Fife in d'' at A440

Home page		This is the smallest member of the flute family, with a lenght of just 32 cm. It is designed after a group of three fifes in the Brussels museum. The originals are dated from 18th century or earlier. When I found them by chance in the "reserve" of the collection in the '70s, they reminded me of the Mersenne picture of a flute (1637), even if no information was available to confirm my impression of their 17th cent. origin. It can be a powerful instrument, the loudest of the family. If you want to be considered a nuisance to your neighbourhood, this is it. It is in boxwood as the originals, with a very small mouth hole. It is a good start for mastering the difficulties of renaissance flute embouchure. The lowest note is d'', an octave above a renaissance tenor, with a range of two octaves (possibly a few more notes if you are good at it) and same fingering.