Upper register intonation problem

Irish Flute
1

I have an old one-key fife that was made by G. Butler & Sons. It’s in the key of B - I know that this is one of the least used keys for making whistles, but I have no idea if it was ever really used for fifes.

My problem is - its intonation is very good until I get a few notes into the upper register. I’ll talk in terms of a “D” flute or whistle, since that’s what I’m used to - the notes from high F# (if this was a “D” fife) on up get progressively sharper.

I’d like to think that my embrasure isn’t bad enough to make these notes go as sharp as they do (I don’t have this problem when playing a flute). Could it be the position of the cork? I’m quite possibly showing my ignorance here - I’m assuming that B is a strange key for a fife, could it be that the cork just needs to be moved one way or the other (maybe it’s supposed to be a Bb or C fife…)? Would moving the cork help the intonation problem that I’m having?

2

Hi Thom,

Well, I can’t comment on your specific fife, but Bb is one of the most common keys (certainly more common than B, though I’m not an expert so could just be making this up). I suppose that could do it. Does it work when adjusted to play at Bb?

Erik

[ This Message was edited by: ErikT on 2002-04-05 03:57 ]

3

Hi Erik,

I’ll try adjusting it this weekend to see if it helps. I was kind of hoping to get a brief cork-theory lesson from someone here before I did anything (as you can tell, I’m not too up on side-blown instruments).

Thanks,
Thom