What an interesting Germanism to find in the term of fife! I’m not talking about the city of Fife, WA, with its population of 11,000 people, by the way – and its name may or may not derive from the Scottish location. I’m talking the old musical instrument. “Fife” is an abomination of the German word Pfeife (pronounce: ‘pfy-fah, meaning pipe). So, we may or may not imagine the pied piper using such a fife when luring away the children of the German city of Hameln.
The German name for the same instrument, by the way, is Schwegel (pronounce: shvegl), which derives from an old standard German word that means tibia (thank you, Wikipedia!). Now, that certainly explains the slightly curved shape, doesn’t it?! These days, of course, they are NOT made from bone anymore, but from wood. The original instrument has six finger holes and one the musician blows into. Modern fifes are played sideways and have way more finger holes, which allows them a range of up to three octaves. Here is how fifes are used, for example, during Swiss carnival, an impression of the tradition of Morgenstreich (pronounce: morgen-shtrih, meaning morning prank) in Basel, Switzerland:
If you think that this sounds a bit like the tunes of the military in the olden days, you are correct. Because fifes and drums made for the marching music during wartimes in the Medieval Ages as well as Renaissance. And some nations’ infantry used it way longer. It’s easy to imagine that fifes were also used in folk music during peace time – people have always enjoyed music and dancing. The Celtic music has as much of an ongoing use of the instrument as do some regions in the United States.
From folk music, the fife – often made from cane – became an instrument that American slaves used in their music. The combination of this instrument and traditional African music created a genre called fife and drum blues. There are few videos available on YouTube, and some of them are not of good quality. But here is one that demonstrates how rhythm and melody create a unique kind of musical experience:
My own experience as to listening to fifes is also a carnival one. German parades often presented pseudo-military groups with so-called Funkenmariechen (pronounce: ‘foonken-murry-hen, i.e. sparkling Maries) a nickname for female dancers in baroque military skirted uniforms (which were making fun of occupying armies, by the way). As a kid I was enthralled with their acrobatics and their sparkling uniforms; later, they were often replaced by ballets and modern dance groups, though. The traditional fife and drum music has turned into oompah music or modern dance music. It’s a strange mix that you find on stages these days. You get a slight impression of what I saw when a kid if, in this video, you replace the brass by fifes in your mind:
It doesn’t look like the fife is to vanish, by any means, by the way. There are a number of companies still manufacturing the instrument. And that might mean that I’m not aware of its use, currently, but maybe there is an entirely new music genre growing?
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