Trommelpfeife (fife) question

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Hello everybody,

I recently got this wooden Trommelpfeife (an uncle of mine always buys these old instruments on flea markets ). Unfortunately I don't have a camera at hand, but here's an image of a similar fife:



It's stamped "N. Moritz Berlin". The finger holes are similar to the Yamaha fife, but w/o thumb hole; the last hole for the pinky is that raised thing you can see on the image (mine is a bit chipped there, but this doesn't seem to affect the way it plays). I assumed that it would play some major scale, but the tuning is rather obscure. Incrementally lifting the fingers gives approximately [sic] the following notes (from xxx xxxx to ooo oooo):
C - C# - D - Eb - F - G - A - B

I can't imagine it's supposed to be played like this -- and was originally sold this way, even if it's junk. Of course there's the possibility that someone tinkered with it who had absolutely no idea what they were doing (the tone holes actually are a bit uneven), but I'm wondering if I'm simply missing something regarding how this fife is supposed to be tuned and / or fingered. And if not, would it be feasible to correct the tuning (whatever this may be)? I don't have a problem with messing around with it...

TIA!
Sebastian

[I.D.10-t]

I'll have to read this in depth later in Google translate.

http://www.musikzeit.de/instrumente/querpfeife.php


It seems to have some useful information at first glance.

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Thanks I.D.10-t -- yes very useful indeed. The fingering chart shows that the tuning is actually quite different from what I expected; the lowest holes are tuned to enable an entirely chromatic scale (as opposed to the Yamaha fife which simply doesn't have a C# and only a very sharp Eb). It all makes sense now.

BTW the last note with all holes open actually is a B, not a Bb. I'm still getting confused sometimes by international vs. German nomenclature, where the Bb is called B and the B is called H. I'll edit the OP.

[I.D.10-t]

That web page and that style of flute was an interesting find. I have never seen these things. The tapered bore Keilwerth Soprano Flute seemed particularly interesting. This keyless chromatic flute would be an interesting thing to blow across, but I doubt I'll ever see one available over here.

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They seem to be quite standard in German marching bands, and are easy to acquire over here (both new and old); yet there's not much information on the internet. I always assumed they're simply more or less diatonic fifes with a couple of passable x-fingerings (just like the YRF-21)... shame on me I missed that invaluable site! So thanks again for that link!

Very interesting indeed how differently fifes developed in different parts of the world, especially regarding chromatic solutions. And now that I know what to search for (the more common terms seem to be "Spielmannsflöte" [minstrel flute], or after that popular brand "Sandner Flöte" or "Zauberflöte" [magical flute]; internationally simply "German fife") I'm getting a little more results. Here's a clip by our own accordionstu for instance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtw-DQxqgt8

[I.D.10-t]

The Sandner Flöte is interesting in that instead of a tapered body it uses an adjustable two piece stopper or "peg" to adjust the octave tuning. I didn't realize that that method was still being used, but I remember a thread on that a while back.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=85193&start=0

So with the proper fingering, how does your new pipe play?

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So with the proper fingering, how does your new pipe play?

It plays okay I think, although I still have to get the hang of it. And then I don't have a reference object of course; but now that I got hooked I'm tempted to get a modern Sander fife (their "standard" line is really affordable and apparently quite reliable). Oh well...