As is probably known by some of you, I live in an area where there aren’t many good folk instrument shops. I just got back from Missouri, where I went to the only one I’ve ever been in. It only had Soodlums, Waltons, and Generations. I thought about getting a Mellow D, after the recent discussions (it was the least expensive), but I thought I’d rather get a key I didn’t already have, and with the $8.99-11.99 price-range the Gens were a little higher than I wanted to spend, though I noticed nickel plated were the same price as plain brass. I liked the fact that the Generations came with a tutorial booklet. I also looked at the Schylling recorders mentioned in Gary’s thread. All I wound up getting was a metal fife and a “matchbook” of picks. I also tried an instrument that is like a strumstick, but with a round body and heart shape (a la Appalachian dulcimer) soundholes–very folksy and charming.
Oooh! What key and what make of fife?
C natural. Woodstock American fife.
Did you go to Music Folk
in Webster Groves (St. Louis)?
Got a good selection of whistles,
including high end.
On 2002-09-29 07:34, jim_mc wrote:
Oooh! What key and what make of fife?
I am enjoying playing this fife. It’s a far cry better to deal with than the Yamaha plastic fife, with its recorder-like fingering system. I might check eBay for a wooden one.
On 2002-09-29 16:45, jim stone wrote:
Did you go to Music Folk
in Webster Groves (St. Louis)?
Got a good selection of whistles,
including high end.
No. Just the dulcimer shop in Branson. No high end whistles there, but a rack of Walton’s and Generations. That’s more than you can get anywhere I know of in Eastern Oklahoma. All you can find around here anymore are Clarkes, and the occasional Feadog kit.
Say Walden,
You really should consider a trip to St. Louis March 28-30 for the Tionol.
(Okay, the site’s pretty much all under construction at the moment, but be patient.)
It’s great fun, great music, and Music Folk is just down the street. Hey, it’s only 400 miles!
(Please, no giggling from east or west coast residents who may have noticed I’ve just suggested driving the equivalent of Baltimore to Boston to hear a concert, visit a music store, and maybe join a session. It’s just that, we’re sooo lonely out here!)
–Jay
No gigglin here Jay. I respect that you care that much to travel. When you live so close to so much (here in Bay Area), you find yourself not necessarily going to anything, especially cause of cost. I have certainly missed more great acts than I have seen. you always figger they will come back.
Walden:
e-mail me before you bid on a fife on eBay. The most commonly available wooden fifes on eBay are the maple Coopermans, which are totally unplayable. Maple makes a lousy fife. I promise not to try to outbid you on any items - I collect antique Cloos fifes, but my better half would probably murder me if I brought home another one at this point. As far as new fifes, I have what I need (but not everything I want!), and I prefer to buy them new anyway.
Search the flute forum for discussions about fifes. Dave Migoya has made several, and he’s a well respected authority in fife circles.
I’d heard that about the inexpensive wooden Coopermans. That’s most of what I saw when I checked out eBay after my previous post. I’ll probably ponder a good while before I proceed further (it’s a bigger investment than I’m in the position to make presently). I checked out your postings on the flute forum about fifes, and your web site. Does it seem to you like there is an increasing shift toward emphasis on the War Between the States, with regard to fife and drum corps? I’m just wondering. I watched a bit of the Ken Burns documentary, which they replayed on public television recently.
On 2002-10-01 14:22, The Weekenders wrote:
No gigglin here Jay. I respect that you care that much to travel. When you live so close to so much (here in Bay Area), you find yourself not necessarily going to anything, especially cause of cost. I have certainly missed more great acts than I have seen. you always figger they will come back.
I learned my lesson the last time Stevie Ray Vaughn was here. I figured I’d catch him next time, and he was dead within weeks. I always think of that when I get a chance to see a good act.
Jay, thanks for that info on the festival in St Louis. I will be there around that time visiting friends, so I could take it in? Is it a good event? What kind of workshops night one expect to find?
liz
The Mississippi Celtic Festival in
St. Louis is swell–plenty of
whistle and flute workshops
taught by excellent people,
Mike Burke and other whistle
makers show up with their
wares, there’s a concert
at Sheldon Hall where the
instructors perform and a
mammoth session at McGurks
in the Soulard section of
St. Louis. The whole thing
is done in a friendly and
low key way. The
workshops happen at a
school down the block
from Music Folk,
a folk music store
which usually has
a neat selection of
whistles and celtic
flutes, including
some high end jobbies.
I’ve gone to the Festival
three times. Jim
Jim, thanks so much! Sounds great. It just means a slight adjustment of plans so I can be there.
Are you one of the Jims in the chat room sometimes?
Liz aka liza
Walden: it does seem to me that there are more corps in CW uniforms now than there were when I started out (about 30 years ago). It could also be that at that time, our nation’s bicentennial was fast approaching and everyone wanted to be in tricorn hats. Who knows? Funny that even re-enactors and ancients seem to follow trends.
Truth be told, though, we have a much better historical record of the music and uniforms of the Civil War era, and we actually have photographs of it, so it makes the work of recreating it easier. A lot of revolutionary war era corps wear uniforms that are more a suggestion of the spirit of those times than they are anything even close to historically accurate.
Our Civil War uniforms are somewhat of a compromise in both cost and convenience. For example, we wear modern shoes partly as a concession to the fact that we usually march on pavement.