I had $15 left in my debit account so I bought it without thinking much. It's quite a charming instrument to behold, made out of creamy smooth plastic, curvy in some places, with lip guards over the blow hole. It has actually got 8 holes arranged non-linear down the body, tho you only really need to operate 7 holes (ignoring the underside one, permanently closed).
It comes as a 2 piece fit which makes it portable for busking. But personally, I think its 34cm length is okay as it is. The tuning is quite interesting and allows me to play quite a number of popular songs more easily than on bamboo flute -without having to trial and error arrange them.
Fife, where have you been all my life?
To make the flute sing, you have to force air at medium velocity across the hole in a focused fashion, meaning making a pinhole with your lips. Sharper blows produce a higher octave easily. My technique is to gently push my lower lip against the lip guards (see pic above), which are on either side of the blow hole. It is wrong to rotate the fife, rather it has an adjustment round the back so you can vary the angle of your breath across the blow hole. Mine is almost negative 2. After that, it should resonate with a deep, warm sound.
Trust me, it's doable and quite fun. If you're thinking of other types of flute, consider this one as well -it's well worth $15.
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