I recently had a chance to pick up a Bb fife but passed because I did not have any music written for it. That got my mind to working, though (and that’s a rare thing!).
What type of music is played on Bb fifes in general? What song collections would you folks recommend for a Bb fife? Thanks.
Hey Imp,
This is my favorite fife book.
It is by Walter Sweet of Sweetheart Flutes.
Ralph Sweet’s book “The Fifers Delight” is also very good, but not as clearly printed.
All the Best!
Jordan
Jordan gave good advice. But remember that the fife plays similar to a whistle or simple-system flute. You can play all of the same tunes using the same fingerings.
I got my start in woodwinds by playing oldtime American fiddle tunes on a Bb fife. I’ve since moved over to tinwhistle and wooden flute, mainly because the fife was aggravating my tinnitus and threatening my marriage! 
Since the fife is what I regularly play here are a few good sites for fife music:
http://members.cox.net/chrismyers/CFD_Vol1_toc.html
http://members.cox.net/chrismyers/CFD_Vol2_toc.html
http://members.cox.net/chrismyers/KG/KG_toc.html
http://www.drumband.org/music/ccdb.music.html
http://www.drumband.org/music/avf/avf.html
Enjoy!
If it was a Sweetheart Bb fife, you missed out on a very nice instrument. There’s one down at my local music shop and it’s very pretty. If it was me, I would just pretend it was in the key of D and play all the same music. As for actual fife tunes, I have no idea what they would be.
Last month I went to see my nephew as he left the marines basic training. They had a band playing at the ceremony where they bestow their pins and basically say they are now marines, no longer recruits.
When the drum major of the band gives the signal, all the musicians snap their instruments into place in less than a second. I don’t know if that was a piccolo or a fife, but the fifer just snaps it up at a perfect horizontal angle and keeps it that way. Quite impressive.
Although it is a little pricey, I found Ed Boyle’s “A Tutorial On The Fife” useful. His address is BeAFifer.com.
Although the military fife is pitched at B flat, music for it is written as if it was tuned to D, so all your flute and whistle music would work just fine, until you wanted to play with your friends. Guitar and banjo players can put a capo on the first fret and play in A and D.
With all the people looking at this thread, maybe there ought to be a Fife Forum.
Well, maybe not.
Thanks for the links waterman. I love the fife. It makes my dogs Howl!
There’s a big muster of books on this site: http://www.companyoffifeanddrum.org/store-musicbooks.htm.
After the exercise book “Better, Stronger, Faster” you can move on to “25 (or so) Tunes To Make Your Face Fall Off” but before that you need one of these:
Fantastic responses! Thanks a ton. And here I thought I was going to have a productive morning in my studio… Now I know I’ll spend the rest of the day hunting down all these nifty links. 
I’m embarrassed to say this, but I forgot I HAD the Fifer’s Delight by Sweet. 
I didn’t realize he had published another book through MelBay, though. That was worth feeling stupid for a moment.
I’m going to look over these and post a follow up. I’ll probably have some questions. Thanks.
While I am by no means an expert (avatar and username notwithstanding), I would be most amenable to helping out any budding fifer!
The first three links in waterman’s suggestion are mine! I didn’t even know folks were really using those pages. Anway, I’m glad they are – that’s why I put them up.
Best wishes and good luck!
-Chris Myers
(a.k.a. Fyffer)