RAPID CITY - According to Lakota legend, the woodpecker gave the secret of the cedar courting flute and its flirtatious melodies to the Lakota people.

On Wednesday, Michael He Crow, a Miniconju Lakota/Apache, shared the story and the music of his hand-carved flutes at the Rapid City Public Library's monthly Lunch and Learn.

Wednesday's program was a celebration of Native American Heritage Month.

Susan Egbert of Piedmont home schools her children Rebecca, 15, Isaac, 13, and Joshua, 11. Wednesday's luncheon was a mini-lesson and outing for the family.

Susan said the opportunity to hear He Crow's flute music inspired the outing.

After hearing He Crow share several Lakota myths, Egbert plans to explore Native American culture in more detail.

"I think I'm going to read more of the culture and different myths and things that they have," she said. "It was interesting to hear."

Joshua was enthralled with the workmanship of He Crow's flutes and his use of birds.

"The flutes that he made are really cool with the designs and everything," Joshua said. "I like the bird head on the very end."

Each of He Crow's flutes has a bird perched near the mouthpiece. Bound to the flute with buckskin, the bird serves as an adjustable bridge for the sound chamber. The ends of most of He Crow's flutes are shaped into the likeness of a bird's head.

Carving a bird's head on the end of a courting flute is believed to endow it with magical powers so that its song will attract young women, he said. The custom is a reflection of the Native belief that the leader of migrating birds possessed magical powers.

He Crow is a self-taught traditional artisan and musician. Every flute, arrowhead, drum and piece of beadwork He Crow makes is a tribute to his heritage.

He Crow learned his skills from books and studying museum artifacts. The techniques he uses for his flutes, drums and arrowheads are as authentic as possible.

Carving a flute takes about six hours, but the wood directs the carving, not the craftsman, He Crow said.

"The wood always tells me what it wants to do," he said. "If you try to force it to do something it doesn't want to do, it will break or crack."

Recalling the first time he heard a cedar courting flute, He Crow said "the music just got into me."

Learning to carve was easy, but it took him two frustrating years to learn to play a flute, "because I didn't have a teacher. I didn't know where to put my fingers to get the right notes."

And he had no musical training.

He Crow learned from listening to old tapes and slowly picking out the melody.

"I almost quit, and one day, it came together and started clicking," he said.

He Crow plays songs he learned from his grandfathers or old recordings and his own original songs, but his music is not for sale. He is devoted to preserving the music as his elders taught him or recorded and is reluctant to give others ownership of something entrusted to him.

"It just doesn't feel comfortable to sell those (songs) that people have given me," He Crow said. "It feels like I'm selling part of myself."

Contact Andrea Cook at 394-8423 or andrea.cook@rapidcityjournal.com