At about $20 for either the G or C ocarinas theyāre certainly affordable. Wish they had a fingering chart, though. And wish I knew more about the āstandardā ocarina fingering.
I have one of these, which I got a few years ago. Theyāve changed the design a bit, but theyāre essentially the same. These are TERRIFIC ocarinas which Iād highly recommend for a really portable instrument. The plastic ones are especially intrigueing-- they didnāt have them when I bought mine. For $20 you canāt go wrong.
The āintuitiveā scale they mention is a great innovation. Ocarina fingering is often very odd and idiosyncratic, but theirs is easy to learn. Imagine cutting a whistle in half (perish the thought !) and laying the bottom half alongside the top, keeping your fingers in their normal holes. This is essentially how this fingering works. You take one finger off in order to play a scale. Simple.
The fingering for traditional ten hole sweet potatoes is likewise intuitive. The 4-hole (or 4 and thumbholes) ocarinas with the unusual fingerings came on the scene in the mid 1960ās, but they do have an advantage, in that it is more practical to have fewer holes on the small ocarina pendants.
Sorry for the confusion. I meant the polycarbonate models. My thought was that they are an alternative, that I might could actually afford some time, of the same basic style as Charlie Hindās, but I wish they would make one like the double one here, at the bottom of the Hind site: http://www.hindocarina.com/Ocarinas.htm as Iād like to afford a double ocarina, to play in āduetā fashion.
Yes, i saw the polycarbonate ones and thought i could afford one. But then, which one? G is more useful, but C must sound nice⦠heck with it, bought both. Hopefully they should arrive sometime next week.