Dryad Flutes are made with my lifelong love for trees. I recall, as a tree-climbing child, an instinctive faith in the strength of branches. As a young man I would climb, with my tenor recorder, the park trees to sit with the birds and play.  And over the ensuing years as a flute performer, I have played countless times under the natural canopy of the branches. 

So when the inspiration and opportunity came to start making my own flutes, all I wanted to make were branch flutes. No other endeavor in my life has been as fascinating, as rewarding, or as challenging.  How would the spirit, or dryad of a tree make a flute?  That has been my guiding vision. A dryad would keep the natural beauty and strength of the branch intact.  A dryad would honor the heritage of the indigenous people of the land. A dryad would give the flute a voice clear and bright as a bird song.  And a dryad would make the flute a magical home for its own continued habitation.  Or so speak the trees to me. 

So in a Dryad Flute , in its unique shape, in the unsplit strength and beauty of its grain and growth rings, in the color and texture of its bark, in the character of its knots, crevices or worm holes, to be inlayed with colorful stone, and in the unique timbre of its voice, the spirit of the tree is invited to remain.  A spirit that might then inspire you to open your heart to the natural world, sit with the trees and play!

         ~ Jon Sherman