Jay Nash turns sotol cactus and bamboo into Native American flutes at his Fredericksburg workshop. Nash's passion for the instrument pulled him back from paralysis five years ago. Photo by Phil Houseal

Details:
Jay Nash creates Native American flutes and wind chimes at his workshop near Fredericksburg. Nash will offer a selection of his handcrafted instruments at this weekend's Inter-Tribal Powwow at Fort Martin Scott. Items can also be purchased through his website www.sunshineflutes.com and at Hill Country Music. Nash can be reached at jaynash@sunshineflutes.com or 830-997-0825.

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Thunder Heart

by Phil Houseal
May 10, 2006

The melodies dip and soar. Sinuous tones evoke the spirit of the sotol and echo the suffering of the soul. If prayer were an instrument, it would be the Native American flute.

It is hard to believe these haunting notes speak from an instrument made and played by a man who only five years ago was paralyzed from the neck down.

But as Jay Nash lay flat on his back, immobilized from a job injury and surgery that for a year left him with no feeling or movement below his chest, the ancient instrument became his lifeline to normalcy.

It had been only a short while before that his friend John Dumas had introduced Nash to the Native American flute during a visit to Sedona, Arizona.

"It literally captivated my soul," Nash recalled. "I told John I would be back in one year and be as good as he was. He laughed, but I worked a year, came back and played with him just as if I'd played it all my life."

Dumas was so impressed that he spent a week teaching Nash the art of making flutes.

Then Nash's world changed. The day before his second surgery, Nash was playing the flute when he had a premonition.

"I told my wife that I had a bad feeling," he admitted. "I said, 'I don't think I'll be playing this flute again.'"

He awakened in the recovery room to the bitter realization he was paralyzed. It was his wife, Lauren, who placed the flute in his hand. Nash cradled the instrument, then looked at his doctor and announced, "This is what is going to make me better."

And it did. As he lay there unable to move, Nash listened to flute music.

"I would close my eyes and remember how to play it," he explained. Nash's "remembering" turned out to be the key to finding his way back.

"Everything in life is controlled by past experience, by how we remember," he said. "That's how I taught myself to walk again. I remembered how to walk. It is as if you turn off the lights at night and try to walk around. You can do it."

Nash used this same "memory" to play the flute again. While Nash can now walk and function normally, he requires constant medication to combat excruciating pain. Incredibly, Nash's fingers are still numb. He literally cannot feel the holes of the flute.

"But I can remember where they are in my mind, how they feel, and where they are," he said.

It is no exaggeration to say the flute saved his life.

"The flute kept me active and my mind going," Nash said, who now builds flutes in his workshop south of Fredericksburg. "This helps take my mind off the pain. It sends me to a place of tranquility."

Nash uses sotol, yucca, bamboo, walnut, cedar, and redwood to create beautiful looking and sounding instruments.

"Flutes possess their own spirit," he said. "Some are made of bamboo that has lived its life cycle. Making a flute is taking a thing that is dead, and giving it life again. Some people drive by a stand of bamboo and see a plant. I drive by and see music."

Nash does offer his flutes for sale, but admits it is an emotional business.

"I have a hard time letting go of any flute I make," he said. "I fall in love with every one."

When he is convinced to part with one, the price ranges from $55 to more than $500, depending on the wood, time involved, and intricacy of the carving. He can turn out several bamboo flutes a day, or spend four days creating a bird head flute.

"It depends on how I feel," he said, noting that he sometimes stops to play a flute just so he can escape the pain of working on it.

Nash captured the healing spirit of the instrument in his first CD "Thunder Heart."

"Nothing was written - everything I play is from the heart,' he said. "Everything you hear on the CD happened right there. It is so amazing. To me that's the ultimate way to make music - all from the heart."

Ultimately, it's the metaphysical rather than physical aspect of the instrument that inspires Nash to go on living, making flutes, and playing music.

"To me it's a miracle - a gift from God," he said. "This has given me a way to express what I experienced. I want to share my story, to give encouragement. God has given me a gift to share. With the flute I can introduce people to different ways of praying."

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