A minor twist to my WhOA

Whistle
1

I spotted something on E-Bay last week I just couldn’t resist. It’s an ocarina made of stoneware in the shape of a dragon. Mostly, I bought it because it looked cool, and it fit my “guy’s requirement” of being something to play with. It arrived today, and I must say, I’m quite happy with it. It’s very nice looking, and it does actually play, in tune with itself, and as near to the key of C as I can measure against a pitch-pipe. My only problem is that I have big hands, and it’s a bit difficult to get my fingers in place. Now I just need to learn a few one-octave whistle tunes. :slight_smile:

The lady who makes them only makes them one at a time, and never the same design twice. It amazes me that she can make them in tune with each one being so different from the next.

This one will be fun for entertaining the kiddies at the next ren-faire.

2

That sounds really cool! I have one old ocarina I got years ago, but I never learnt to play any tunes, I just used to blow random notes to hear the sound.

There are several ocarina fans on this site who can probably give you good one octave tunes to work up, but here’s a site I looked up last time ocarinas were discussed:

http://village.infoweb.ne.jp/~flute/eocarina.htm

3

This one’s a bit simpler than those on that site, being only four holes, and strictly one octave. (You can’t blow into a higher octave on it, I tried.)

I have played with it a bit now, and though it will take getting used to a different fingering pattern, it’s not very difficult.