It is pretty late on the 4th of July here, and I suspect that the American Fife players have had a pretty busy weekend.
Any reports? What did you all do? I want to live vicariously. 
Canāt help with vicarious fifing, but Iāve recently been conversing with a fife maker who turns out to have some very interesting historical stuff on his web page:
http://www.dillonmusic.com/historic_fifes/historic_fifes.html
Terry
Isināt Dave Migoya a champion fifer?
What do you at the beginning of July, Dave? Independence Day vs. the WCSS! Maybe go to the Azores?
Does any of that fifing make its way into your Irish playing? I hear bits of fifing in older players, itās not mutually exclusive Iād say.
I notice the Mel Bay fifing book is by Walter D. Sweet, āa native Connecticut fifer.ā Any relation to Ralph?
Walt is Ralphās son.
nah, i gave up the fife years ago (although you never really forget how). Damn itchy uniforms.
some old fifey tunes make it into my sets, yes. Of late itās been Empty Pockets, an old Civil War tune of note. Skip Healy did a nice job on his own with it, on his eponymous recording (and the name of his firm/recording label). He used a fife in that very nice set. Iāve got a slightly different version on flute set up for an upcoming CD.
And who is this Shannon person in Colorado? Do I know you? Itās not Shannon Heaton, is it? If so, I thought you was in Boston.
Walt is indeed Ralphās son.
My very first āfluteā was a Sweetā¦that cost me just $125 new.
Yes, lovely day, July 4 ā¦
I marched with my F&D Corps, the Kentish Guards (Shamelss plug: http://www.kentishguards.org ) in the oldest Independence Day parade in the country, in Bristol, Rhode Island http://www.july4thbristolri.com/parade.html. This year was the 220th such parade, and my Militia unit has been doing it for more than 100 years.
The weather was lovely, as was the roadside scenery (read into that what you will), and I shed about 10 pounds of water, which was happily absorbed by my mostly-wool uniform. Marching and playing for 2.3 miles and about 2 hours takes a bit out of you, but Iād do it every day if I could.
I live for this stuff!
228 years?
wow
thatās every year since the signing
they even paraded during the Rev War (which ended, sort of, in 1782)?
geeze
not bad for a āholidayā that wasnāt official until 1941 !
Iāve since editted my typo ā¦ should be 220 years, and yes, itās been historically verified (to the best of those historiansā abilities, of course).
Actually, there was a celebration of sorts (a 13 gun salute) on July 4 1777. A Google search of ābristol rhode island independence dayā should yield that info, and more.
i wasnāt challenging the assertion at all!
I was just impressed that bristol (which is a lovely lovely town) would have the celebration for that many continuous years!
as I saidā¦terrific for a holiday that didnāt officially exist until the mid-1900s (which is rather stupid if you think of itā¦why did they wait so long anyway?)
(and does Skipper still parade with you guys, or is he just the Mariners only now?)
I believe the Skipster has moved far beyond his humble beginnings, and only occasionally plays with the Mariners, most notably at Deep River, and I think that is also mainly for the party (not that thereās anything wrong with that mind you ā I thoroughly enjoy the party aspect of DRAM as much as the next guy).
And I didnāt think you were questioning my assertions ā I was just correcting my own 
So, David ā a more fundamental question here: How come no more fifing? Granted, Iām pretty new at it (this is only my 4th year playing), but I still find it just as infectious as I did the first time I really got hooked.
why no more fifing?
hmmm
letās seeeā¦
I started at 4 years oldā¦
and Iām 42 now.
Thatās a long time, even in human years!
Frankly, thereās no venue here for itā¦
and my previous home port (Detroit) had little going on that interested me in fifing.
Iād done all the musters that could be done (from the very first Young Colonials gathering, to the Winter Doldrums in Germantownā¦which is really Danbury, but whoās countingā¦to the Freezer Jams and the Christmas musters).
Iād taught so many corps, I canāt even remember the dozens and dozens of faces anymoreā¦
Iād competed in all the competitions you could compete in (and lost just twice in 20 years) and paraded more miles than you can probably get onto a mapā¦
Iād jammed until 6 am when you could do that at DRAM and Westbrook (canāt any moreā¦this was before the cops started toshow up!).
Thenā¦when I thought there wasnāt much more musically to be accomplished (Iād even played all the solo pieces that McDonagh had played or writtenā¦so that was done)ā¦
I discovered the Irish Flute.
Wow.
That was that.
So while I will pick up my fifeā¦every blue moonā¦
my flutes have been āitā ever since.
I guess if I were on the east coast like you, then maybe Iād still be playing in some fashion.
But I got really, really tired of the parade/competition thing.
It even bled over into my irish playing when I competed for the All-Ireland.
No need anymore.
Now we happily play tunesā¦
and there are no loud drums ('cept for the occassionally nutty bodhran whacker) to fight against.
Iāll vouch for him. There really arenāt many Revolutionary War sites around Colorado. 
I was looking at Fife and Drum Online, they have online reproductions of tutors, lots of old sheet music and some instructions, such as this, for forming the embochure: āStand erect in the āPosition of the Soldier,ā as that attitude gives more freedom to the lungs, and prevents a pain in the breast.ā
Iām interested in how some of the old timers (Irish) seemed to have a bit of fifing in their playing. Also Iām a nut for old sheet music.
Hāmm. I played āStars and Stripes Foreverā on piccolo. Does that count for anything? 
Dana 
It gets my vote for counting ā all I did was practice. alone in my garret. 
Actually, I remember hearing that the more challenging part of that song (played on the piccolo) helped to establish the piccoloās role in the modern orchestra.
Sorry I cannot find the material.
Beethoven wrote for piccolo (or whatever they called it back then) in his 9th, which was before Sousa was around, thoughā¦
I know the feeling it takes more out of you playing Pipes and us Pipers go through the same type of thing except we get some ventalation if you know what I mean and we donāt have to wear our jackest when it is this hot. the worst is Bass Drum I have had to play Bass on one Parade I nealy died at the end of it. I was so happy I didnāt have to play Bass on Monday or Saturday because Saturday we had 2 Parades both over two miles and took an hour monday it was only one of those marathons but I could barely play on Monday.