Whats a Drum Corps (Military) Fife?
These are typically B flat instruments intended to be played outdoors with drums. A good fife plays loud and clear in the second and third octaves. The bore is somewhat small to favor this range, while the first octave is seldom used. ‘Fife standard pitch’; is about 30 cents sharp of A=440 these days in the U.S., and with only 6 holes, the third octave tunes up best with other fifes. To get chromatics, some fifes are made with 11 holes, even though most players have only 10 fingers. The charm of drum corps fifing is that it’s simple and fun (and loud!).
