Chapter 7 – The Colonial Williamsburg Fifes and Drums Alumni Association

The Early Fifes

John Harbour believes that sometime during the spring of 1958 Bill Geiger sent his assistant Bob Reveille to the Harbour house with a half dozen fifes. The fifes were marked “Geo. Cloos, Crosby Model, Key of Bb, Penzel-Mueller, New York”. Harbour describes the fifes as follows:

The Cloos fife that we played had a rich musical heritage. German woodwind instrument makers, George and Frederick Cloos operated a factory in Brooklyn, N.Y. from 1862 to 1945. They produced a fife called the Crosby model, patterned after a popular Civil War fife made by Walter Crosby of Boston. The distinguishing characteristic of the fife is the long tapered ferrules of German silver. They were one-piece, cylindrical bore instruments with six irregularly sized and placed tone holes. After the death of founder George Cloos in 1915, his son Frederick continued to make fifes until the company was purchased by Penzel-Mueller in 1946. Penzel-Mueller operated the business for 10 years before closing it down. My Cloos fife is identical to the description of the original Cloos fife except that it is in two pieces. The mouthpiece slides into the body, thus producing a tuning slide. Since the factory closed in 1956 and our fifes were not purchased until early 1958, there must have been excess inventory that was purchased by other musical instrument dealers.
John Harbour, on fifes

It appears the fifes were purchased on the recommendation of the Lancraft Fife and Drum Corps of North Haven, Connecticut. In a photo of Lancraft’s 1958 visit to Williamsburg, they appear to be playing the same fife, which is easily recognizable because of the long silver ferrules and the silver band where the fife broke apart for tuning. On April 7, 1958, Geiger sent Reveille a memo asking him to contact a New York City company, Gary Newcom and Son, for information about fifes; however, it cannot be determined if this is the company that the fifes actually came from or if they were purchased directly from Penzel-Mueller. It is known that at least 12 Penzel-Mueller fifes were purchased for the Corps, but probably no more.

John Harbour’s Penzel-Mueller fife, played at the first performance of the Corps on July 4, 1958, is on display at the Fife and Drum Building.

In August or September, 1961, George Carroll ordered eight traditional Bb Cloos rosewood fifes, with silver ferrules that were shorter than the traditional Cloos ferrules. These fifes were played primarily by the Junior Corps from 1961 to 1963. These fifes merely were a stop gap measure until a more reliable supply of fifes could be found.

In the fall of 1961, Carroll ordered several traditional Bb fifes from John J. McDonagh of the Bronx, New York. In October, Carroll ordered 11 more. These fifes came in two pieces for tuning, like the Penzel-Mueller fifes the Corps was playing. According to Burage (“Buzz”) Olsen,

“McDonagh was a master musician who had grown up playing in school fife and drum corps in New York City, playing the old Cloos model fifes. He didn’t like the cylindrical fifes because some notes could not be played in tune. McDonagh wanted a better tuned fife so he got with Roy Seaman and they designed the ‘McDonagh’ model fife. Seaman was the craftsman who made the fifes. The ‘McDonagh’ fifes were considered to be an improvement over the traditional single piece cylindrical fife. They broke apart for tuning just ‘below’ the mouth hole (which created a bulge that became the easily recognizable feature of the fife). They had a double conical bore, which means they had a double taper inside the bore. From the break point the fifes narrowed to around the fourth or fifth finger hole; then the bore reversed and got wider. This allowed the fife to play all notes in tune and the low end came out very nice. They were more of a concert fife.”
Burage “Buzz” Olsen

By December 1961, all the fifes had been delivered. Within a year, several of these fifes began to crack. The large bulge also was not authentic for the 18^th Century. The Corps continued to use the McDonagh fifes until the spring and summer of 1963 at which time they began to be replaced with more authentic one-piece fifes made by Patrick (“Pat”) Cooperman of Mt. Vernon, New York.

Carroll recalls first meeting Cooperman at a New England muster in 1958 or 1959. Cooperman was a drummer in the Colonial Greens Fife and Drum Corps of Mt. Vernon, New York. Cooperman made drumsticks on a lathe in his basement and he would sell them at musters. In 1959, the Colonial Greens attended the Southeastern States Muster in Arlington, Virginia, and Carroll purchased some of Cooperman’s drumsticks for the Continental Boys Fife and Drum Corps. Carroll would continue to order drumsticks from Cooperman for years to come, as does the Corps to this day, in addition to fifes and drums.

By the end of 1962 Carroll was talking with Pat Cooperman about making fifes for the Corps because of problems with the McDonagh fifes. Cooperman had been making fifes for several years on a small scale, primarily for individuals in local New York and New England corps. Cooperman agreed to make a set of wood fifes for the Corps.

In March of 1963, Cooperman wrote to Carroll, “As for the fifes, I have been delayed because I am trying to make a machine that will cut down some of the manual labor. I’m pretty well set now, and with a little luck, I hope to be making the fifes very shortly.” This is the first known written reference to the Corps’ first fife order from Cooperman.

On April 25, 1963, Cooperman mailed a set of fifes to Carroll, but the number of fifes in this order is not known. Cooperman’s letter reads, in part:

“Dear George, I mailed the fifes out to you today. Hope they meet with your approval. This is the first set of fifes to be produced by me. (a real collector’s item!) I soaked them with light mineral oil and suggest that you swab them occasionally with the same. It helps the tone to have a well-oiled fife.
I discussed the mouth-hole size with several fifers. The size I have made seems to be average. Each fifer has his own idea of what is best. If you should want a larger hole, I suggest that you do not touch the width of the hole. Make it longer instead. The shape should be a long oval. Use a rat-tail file to do this.
I have not had time to have a guarantee printed to cover the fife. However, I am guaranteeing it for six months against checking…
The fifes are in full production now and have great hopes for them. Jack O’Brien has been contacting different corps about it and we’re keeping our fingers crossed…
Hoping to hear that everything is O.K. Let me know what you think of the fife.
Sincerely, Pat”
Letter from Pat Cooperman to George Carroll, April 25, 1963

By May of 1963, the fifes had arrived and Carroll wrote Cooperman, “We went out on parade to Newport News last week (May 1^st) and the boys took your fifes along and played them at certain times…. We can do this because we have fife cases that they can sling over their shoulder and they can carry one fife while the other one is being used. So far, the reception of your fifes is very good. Of course, it takes a while to get used to a different instrument and the boys have been playing the McDonaghs for some time.”

The earliest fifes Cooperman made for the Corps were traditional Bb, were made of rosewood, and were cylindrical (straight) with finger holes that were not counter-sunk, based on the design he had been making previously. The earliest wooden fifes did not have ferrules. These fifes were numbered 1 to 24, so we know only 24 were produced for the CWF&D. It is highly likely Cooperman made more of these fifes that he sold to other corps. To remove concerns about having the ends of the fifes unprotected, Cooperman obtained stamped brass fittings that were used for hydraulic hoses. Cooperman used these fittings as ferrules, a practice continued to this day.

These short ferrules appeared on the next series of the early wooden fifes that were made of rosewood and that had counter-sunk finger holes. This model of fife, in traditional Bb, was only made for a year or two during 1964-1966, and they were not numbered, but an estimated 20 to 25 were delivered to the Corps, and additional fifes sold to other corps as well. About the same time, Cooperman began making black plastic fifes with the small stamped brass ferrules.

A March 25, 1964, letter from Cooperman to Carroll references a “fife marked number 8.” By July, Carroll was ordering “one plain rosewood fife #15”, and by September there’s an order for “a rosewood fife, to be numbered #24 to replace one that has been broken.” These fifes were from the first production model without ferrules.

Carroll had learned of an original fife in the Colonial Williamsburg collection and sometime in 1964 the decision was made to replicate it for the “official” fife for the Corps. Cooperman came to Williamsburg to measure it. The prototype appears to be a boxwood fife made in the fall of 1964. On October 15, 1964, Cooperman wrote to Carroll about a new boxwood fife he has made and he says he has “tried to make it as close as possible to your museum piece as I could from the picture.” He asks if it looks “like the one in your museum” and requests that it be sent back because it is the only one he has made. The new model was tapered and had longer brass ferrules that were made from machined brass tubing.

The new fifes had a shorter distance than traditional Bb fifes, between the mouth hole and the first finger hole, which made them play slightly sharper than the traditional Bb fifes then used by New England Corps. Nonetheless, the Corps insisted on authenticity and the fifes, now known as “old pitch” fifes, are still used by the Corps (with minor style modifications over the years) and they are gaining in popularity with other corps around the country. By early 1965 Cooperman was producing the “G Carroll Model” fife. The first known photo of one of these fifes appears in a July 1965, photo of the Corps. These fifes were made of cocobolo and many were numbered, beginning with number 25. The first few fifes produced replicated the dimensions of the original fife including the round mouth hole. It was quickly determined the round hole should be replaced with an oval hole to make the fifes easier to play. Ever since, all the Corps’ fifes have had oval mouth holes.

Sometime in late 1964 or early 1965, Cooperman began producing old pitch fiberglass fifes, of a dark orange color intended to look like wood (at least from a distance). The short brass ferrules were used on these fiberglass fifes, with an estimated 20 to 25 being delivered to the Corps. The fiberglass and plastic fifes were purchased by Junior Corps Recruits. Upon making the rank of Corporal, Corps members were issued a wooden fife; however, in 1965 and 1966 the new G Carroll model fifes for the Senior Corps did not arrive in one order. Instead, they arrived a few at a time. As a result, the fiberglass fifes (also old pitch) were pressed into service in the Senior Corps.

There were four known versions of the G Carroll Model fifes, as follow:

the first version from 1965, made of cocobolo, that exactly replicated the original fife with a round mouth hole. The first fife in this series, number 25, is on display at the Fife and Drum Building;
the second version, from 1966 to 1967, made of cocobolo, that had an oval mouth hole and also that had a longer extension of the fife on the side of the mouth hole opposite the finger holes.One of these fifes is on display at the Fife and Drum Building;
the third version from 1968 to 1970, made of cocobolo and rosewood, that replicated the dimensions of the original fife, but with an oval mouth hole. One of these fifes is on display at the Fife and Drum Building; and
the fourth version that was a special set of 12 boxwood fifes ordered in 1968. One of these fifes is on display at the Fife and Drum Building. Additional fifes from this production run also were made for Cooperman’s inventory and sales. Several boxwood C-fifes also were made for the Corps for a “duty call” program. While very unique and attractive, the boxwood fifes generally were not liked because they were inconsistent. Patsy Cooperman Ellis remembers her father disliked working with boxwood because it was unstable. She recalls “My dad vowed never to make a set of boxwood fifes again.”

Production of the G Carroll Model fifes was discontinued when Carroll left the Corps in 1971. To this day, Cooperman has continued to produce old pitch fifes for the Corps in a variety of woods, ferrules and dimensions over the years.