| The
Piccolo |
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The piccolo is easily confused with with the fife, and in reality the
only difference between them is one of pitch. The piccolo is even higher
in pitch than the fife and is normally in D, a full octave above the concert
flute. The piccolo was used quite widely at one stage in the history of
traditional music, in the what has become known as the "Golden Era" of
traditional music in America in the 1920s. The piccolo was often used by
the early American groups such as 'Dan Sullivan's Shamrock Band', where
in the days before amplification it helped to produce the characteristic
'up front' sound.
The piccolo is rarely heard nowadays, but when sessions get noisy,
there's nothing like a piccolo to get people to sit up and take notice!
I predict a comeback.