[chipcook]

Odd question! I am an active sax player since age 13, and did a little doubling on flute in high school. Now in my 40's, I am trying to pick up fife for a period fife & drum corps ensemble.

This is hard! It's not the open holes, or even the different fingering system, but the embouchure. It seems more difficult than flute, in part, because there is no lip plate on the instrument. Any suggestions? I may need to invest in a teacher again, at least to get me going.

 

[turf3]

Fife is more like piccolo, a small well controlled airstream and don't push as hard as you think. Like piccolo, you can easily overblow it. C flute can take a lot harder blowing than piccolo without breaking up.

 

[KevinF]

I play flute, but not piccolo or fife so no direct experience. Looked online and see that you are not the only one who has this problem.

Third U.S. Regular Infantry Reenactors - Fife Mouthpieces

New page

www.3rdusreenactors.com

 

[chipcook]

I play flute, but not piccolo or fife so no direct experience. Looked online and see that you are not the only one who has this problem.

Third U.S. Regular Infantry Reenactors - Fife Mouthpieces

New page

www.3rdusreenactors.com

I actually have a mouthpiece or "cheater" from an Etsy guy in the Williamsburg fife group, but would rather play without it.

 

[milandro]

playing on any flute without a lipplate (or something that does this) is very difficutl, some people never get the hang of it.

The “ smile” playing position certainly doesn’t work (for me) , I had some better results with the upper lip out .

Same problems are for a number of folk flutes (Bansuri, Dizi)

 

[chipcook]

playing on any flute without a lipplate (or something that does this) is very difficutl, some people never get the hang of it.

The “ smile” playing position certainly doesn’t work (for me) , I had some better results with the upper lip out .

Same problems are for a number of folk flutes (Bansuri, Dizi)

Milandro, I assume you can't add a lip plate to an instrument that originally did not have one? It seems there is a riser or something that connects the plate to the horn to effectively create the sound.

 

[milandro]

I don’t think you can add a lip plate to a flute that has been conceived without

 

[mmichel]

The “ smile” playing position certainly doesn’t work (for me) , I had some better results with the upper lip out .

This (the "smile" embouchure) is poor technique on flute anyway. It's pretty limiting even on a modern concert flute with a lip plate.

 

[milandro]

yes but I mentioned it just in case this was the problem with OP

 

[soybean]

The solution is simple. Yamaha and other companies make fifes with lip plates.

 

[milandro]

The solution is simple. Yamaha and other companies make fifes with lip plates.

yes but none of those is a proper fife as the one illustrated above, they are more a side blown recorder than they are fifes

 

[turf3]

Well, in the world of wooden headjoints for standard flutes, the degree to which a lip plate is formed out of the wood varies a lot. The solution for the OP is to practice.

 

[chipcook]

The solution is simple. Yamaha and other companies make fifes with lip plates.

It's a fife in Bb and should fit in with other period instruments as seen in these pics of the ensemble. But I could get a Yamaha resin fife to practice on.

 

[milandro]

you better practice on the instrument that you will be playing , lip out, as these people play