Challenges in marketing the ocarina

While the ocarina is a capable instrument in skilled hands, some aspects of the instrument itself, as well as other things like naming conventions, make the ocarina difficult to market as a serious instrument:

The name 'ocarina' is ambiguous

The term 'ocarina' is often used as a catch-all for any instrument based on a hollow chamber. It can refer to things made purely as novelty items, to serious musical instruments, or to other things that straddle the line.

Large groups of people use the term to refer to different things. Consequently, when the word is used alone, it isn't clear what someone is talking about, or what someone will envisage when they read it. And while classifiers do exist, they are rarely used. Different people consider different types the 'true' ocarina, which often leads to pointless arguments.

I can see this being unclear to the general public. A newcomer who is inspired to learn the ocarina after seeing a skilled performance may not realise that only some types are playable. There is a very high probability that such a person will buy a bad instrument.

This ambiguity is also a serious problem from a searchability and search engine optimisation perspective. Makers of serious instruments end up competing in search results with those who make art pieces or novelty items, when these should not be competing at all. They serve different functions and have different audiences.

People also tend to develop fixed connections between names and what they represent. Given that 'ocarina' is a catch-all, there is a tendency that all people in a given culture will bucket all ocarinas based on whatever is the most well-known. If most people are exposed to the 'ocarina' as a novelty item, they won't look any deeper.

At this point, the only practical answer is educating the general public about the types of ocarinas that exist. I would also recommend anyone innovating on this instrument to be more creative with naming choices, and I am grateful that the xun and hucca (pronounced 'shoon' and 'wakka') have unique names.

Ocarinas look simpler than they are

Because the ocarina is visually simple, people not deeply familiar with music might think that it doesn't require deliberate practice or technique like more visually complicated instruments.

In reality, playing the ocarina is more complex than it looks:

• Many separate skills are required to play well, including playing common rhythms, knowledge of music theory, fingerings, ear training, and an assortment of articulations and ornaments.
• Holding and balancing an ocarina on the high notes is quite complicated.
• The instrument's pitch is unstable, and playing in tune demands fine breath control.
• Players need to learn what makes music sound musical, and musicality is a complex topic in itself, independent of the complexity of any instrument.
• Knowing how to practice effectively also helps a lot with making reliable progress.

Wind instruments in general are also more complex than initially apparent, as many techniques happen out of sight inside the body: breath control, tonguing and vibrato, for instance.

If someone learns to play the ocarina without realising they need to learn certain skills, it is very easy for bad habits to develop. Many of these factors may be difficult to notice without tuition, and they may not be aware they are practising in a way that will never lead to sounding good.

Without widespread knowledge of what the ocarina can do in the hands of a skilled performer, it will negatively impact the instrument's reputation. This issue can be seen in the recorder and the tin whistle. Both are tubular wind instruments and by that nature capable of similar playing styles, yet:

• The tin whistle is widely played in Irish traditional music. It is treated as a serious part of the tradition, and is played to a very high standard.
• The recorder, by comparison, is often considered a child's instrument. They can be played to an equally high standard, but very few people are aware of this.

As was noted in the previous section, people develop fixed ideas about things. They take things at face value and rarely question them for themselves. Thus, if an instrument has a reputation of being incapable, most people will disregard it offhand. Once such stigmas become ingrained in a large portion of the population, they are challenging to shift.

There isn't anything wrong with playing an instrument in a non-serious way for personal enjoyment. Still, I feel that other instruments can better cater to this need than the ocarina. The keyboard, for instance, has stable pitch, and so a player can ignore it and still get a good sound. Mbira also has similar properties.

It would be entirely possible to create an ocarina-like electronic instrument with stable pitch and consistent fingerings, which is discussed in another appendix.

Melody instruments are 'weird'

I think melody instruments are culturally weird in the current world. Mainstream pop music is often based on digital synthesisers, and is vocal-focused. Within this framework, melody instruments have little space to occupy besides interludes, and mainly feature in film and video game music. It may be the case that people lack a personal connection to these instruments or have little intuitive sense of what they are suitable for.

Ocarinas are even weirder, as many of the things that they can do are remote, even relative to common instrumental music. Single chambered ocarinas have a small range, whereas instrumental music often uses a wide range. On many instruments, volume is used to create emphasis, but this is not the case with the ocarina. Instead, emphasis and phrasing come from articulation and ornamentation.

An instrument's technical limitations often give it its characteristic sound, and it is possible to create interesting music within a limited range and without volume dynamics. Bagpipe music is a good example, along with much Irish traditional music.

I'm unsure how to address this issue, except by promoting instrumental music more prominently in mainstream culture.

The problem with Ocarina of Time

Ocarinas have been featured in several games in the Legend of Zelda franchise, and probably the most well-known of these is Ocarina of Time. This is a double-edged sword. It has brought awareness of the ocarina to a broader audience, but for various reasons a lot of that attention does not lead to people learning to play the instrument well.

To those who have not played it, the game is 3rd person and early in the experience the player-character receives an ocarina from an NPC. This is played by pressing buttons on the gamepad, and they are taught various melodies throughout the game. Performing them has varying gameplay effects.

Many people who have played this game later discover that the ocarina is a real instrument, and this would be fine, except that the 'ocarina' depicted in the game was designed by someone who does not understand the instrument.

The placement of the mouthpiece is acoustically poor, and the finger holes were positioned to mimic the buttons of the Nintendo 64 controller, which does not work under the real instrument's physics. The instrument also has a rounded shape that is difficult to hold because it has no place for fingers to grip.

Being their first exposure to the instrument, many people assume that this is how an ocarina should look. They seek out examples that follow this design, without being aware of its problems. Consequently, they end up with an ocarina which is harder to play than one designed solely as a serious instrument, and they are probably not aware of this.

I have also observed that people who approach the real instrument due to the game are frequently only interested in learning a few of the songs from this one game, and not pursuing music as an art-form. They often play from ocarina tabs with little other guidance, leading to numerous mistakes that could be easily avoided with a better learning approach.

Additionally, the music in the game is generally quite simplistic, offering no insight into what the ocarina is actually able to do in the hands of a skilled player. Restricting oneself like this also places a low ceiling on the skill that someone can hope to achieve.

I feel that there is value in how Ocarina of Time has brought the ocarina into wider attention, but I strongly feel that it has served its purpose. The instrument will not grow unless ocarina players explore other things.

Lack of standardisation

Finally, these is a lack of standardisation between makers:

• The fingering is standardised, but ergonomics, weight distribution and similar are not.
• Ocarinas are often designed for visuals first, and there is a lack of awareness of how design impacts playability.
• The lack of a standardised ergonomic design makes it extremely hard to teach playing technique, as there is no way to know what ocarina a player will have.

Ocarinas also have diverse playing characteristics, but the terms for describing them are poor or non-existent. For instance, the terms 'low breath' and 'high breath' describe the shape of the breath curve, yet carry little meaning, as they are subjective. What one maker considers high breath often doesn't align with another maker, and may not align with the player's expectation.

It also appears that a lot of terminology was developed with little awareness of other instruments—for example, the naming of pitch ranges. The term 'bass' is used to refer to ocarinas pitched around middle C, which in other instruments is not considered 'bass'.

To be able to choose a good instrument and get started playing, a lot of knowledge is required. Establishing consistent standards for all makers would greatly simplify things for players. It would also make it much easier for composers to understand and write music for the ocarina.

Standardisation would also help a lot with educational concerns. In most instrument communities, there is a clear distinction between makers and teachers: makers make the instruments, and skilled players make the teaching materials.

This separation doesn't exist with the ocarina at this time. Due to the lack of standardisation, most teaching materials are provided by makers. Most of those resources only teach the absolute basics, and do so in ways that are lacking and present no obvious path from beginner to expert.