My sister-in-law took a trip to Hawaii last week and on her way back, stopped in Utah and gave us some presents. To my delight, the one she gave me was a lovely little clay hand-made ocarina! I’ve never had one before and it really sounds nice. Does anyone know of any ocarina websites or info? It came with a little paper of tunes and scales, but I was wondering if there was more to be found. I’m sure I could search around for a while on the net, and I will, but if anyone has anything they have bookmarked, I’d appreciate it.
Cees,
I own several Ocarinas. They are a lot of fun. I really like the Hsun brand. House of Musical Tradition carries them. The little songbird D is awesome, but can hurt the ears if played in a closed room. I also have a double ocarina which I purchased off the net. Very quiet sounding. The breath control needed reminds me of a Hoover whistle. It is shaped like a bagel and has two chambers. It allows your left hand and right hand to play different notes (with practice, even harmony!)
If you want to hear what can be done with an ocarina, you should try to get hold of the CD “The ocarina is no trombone” by the eccentric Michael Copley.
This is serious envelope-pushing. You will definitely be amazed, and possibly nauseated.
The only place I could find on the web that stocks it is a recorder shop in Germany: scroll down the page to find a pic and track listing. A mere 20-odd euros.
Thomas, I got a cute moose ocarina from my bro and sister in law as a ‘get well soon’ gift. Utterly and totally out of tune with itself, but soooooo cute! Part of me wants to attack the offending fingerhole with a file, but I’d probably chip the glaze. I guess this moose is going to be strictly for decorative purposes.
Eeeeeek!! Thars a moose in da hoose!!(is it chocolate?)
El-Tigre’
If the offending tonehole plays sharp,paint clear nail polish around the edge of the tonehole to flatten it.
If the tonehole plays flat,crack open any covered tonehole while playing to sharpen it or use a rat-tail file and file the inner bottom edge of the tonehole into a cone shape. This will sharpen the note without hurting the glaze.
If the overall fundamental scale is flat,add drops of melted candle wax to the inside to reduce the cubic volume and sharpen it.
If the overall fundamental scale is sharp,do the same as above until you raise the fundamental tone to the next higher major scale.
Hope this cures your sick Moose and I hope you are better too!(didn’t know you were sick!)Thomas Hastay.
Thomas, you overestimate my talents and the tunability of da moose (yeah, as a matter of fact, it IS chocolate (colored)). He’s one of the ones I’ve seen in upscale gift emporiums. I’m sure SOMEOME could tune him, but not THIS Cat!
As a description, the tone hole for my right middle finger is EENSY. . .he’s a four holed moose, btw. I think I would have to get a drill bit meant for a dremel and use it by hand.
come to think of it…if its not playable NOW, I really can’t do it any damage by trying, can I???
-Best advice is to Google.com search on “Ocarinas”. All manner of links to ocarina
makers come up, like the Mountain,
Feng, Budrio or novelty varieties. Many
of these sites have sound samples.
-Some also have scales, fingering diagrams or descriptions of non-standard
hole counts or arrangements. The best way, though is personal instruction from a friend or similar. A well-played ocarina can astound!
\
-Take two punchy whistle
tunes and call me in the morning.
[ This Message was edited by: brianormond on 2002-04-30 02:28 ]
I have a pottery instrument shaped a bit like a submarine, blown into from the side and held a bit like a flute, except that the left hand is directly in front of the mouth, and the right hand over to the right side of the head. I think it has 8 or 10 holes, including at least one thumbhole on the underside. Is this an ocarina? (edit: yes it is, check out: http://village.infoweb.ne.jp/~flute/eocarina.htm )
I also acquired a Susuato ocarina on a neck string at the weekend, and they mention a book of one-octave dance tunes ideal for playing on it. I’ll check the reference. The fingering on this style is not what I would call intuitive. Often you have to put one finger on and take another off to change a note one tone in the C major scale.
MCM Transatlantic Whistle Detective Agency - No Case Too Small.
Branches in London & Saltlake City
Generations aren’t bad - just misunderstood
[ This Message was edited by: Martin Milner on 2002-04-30 07:58 ]
I bought a clay ocarina at Lark in the Morning when I was visiting San Francisco last summer. It is more-or-less oval with a pre-columbian style sun face painted on it and a string to wear it around the neck. It makes sounds but I haven’t been able to make what one might call music with it. Maybe I’ll give it another try.
On 2002-04-30 07:41, Martin Milner wrote:
I have a pottery instrument shaped a bit like a submarine, blown into from the side and held a bit like a flute, except that the left hand is directly in front of the mouth, and the right hand over to the right side of the head.
This is a form of an ocarina familiarly called a ‘sweet potato’ because of the shape.
I bought a clay ocarina at Lark in the Morning when I was visiting San Francisco last summer. It is more-or-less oval with a pre-columbian style sun face painted on it and a string to wear it around the neck. It makes sounds but I haven’t been able to make what one might call music with it. Maybe I’ll give it another try.
Mike Burns
Many of the decorative ocarinas aren’t playable at all, or need to be tweaked. This is beyond my expertise, though.
Hey there… I just played my first two ocarina’s last night… Wow… I played a songstone which had a beautiful tone but only has a 1 octave range… I also played another with thumb holes which increased the range…
My question is… Where does one get one online that is the pendant style where you can wear it on your neck but has a larger range than an octave? I really liked the tone of the songstone but would like a few extra notes to play with… Also, I’d prefer it with more of a celtic motif… knotwork, etc… like the songstone…
It was funny… The guy that owned them just stood in awe as I pulled out my whistle tricks, rolls, slides, etc… he he… the ocarina has some major ornamental possibilities!
Blayne, I don’t think you can get much more range out of an ocarina. That’s a question for Thomas Hastay, I guess. The only one I’ve ever seen that has a greater range, also has a double body, so I think you had to swap between the two. . .
Here’s a site I noticed a long time ago, which features “Puny tunes”, a small ocarina. They’re no longer made, but it might stimulate your thoughts. There’s even a short sound file. Enjoy! http://bmumford.com/craft/puny/index.html
I dug out my old ocarina last night - It’s been knocking about in a drawer for a while and got a wee bit chipped, but it’s been with me for over 20 years. I still can’t play a tune on it.
There’s a Gold label with the word MELODIOSA and a treble clef, and a stamped “FA” above the mouthpart. The lowest note is E, and it has ten holes. It sounds like an owl hooting.
I can’t say it’ll replace the whistle for me, but if I want to get in touch with my spiritual side, or maybe pretend I’m Zelda, then it’s the mustard.
The Modern Recorder,Oboe and most Bagpipes only have a “usable” range of 1 1/2 octaves,so I don’t see why a player should set these instruments aside for lack of range. Should they?
Closed tube and vessel instruments are based on the physics of the “Helmholtz Oscillator”. A Helmholtz Oscillator is capable of only 1 1/2 octaves and because of the shape,mostly ovoid,it can’t overblow another mode or octave as most woodwinds can.
There are double chambered ocarinas that can have a range of 3 octaves(1 1/2 for each chamber)but these are rare. The whistle-like Puny Tune,if made larger,would have the proper shape(conical)to overblow 1 octave. Modern instrument makers have not exploited this capability as the Aztec and Maya did.
The three basic types are…
1)Closed Tube or “Tonette”(1 1/2ocatves)based on recorder fingering.
2)Disc or sphere (1 + octave)based on 4 hole “Taylor” fingering.
There is a great deal of celtic music available in the 1 1/2 octave range for the ocarina from bagpipe,recorder,panpipe,oboe and bassoon sources. For more info goto…