Conversations with Tom Farber

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tom Farber.

Hi Tom, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Before retirement at the end of 2013, I had been in the insurance business for 36 years – 8 years working for a couple of insurance companies with Denver offices, and the remaining 28 years with one local independent agency, which I purchased at the start of 1996 and sold at the start of 2009, staying another 5 years after that.

Assuming Gillian had recommended an interview, the narrative will instead focus on my involvement with music, specifically with the Native American Flute. The “journey” with the Native American Flute began in the spring of 2014 when my wife and I were touring National Parks and such in northern Arizona. We were visiting Canyon de Chelly National Monument, a beautiful red-rock canyon on the Navajo Reservation, and had hired a guide to take us to places that couldn’t be visited without one. We were stopped at some ruins, when a resident of the canyon, sitting under trees nearby, began playing a wooden flute.

The sound was enchanting. I looked at my wife and said, “I’ve got to learn how to do that.” A month later, I had my first flute of this type – known as “Native American” or “Native American Style”. It became more than a hobby, but a passion, as I began adding more flutes (different keys, different octaves, and different types of flutes). In late 2014, I located a Flute Circle in the Denver area and joined what meetings I could. I also began to find out how to learn more about the instrument and how to play it, though I’d spent many years before graduating high school involved in music (guitar, trombone), tapping into others in the Circle, going to a “flute school” and taking some online private lessons.

I have since attended at least one Flute School every year (apart from 2020), and workshops presented by musicians who came to perform “house concerts”. About two years into this journey, I organized a small gathering of Flute Circle members in the town of Estes Park. Among those attending were two “newbies” to the flute, who were struggling to play some songs they liked. Given my musical background, I made some simple suggestions on how they could still play the songs without trying to do things they weren’t yet skilled enough to do. At one point, as the suggestions took hold and were working, one turned to me and said, “You ought to teach!”

Late in 2016, those two and a couple of others asked if I’d give them group lessons out of a home in the Denver area, thus began my teaching “career”. Since then, I’ve given group lessons, and private lessons online and in person, and in the next paragraph is the story of my becoming a teacher of beginner and intermediate Native American Flute classes at a local adult continuing education institution. For some years, our Flute Circle leader had been offering classes in Native American Flute in the Denver area, on the west side of town. Seeing that those classes provided new members for our Flute Circle, I thought it would be great if classes could be offered somewhere closer to the east side of the metro area.

Approaches to the City of Aurora and a local folk-music-focused enterprise yielded no chance for me to “spread the gospel” of the Native American Flute, but I found a willing institution starting in 2019, and have been teaching classes there since (with pandemic exceptions). Back to our Flute Circle…in the spring of 2017, I began co-hosting our Flute Circle (monthly) meetings, as the musical host. With our Host moving out of town, by the spring of 2019, I became the full-fledged Host of the Mile High Flute Circle, and have served in that capacity ever since.

Another aspect of this journey has been hosting “house concerts” – literally, a concert performed at our home by professionals of the Native American Flute genre. It began in 2017 when a local artist who has worked at a famed restaurant in our area for many years performed on a pleasant June evening in our backyard (we like the outdoor venue best). We had another such concert in 2018; two in 2019; one in 2021 (yes, the pandemic knocked out 2020), two in 2022, and again two in 2023, with three scheduled for 2024. In all these instances, every dollar paid by attending patrons goes to the musicians, who we also have as guests in our home during their stay. Those who have come are recognized as the top talents in this genre.

Finally, one other avenue became part of the journey: composing and recording music of my own. In 2021, I released an album titled “Fluting in the Rockies”, and have been working on a second album, which I hope to release in 2024. That has opened up another whole new world, as I had no knowledge to begin with of modern recording technology. It’s time-consuming and a slow process, but I have the luxury of not depending on this for a living, so I can go at my own pace.

Safe to say that music has become my major “avocation” in retirement, but it’s not the only one. I’ve served as a volunteer at Rocky Mountain National Park since late 2014, working in the elk study group, a ranger at Bear Lake, a desk docent at the Beaver Meadows visitor center, and working with the Continental Divide Research group. It should be no surprise that I bring a (Native American) flute with me when on duty, and play when it’s convenient as an enhancement to the visitor’s experience there.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Because this is a hobby during retirement, it’s gone as well as I could have hoped for. Of course, there is much work to do in advancing my level of skill, whether in playing, performing, or composing, and there’s always something new to learn.

The biggest struggle I’ve had in this musical endeavor has been trying to get a second gig for the visiting house concert musicians. I must have spent three to five years trying to locate the Arts Council – or at least the proper organization – in Estes Park, which finally bore fruit in May of 2023. Given leads from that, it’s taken the rest of 2023 to make all the contacts that were recommended, and that has also finally borne fruit.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m retired (have been for 10 years), so I can only reflect on this musical journey in retirement. I play mostly Native American (style) Flutes. Some are single-chamber flutes, some are “drone” flutes, some are “harmony flutes” (two chambers, each in different keys), and some are clay flutes. I’ve also learned to play rim-blown flutes, with the “basketmaker” or “pueblo style” flute (formerly known as an Anasazi flute) my first love in that category, along with similar flutes in different scales, such as an Akebono flute (Japanese), Silk Road flute (you’d think of this as Middle Eastern), Suling (Indonesian), Magen Avot flute (Hebrew influence), Bansuri (India), Pennywhistle (Irish), Xiao (Chinese).

Among the Native American Flute Community, I would be best known for my leadership of the Mile High Flute Circle, the successes in bringing in that genre’s best talents to perform locally, for being a strong performer and player, and for being a good teacher. I can be proud of all that, and a latent talent for composing, arranging, recording, and performing music of these many flutes. The difference between me and others is how quickly I can learn, how dedicated I’ve been to advancing the craft, a lack of reluctance to ask professionals I’ve met if they’d like to perform locally, some basic musical abilities, and basic teaching abilities.

What’s next?
I plan to continue doing what I’ve been doing now for several years in this musical arena. I’ll be attending the World Flute Society Convention this year, as well as a by-invitation-only group of talented flutists who will work with professional musicians to improve the many facets of our avocation; hosting three house concerts this year – likely back to two in future years, as it is a lot of work, teaching classes and private lessons.

I’m also seeing if I can help organize a Flute School here in Colorado, perhaps a Flute Festival, and hope to be able to help another professional organize a Flute Retreat for a small group this year or next. As for the Flute Circle, I want to help develop other members’ talents so that others in the group become comfortable with hosting our meetings, as it’s important to me that the group doesn’t depend on any one person for its vitality (creating something of a succession plan). So long as my health stays good, that’s the plan.

Pricing:

• $12 for Fluting in the Rockies CD
• $25 for a one-hour private flute lesson (Circle Members)
• $35 for a one-hour private flute lesson (non-Circle members)
• Small gigs negotiable

Contact Info:

• Website: www.glaciergorgemusic.com