Fife Question

[22ndPvt.Smith]

Ok, i have been playing the fife and learning on my own and im pretty good at it now, but there is one thing i can not seem to figure out. I have a Bb Fife that i can play fine, but every time i hear recordings of other fifers and fife and drum music, the fifes are always a higher pitch. Is there another fife besides the Bb fife that is used more commonly? If so where would i find it?
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in Advance,
Patrick Smith

[Rob Weaver]

Go to www.beafifer.com and poke around. The most common fife I ever played around was Bb; I have a C fife, and often couldn't play with other musicians. They can be had in a number of different keys, though.

[RJSamp]

Ok, i have been playing the fife and learning on my own and im pretty good at it now, but there is one thing i can not seem to figure out. I have a Bb Fife that i can play fine, but every time i hear recordings of other fifers and fife and drum music, the fifes are always a higher pitch. Is there another fife besides the Bb fife that is used more commonly? If so where would i find it?
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in Advance,
Patrick Smith

It's a Concert C world Patrick. Our Fife Major carries around at least 3 fifes all of the time. All different keys. I'll go out on a non-fifers limb and state that he carries a Bb, C, and D fife. Always. What else he's got out in the car I don't know.

From the readings, many bugler's didn't sound in Bb. G, F, even Eb Cavalry Trumpets were abundant......and those big belled clairons were most often sounded without the pigtail crook to Bb. So when Libby Custer writes about hearing those "lovely alto horns", she's referring to F (alto) Cavalry Trumpets as opposed to C (soprano) bugles.

It wasn't until the last 50 years that brass instrument makers have been able to come up with highly tuned/precise instruments in C. They simply sound and tune much better in Bb and Eb which is why the brass instruments you typically play are in those keys. Now when a Wynton Marsalis sounds a Concerto on a D Trumpet, all of the partials come out 'tszingin' ! And most of the major Orchestral trumpeters spend much of their time on C Trumpets instead of Bb.

From "The Story of a Cavalry Regiment" (4th Iowa Cavalry) by William Forse Scott: "The entire Brigade heard the unmistakeable high pitched peal of Tobe's (the Chief Bugler) golden bugle sounding the Charge, and forward we went."

Now that's a C Clairon.