Well Rowanna. I myself play the tin whistle. I have several of them. I buy mine all from The Whistle Shop in Illinois. I also have a superb yamaha fife that I bought from the whistle shop for about 9 dollars. All of this is at http://www.thewhistleshop.com/ The fife is in the Catalog/New Items section. There is another fife in that same section too, and I think you could look under Catalog/Other Instruments/Flutes, Fifes and Piccolos for some other simplified fifes.

Hey girl,
I just started playing the fife and it rocks!!! I`ve played the flute for about 6 years and then I found about the fife and it`s my new fav! Fife rocks!!

I just got the Yamaha`s one ...

Which is not really a fife - I know, but the (blowing) technique must be the same.

I can`t really get a good sound from it. Allways played recorder and clarinet - never really a fife or flute.

Anybody knows any source of information online?

Im gonna sound like a totall dumbass now but what the hell is a fife?

Heh.

Here:
http://www.bartleby.com/61/23/F0112300.html
http://www.sbgmusic.com/html/teacher/reference/instruments/flutes.html
http://home.rica.net/gilliadj/fife.html

go on google and type "fife" - you get it all.

Hi guys..... I just stumbled across this forum while searching for info on how to play the fife. I play the snare drum at Civil War living history events. If any of you fife people out there live in the Norfolk Virginia area I sure would love to hear from you. I am trying to get people together in this area to play Civil War tunes.

Aha!

So, Kernal, you are the one who could give an advice?

Do you know any online resource with the technique tips?

As for fife players on the forum, I seem to be the only one who knows what is fife.
And I am not a fife player either. Not yet. Just getting to it.
And I am in California.
Sorry.

This what I plan to do. I am going to order an instruction book and cd from http://www.beafifer.com/

There are a few sample lessons on the web site to get you started. I can now play a b c d e f g pretty well. I plan to learn the scale while I wait for the package to arive.

I also have Walter Sweets Complete guide for the fife and drum. I originaly got this book and cd for drumming. I have learnd all the beats for the 78 tunes in the book. Now I would like to be able to play them on the fife. Not at the same time....lol. My son is also a drummer.

The walter sweet guide is real cool. It has easily read music and all the songs are played on a cd so you know what they should sound like. It can be found all over the net and in some local music stores. But I do not think this book would be good to learn the basics of the fife. Just great music for when you have the hang of the fife.

Hope this is helpfull.

Also if anyone is in the Norfolk Va. area I would like to get together and play some tunes.

omg i play the fife and it is sooo much fun! btw does ne one have a site with yankee doodle cheet music

I have several sources of sheet music for Yankee Doodle. E-mail me and I will get them to you.

Kernal

I got it already - sounds pretty good.

Not as good as I hear it on recordings - there is always some space for improvement.

I am not such a fan of drum&fife, though - for me fife is just another instrument.

Shura.

hey! I play the fife!! i just started it for marching band, im playing yankee doodle on my fife during our street beat. currently i also play bari sax, alto sax, sometimes tenor sax, piano, little bit of the guitar and violin and some other smaller intruments like bongos and bagpipes! the fife is a fun instrument to play how did u guys get involved with playing the fife?

http://www.sweetheartflute.com/fifes.html

was just doing searches on fifes on the internet and ran into this post. just thought i would give you a link to the Sweethart Flute company...i got a B flat fife from them...sound is great but also a lil harder to get it to sound correctly. well anyways just thought you would like that.

$100 is, definitely, too much to satisfy my curiosity.

I got one for $16.50 - good enough for me to understand the kind of instrument it is. I like it - don`t get me wrong. Irish flute would be the next step for me, though.

This is the one:
http://www.smoke-fire.com/musical-instruments-1.asp (the mapple one)

Hey guys... I can play a few tunes on my fife now... Sounds good too. I am playing Stonewall Jacksons Way, Camp Town Races, and Minstril Boy. I am playing it on Sweetheart. I played a friends Model F fife today and it was much easier to play. I would recommend the Model F Fife to anyone looking for a good fife. They can be found at www.beafifer.com. I am going to order one very soon. If people just want a cheap learner the black plastic is the way to go. From what I understand the maple fifes are the hardest to play of them all so stay away from them. I highly recommend the Model F. It played much easier than any other fife I have played with.

Kernal