English 6-Key Piccolo, Db/C#

Plays at Db/C# (A=440) with the tuning slide extended a few millimeters. The tone is clear and projects well. The instrument asks something of the player in return: holding the scale in check across the registers calls for active lipping up and down to keep the intonation seated.

The keywork is block mounted, a style associated with earlier 19th-century English piccolo construction, and it is particularly well executed here. The six keys are a distinctive feature. By the 19th century the piccolo had grown to carry up to six closed-hole keys, extending its reach across sharps and flats. Instruments of this type, pitched in Db, were a mainstay of the military and wind bands of the era, where the Db pitch let the flat-heavy band repertoire fall under more comfortable fingerings.

Recently overhauled, with fresh pads throughout.