Going with the earth theme, try melf's acid arrow, and the acid orbs. Also, get energy sub acid for any nonearth-type spells and go from there. I know acid as an aspect of earth is a stretch, but its all they really give us in this edition.
I suggest going with more of a hollow, holed staff that produces sound when twirled as the previous poster suggested.
A 6' long flute would be impractical to say the least. Then again, a more normal length flute integrated into a staff may be possible in some way.
I've played with everything from rules lawyers to complete newbs. The best are those that know the rules enough to have fun, but don't try and badger a DM with their take on said rules. Mostly I play now with people that have atleast as good a grasp on the rules as myself, or nearly so.