Who makes them?
This video is mainly devoted to the glass reproduction of a 6000-year-old ocarina that Dragan Dautovski plays, but he also has a bit of glass kaval in it. It sounds pretty nice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9bsFvHtbaA
Kavals? Quenas? Shakuhachis? Anything in that family? Seems they might actually work (unlike the Hall Crystal transverse flute, which due to experience I cannot think of as a serious instrument at all).
[Edited for content. Mod]
Jack, I’m not sure I understand the question. Perhaps the edit confuses me. The general consensus, as I understand it, is that an ocarina’s base material isn’t necessarily the most critical factor in its tonal development. I have lovely instruments in wood, clay, and even plastic that are quite satisfying in their own ways. Somehow I doubt that he is playing a reproduction of a 6,000 year old instrument that was originally glass. Perhaps you mean it’s a reproduction in glass of an ancient instrument? Personally, I find glass instruments to be undesirable for many reasons other than just their tone. They can be plain repulsive. The Hall crystal flutes I’ve looked at have been so poorly intonated as to be useless, if that’s what you mean.
No need for it to. But since you had to bring it up, I revised - reluctantly - a subjective and loaded descriptive phrase consisting of a mere two words that in no wise contributed anything of particular substance to the OP, and the edit was not only done in full accordance with C&F posting rules, it also has the happy result of preserving the original’s spirit, only now with a few more carefully-chosen words instead of two less-carefully-chosen ones; otherwise the remainder of the text remains untouched and is original. For my part I have done my bit, and rightly kept it above board. This is a little peek into how the mods roll, in case anyone has been wondering, and allow yourself to trust me when I say that you can read the whole OP as if the little red disclosure statement weren’t even there. Put your hand over it if it helps; other than that the whole OP, even edited, is fundamentally the same as it was before in all that matters.
May I further point out that this explanation is not required of me or any other moderator; I merely happen, so far, to be in a generous mood today.
Now be so good as to squelch any further urges to metamoderate, folks, and carry on with what is germane to the OP, or gently move on. Peace out.
I didn’t form my opinion of the Hall Crystal as a result of a negative review - I’ve never seen a review of them, or heard anybody else express an opinion about them. I tried a couple myself. That was enough that I wouldn’t wish one on anybody. The moderator’s rewrite of my comment got it completely wrong.
On the other hand Dautovski’s glass kaval sounds as good as any wooden kaval I’ve heard, insofar as you can tell via a YouTube video. (The ocarina is trying to do something different where normal standards of intonation don’t apply - that wasn’t what I was asking about).
Thank you for the clarification, Jack. I have re-edited accordingly.
When someone finds where and if one of these is sold, speak up.
I have a Hall Crystal Flute, I like it. Other people, including musicians, including flutists, liked it enough to ask me about it so that they could buy one too. I did exchange it for the first one that I purchased because that one was a bit flat. They were quite nice about the exchange. I’m not playing ITM though. I can’t play quickly on this flute either but in general, I live in the slow lane.