Caru
New Member
Posts: 2
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Post by Caru on Sept 22, 2004 5:37:00 GMT -5
I just linked over from Chiff and Fipple. I've been interested in taking up the ocarina for a while, but don't know where to start. What kind is easiest? Most flexible in what tunes it can play? I think flexibility and range would probably be the most important factors for me. It looks like G and C are the most common keys, right?
I'd be interested in any recommendations for what to buy first. I don't want to spend a mint, but would rather get something good rather than just cheap. Cheap and good would be best, of course!
I just moved to Japan, and had hoped to find some players or just some places that sell ocarinas, but all anybody seems to play around here is recorders...
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Post by Walden on Sept 22, 2004 17:19:04 GMT -5
In the United States and Britain, since the 1960's, the English system ocarinas, such as Song Stone, have caught on, not because they are easier to play or have a wider range, but because they only require four holes (some have one or two thumb holes, to increase the range by a couple of notes, or to use for chromatics), and thus are easy to make in a variety of shapes, such as figurines and pendants. In my opinion, and that of a good many other people, inline ocarinas, such as sweet potatoes, Mountain ocarinas and some of the Hind ocarinas, are both easiest to learn and also better for the experienced player, in terms of being able to use ornamentation. However, for very small ocarinas, I prefer the English system, for reasons of practicality. The oldest standardized form of ocarina is the Italian sweet potato. These play similarly to a tinwhistle, in that you raise one finger to achieve each note. Since the ocarina has no overblow notes, the range is increased by having a hole for every finger and thumb. The three highest notes are made by lifting the left thumb, the left little finger and the right thumb, respectively. In the United States, some makers made ocarinas with the same fingering system, but simplified it a bit by not having the left pinky hole and the right thumb hole. These are probably the easiest system to learn, and since it's the exact same fingerings as the Italian, it's easy enough to move on to that. Two makers of the American system were Old Glory and Gretsch. The Gretsch/Trophy ocarinas were brought on the market in about 1941, and are still available today. They are made of plastic, and are from the same company as Flutophones, so are available widely in music stores, more than other ocarinas. These are the ocarinas known to many middle aged Americans. In my opinion the currently made ones are not up to par, and likely of inconsistent quality. You can often find Old Glory ocarinas, which are of painted ceramic or earthenware, on eBay. Ocarinas are gaining some additional popularity through the inroads into pop culture from their use in the anime series My Neighbor Totoro, and in the video game Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. This last has caused the popularity of ocarinas to soar in the USA. In the 20th Century, the Japanese have expanded the range of the Italian sweet potato design by adding two additional holes. These are still essentially inline ocarinas, but have the widest range. You can find links to some Japanese makers and purveyors in the classic ocarinas section of the Main Page, under the heading "Current Makers." To find more about the Japanese ocarina scene check out the Ocarina Room at www.fl-oca.com/op/ocarina.htm (the English-language section is here: www.fl-oca.com/eng/eocarina.htm ) Sojiro is the most famous Japanese ocarina player that I am aware of, and uses 12-hole sweet potato.
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Post by Walden on Sept 22, 2004 17:25:40 GMT -5
Welcome to the Board, by the way. Great to have new members, Caru and Jessie.
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Post by kenneth on Oct 19, 2004 2:34:59 GMT -5
I would first start with a quality instrument right at the beginning, if you know that playing the ocarina is something you want to do. No point in wasting even ten dollars on ocarina you will not even want to touch once you tried a better one. I have a small collection of ocarinas. The English type ocarinas are the hardest to learn, the fingering system is pretty random. The easiest I have tried are the larger wooden ocarinas by Charlie Hind. Of the family of ocarinas he makes, the tenor stands out. Light weight, easy to hold, little breath required, very intuitive fingering and wonderful sound quality; it is hard to beat. I have tried several of them, and I have yet to come across a 'dud'. Living in Japan, you should have no problem finding a quality soprano 12 hole clay ocarina. There is only one ocarina maker in America who makes them and that is Spencer Register, and his are great. That would be my next choice. Not as easy to hold as the Hind ocarinas, especially in playing the upper notes, but you will get a larger range of notes. They also sound differently. You will want to have at least one of each someday. Hope this helps.
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Post by silbido on Mar 10, 2005 22:18:35 GMT -5
Well, I am new here and new to ocarinas. I bought a really cheap one about 7 years to play around with, but I could never get a good sound out of it and decided that the majority of them were probably like that. I gave up on it until running across the mountain ocarina website a couple of days ago by accident. I was very happily surprised and bought one of their ocarinas. I live in the Dominican Republic and it won't arrive here until the first week of April.
I have 5 children from 5 to 14 and we are planning on trying our hand at this again. I play several instruments including the trumpet and harmonica and read music. My children are learning to play the piano also.
Now that you have an idea who we are, I have a question for you. If the mountain ocarina is a success with us (and I think it will be), we would like to play duet and quartet-type music with them. Where can we find ocarinas to do this with? Is there more information or help for those wishing to get started playing as a group? Thanks for your help. It is too bad that there is not more activity on this board. It is a tremendous idea and could be extremely helpful. Lastly, I'd like to say, "Thanks" to Walden for all of his work here. I have enjoyed your posts.
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Post by silbido on Mar 13, 2005 20:33:16 GMT -5
Just thought I would let you know where I am at in my search. I have been doing some checking and I have a better idea of what we might want. I have been writing to some of the makers of ocarinas also and it looks like we just want to be sure we get a good mix of soprano, alto, tener and bass ocarinas. Two more questions now. Is there a preferred type of ocarina to use in a group of 5 to 7 people? The other question comes from the fact that an ocarina is limited to, more or less, one octave. Because of that, what kind of music arrangements should I look for to find the songs laid out for a one octave instrument? I would need to be able to get the music for different keyed instruments also. Some ocarinas are in g, others d, others.....you get the idea. Any and all help and suggestions are welcome.
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