one of our headlining recording artists. One-on-one or as a couple, take advantage of the opportunity to get personal guidance in a private lesson.
The following performers have agreed to offer private, personal instruction for a fee. Contact the individual artist to make arrangements for your personal lesson. These artists will be available throughout the weekend at the festival site, or contact them by e-mail to make arrangements prior to festival weekend.
Randy Granger:
Jonny Lipford:
hangguy@gmail.com
info@jonnylipfordmusic.com
2024 On-Line Workshop Registration
To complete your on-line workshop registration, complete and submit the following form. When your registration message is received, a confirmation message will be sent back to you. If you don’t receive a confirmation within 48 hours, your message was most likely lost and not received. If this happens, please resubmit.
If multiple people are registering for the same workshops, you may put more than one name on the name line. If multiple people are registering for different workshops, to avoid confusion, please submit a separate registration form for each person. Required fields are indicated by a red asterisk.
Reminder: Workshop pre-registration closes at the end of the day on Sunday, November 3, 2024.