The Student Experience Center Plaza will bear witness to the students of MUS 108 as they perform their seventh annual Oregon State University Native American Flute Circle this Wednesday.
Beginning in 2015 and taking place every year except 2020-2021, the OSU Native American Style Flute Circle has signaled the end of the class. The event is free and open to the public.
Students of the Native American flute course, both past and present, are invited to the event. In the traditional circle style, they will gather together to play songs from the class to honor the community and OSU.
“We play our flutes in a circle to honor the beauty of our diversity and shared connection to Mother Earth. I am so proud of how bright our students shine together. Go Beavs! One Heart!” said Jan Reibach, the instructor of MUS 108.
OSU holds the world record for the largest Native American Style Flute Circle, with attendance averages between 500 and 700 in peak years, according to Reibach.
A Kalapuya Tribal Elder of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Jan Micheal Looking Wolf Reibach is a Global Music Award Lifetime Achievement recipient and Hall of Fame inductee, according to his biography.
In 2004, he worked with professors of the OSU Music Department and Ethnic Studies to develop an accredited curriculum for MUS 108, a course that focuses on cultural diversity and musical self-expression with the instrument.
Reibach’s favorite part about teaching the course is “when I get to see and be present when the students connect with their feelings and hear it in their notes and that happens within the first three weeks usually.”
As of 2022, Reibach has instructed over 16,000 students in playing the Native American flute, according to his biography.
Students of the course commented on the upcoming performance. Alhana McMutt said she was inviting family members and an elder from her tribe and other students agreed they were excited about the community the circle creates.
“What the flute circle is really about, in addition to honoring the land and the people and the university, it’s really about students gathering to express their feelings together in a safe space for the community,” Reibach said.
This year, the musicians will perform three songs, “Traveling With Our Ancestors” (a tribal honor song), “Standing Elk” (with live musicians and group chants) and the flute version of Elton John’s “Can You Feel The Love Tonight.”
One of the things Reibach is excited about is playing “Can You Feel The Love Tonight,” because this is the first year they have performed it and it was brought to him by a student.
The event celebrates both cultural diversity and students of all different ethnicities and cultures, as well as the work of the course, all playing flute together with one heart.
Reibach and the university encourage people to come and spectate or participate.
