Collected by Thurlow Lieurance (1878-1963), composer, conductor and dean of fine arts at the University of Wichita from 1926-45, these Native American flutes are housed in the Thurlow Lieurance Memorial Music Library in WSU's Duerksen Fine Arts Center.
Lieurance's interest in Native American music led to his collecting of native flutes, recording native songs on tape and to many compositions based on Native American melodies, including "Indian Flute Call and Love Song" and his most famous composition, "By the Waters of Minnetonka."
According to a typewritten account from the Lieurance Collection, "By the Waters of Minnetonka" was inspired by a Sioux love song recorded by Lieurance in October 1911, on the Crow Reservation in Montana. The tune was sung by Sitting Eagle, a Sioux. Tradition has it that the Native American flute was primarily a courting instrument.
The flute, next to the drum, was the most important Native American instrument. Today, "Native American flute" is the technical musical term for a wooden duct flute with a block whistle mechanism.
