Hello,

I'm not a regular over here in Viva woodwind so I hope you don't mind me popping over to ask for a bit of advice.

My son has just recently been able to play his plastic yamaha fife that I gave him for christmas last year, and he loves it. I'm thinking of possibly buying him a better one this christmas/birthday as I think he's getting the best sound he possibly can out of it and I don't really know where to start. I think he's too small for a flute (8, and small for his age, little hands).

I'm working with a v. small budget so what I'd like to know is what make/type of fife is the best value for money, eg. the cheapest one that makes a decent sound!

Can anyone help?

Fiona M

I have seen some keyed fifes on ebay but I don't know what the quality is like. On a budget and especially if you are looking for something which practises skills directly transferable to the flute I don't think you can do much better value wise than a Yamaha fife, they are brilliant. I have seen and tried a few different types of plastic fife, some obviously based on the Yamaha, and also tried the Aulos (new and old style) and nothing so far has beaten it, only one which was almost identical has come close to matching it.

It's possible to get what amounts to a miniature flute (the Prodigy, think it's a Jupiter flute? not sure) but they're expensive.

What kind of upgrade are you looking for? Keys? Better sound?

Instruments with keys seem to rise sharply in price (I've looked at this myself )

It is possible to get quite a nice tone out of the yammy and all the work done creating a good sound on it will be paid back when he's big enough for a real flute.

Sorry I can't be more help though

I've heard Sarah on her Yamaha fife and she really does make it sound good

Thanks for the advice, I'm looking for a better sound.

Do you mean the plastic ones that cost about £10 are are there better Yamaha fifes? Someone who plays the flute (but is a bit rusty) tried it and thought it wasn't a very good instrument....

If you do mean those then he might as well sitck with it and just try harder!

The little creamy white miniature flute with no keys in the key of C? This? That's the bunny.

I guess there's room for difference of opinion, and sure it's not a fully chromatic orchestral instrument, but I think they're excellent little things and a wonderful primer for the concert flute. It is capable of making a sound that is far pleasanter than a piccolo in all but the most skillful piccolist's hands, especially in the bottom octave, with a distinctly flute-ish depth to the tone as opposed to the sound of, for example, a recorder.

Some pages you might find of interest:

The chap at Saunders Recorders' take on the Yamaha fife http://www.saundrecs.co.uk/fifes.htm (also contains some soundfiles from The Fife Book by Liz Goodwin)

Dean Stallard (flute teacher who posts on flutenet) on using the fife as a beginner's instrument and extended technique http://www.fullpitcher.co.uk/Dean.htm

Basically... unless you're going the route of somewhat more expensive instruments, you're unlikely to get a better sound. I've seen ebonite fifes with keys on ebay, but pitched in Bb and I don't know how well they would translate to the flute - also a Moeck or Mollenhauer (I forget!) "Picco", again don't know how it would translate - also the Picco was approx £70 rather than £5-10! I think the fifes were about £50-60ish, no idea of the quality. It depends what your budget for improvement is as to whether something like this would be a suitable addition, I do think the fife itself would be would holding onto even if you bought something else.

I've tried both the Aulos fifes and also a make from ebay called Ferris which is based on the Yamaha as far as I can tell but with a slightly altered embouchure hole, and the Yamaha is far and away the best out of those IMO, and a good deal more friendly and easy-blowing than either Aulos.

It's possible to get Baroque flutes and Irish flutes, but again you're talking a substantial amount more money, and they're more of a specialised type of instrument rather than something to progress to the concert flute from I think.

For an idea of what a non-expert can get out of a fife, go look on forum recordings site, about 10 or so items down you will find a recording of me playing a duet of Amazing Grace with myself () which was almost a year ago I think. I have the advantage of having played the flute for a LONG time, of course! - but hadn't had the fife long - I hope that maybe it shows that a non-expert CAN get a reasonably nice sound out of a fife encourage your son to keep working at it and maybe even, crazy as it may sound on a plastic fife(!), doing tone exercises and stuff. It WILL transfer to a flute, and can really encourage the formation of a good embouchure. It might be a better investment to find some more music he can play on it (does he have The Fife Book?) One of the brilliant things about the fife as an instrument for a youngster is that it's such a tough little beast - no keys to bend or break, less delicate even than a recorder, you can drop it, sit on it, heck, you can even play it in the bath! - as opposed to say the Prodigy flute which is apparently good, BUT would set you back the best part of £200-£300 and has most of the same delicate mechanism as a concert flute. If he loves it, encourage him to keep at it

Hope this helps. Sorry, I am not an expert on fifes at all, but it truly is a good little instrument and worth his while especially if he is enjoying it so much.

Hi Sarah-flute, thanks for all the info! I had just assumed as it was cheap it would never or be really very difficult for it to make a nice sound, and I didn't want that to put him off. From what you say though I think he can stick with the one he's got. We have got the fife book but as he's only been able to play it a week I haven't tried to hold him down with it yet! He's just playing tunes he already knows by ear and it's sounding a little bit better so that's a good sign!

Thanks again everyone,

Fiona

I think if he has a good one at the moment (the Yamaha ones are good) then it would be best to leave it for a while, and then wait until he gets a bit bigger and consider investing in a flute for him. Playing the fife will prove a great advantage if he does start flute, and he should progress quite quickly.

Irish flutes are in the key of D and more of a Whistle than a Recorder. totally differant fingerings. My daughter is 11 and she has an Irish flute and the holes are quite large to seal, cost around £40, a black plastic type. Tried to post a link but the website is down.

I'd stick with the Fife or supplement with a Recorder.

Thanks everyone! All your links were really interesting Sarah, I feel like I know a little bit about it now! Just to update you all, he asked me to help him with the book today and it's sounding better already. I'm glad I checked on here before bidding on Ebay *stands up* My name is Fiona and I'm an Ebayholic.......

Glad they helped, Fiona and good to hear he's getting on OK, it sounds like he's having fun which is the main thing, and the help if/when he switches to concert flute are a great bonus.

notmusicmum: what kind does your daughter have? I'm a total fluteaholic, to put it kindly I'm mildly obsessed with anything remotely flute like I'd love an Irish flute. I keep seeing reasonably cheap rosewood ones on ebay and I'm so tempted just to see if they're any good, but keep having to remind myself that I am skint and too good to be true usually is......

She's got a black, plastic type one from Hobgoblin (popular make). I did see some wooden ones that were quite cheap on ebay, from a shop in Edinburgh. They cost less than the Plastic one, but I was unsure of the quality. I can't seem to find them now. the one we have is tunable and you can buy a recorder type mouthpiece to convert it to a whistle. She's playing it in an Irish Folk Group.

I'll try and post a link tomorrow.

Sounds like it's the same one I've been looking at. I'd love to try one just to see what it's like (I'm exceedingly dubious about the "professional quality" though )

Thanks notmusicmum, a link would be fab.

The site is still down but the make is a Dixon. I don't find the sound too bad, better than a whistle, "professional quality" is a differant issue. It is good fun and my daughter enjoys it. Would like to buy a wooden one at some point, however new concert Flute has to be priority.