Advice for composers writing music for the ocarina

I am frequently contacted by composers seeking information about the capabilities of ocarinas, and they are often surprised by what they learn. Ocarinas are capable of much more than many people realise, offering a range of possibilities and ample scope for expression.

Ocarinas are chromatic, limited-range instruments with an innate volume dynamic in which the high notes are louder than the low notes. They offer almost no control over the volume of individual notes, though there are caveats discussed later in the article.

• Ocarinas have quite a distinctive timbre. It can range from the 'pure' tone the instrument is most known for, to a textured 'buzzy' timbre. This is set when the instrument is made.
• They are loud, piercing, and can easily be heard over other instruments.
• They are apt for playing slower music and fast, upbeat things. The technical skill ceiling for a good player is very high.

These characteristics are similar to the recorder and certain kinds of bagpipe, and composing for the ocarina requires a different approach than for standard orchestral wind instruments like flute or clarinet.

The types of ocarinas

There are many types of ocarinas, of which the most suited for serious playing is the Italian transverse ocarina. There are two versions of this instrument: the original single chambered ocarina and multichambered ocarinas, which were developed to provide a larger sounding range.

Single chambered ocarinas

These ocarinas have a range of approximately an octave and fourth (e.g. C5 to F7) and are fully chromatic over that range. Some have an extension of a minor third below that range, with compromises to the instrument's sound quality and playing characteristics. See 'subholes' below.

Single chambered ocarinas are played solo, but there is also a longstanding tradi­tion of playing them in ensembles. By utilising instruments in various tunings, the group collectively surpasses the pitch range that any single player could achieve alone.

Ocarinas are available in different octaves and keys. The most commonly available single chambered ocarinas are those used by the traditional ocarina septet, providing the following ranges:

• Contrabass C: — C3 to D4
• Bass G: — G3 to A4
• Bass C: — C4 to F5
• Alto G: — G4 to C6
• Alto C: — C5 to F6
• Soprano G: — G5 to C7
• Soprano C: — C6 to F7

Ocarinas are available in multiple tunings, such as C, G, or B flat, providing different ranges. An alto G ocarina plays from G4 to C6.

This highlights a critical difference between composing for ocarinas vs. other instru­ments: it is necessary to specify ocarinas based on the range of notes required by your composition and other factors.

A player can't play everything on a single instrument, even if the music fits within its range, because factors like timbre and volume dynamics are set when the instrument is made.

Ocarina keys should be specified to give the range of notes needed by your composition, not by the key of the music, because the instrument is chromatic.

Multichamber ocarinas

Multichamber ocarinas are based on the single chamber design and extend the range upwards. Chambers are analogous to a single string on a chordophone, in that they are independent and must be fingered and sounded individually.

For example:

• The first chamber of an Asian system double alto C plays from C5 to D♯6 (ignoring subholes)
• The second chamber plays from E6 to C7, giving the whole instrument a range from C5 to C7

Multichambered ocarinas with as many as four chambers can be found, but ones with two or three are by far the most common as of writing. Chambers are numbered from one. The first chamber is responsible for the lowest notes, and subsequent chambers for higher ones.

The first chamber has the largest range, with about a minor tenth, and higher chambers produce about a minor sixth each.

The exact range provided by each chamber depends on the tuning system. There are two different tuning systems found on multichambers, Asian and Pacchioni:

• The Asian system provides the most range, where each chamber is tuned as a linear extension from the previous chamber.
• The Pacchioni system aims to make playing more complex music easier by tuning chambers with overlapping notes.

The ranges provided by each chamber of both of these systems are discussed in detail in the article Multichamber ocarinas and their tuning systems.

It should be noted that both of these designs exist primarily to extend the sounding range, and playing harmonies by blowing two chambers at once is generally not possible.

Ocarinas have a 'breath curve', where the lower notes require the least air. Opening holes allows air to escape, and the player must blow harder to compensate. Due to this, it is difficult to make the chambers of a multichamber play arbitrary harmonies with good intonation, as the chambers would need to be blown with different pressures, which is anatomically impossible. Some multichambers are designed to play one interval in tune, though.

There is another family of multichamber ocarinas called 'harmony ocarinas' that are designed to play in harmony with themselves. Their design and fingering system is completely different from instruments designed to extend the range. Typically, two chambers are tuned at a close interval, like a third. All of the notes on the instrument are tuned to sound at the same pressure, and each chamber is fingered by one hand. They have a much more limited range, usually an octave or less.

Subholes

Both single chambered and multichambered ocarinas can have subholes. These modify the 10 hole fingering system, extending the range of the instrument downwards:

• An ocarina with one subhole (11-hole ocarina) provides an extension of one semitone below the base note (one diatonic note).
• An ocarina with two subholes (12-hole ocarina) provides an extension of a minor third below the base note (two diatonic notes).

However, the range extension provided by subholes is not 'free'. Due to the physics on which the instrument operates, introducing subholes changes the playing charac­teristics and tone balance of the whole instrument:

• The subhole notes are usually very quiet, muddy in timbre, and very unstable in pitch.
• The high notes of ocarinas with subholes often sound airy and thin.
• The most well-made ocarinas are not impacted by the airy high note problem, but instead have an enormous difference in sounding volume between the lowest and highest notes.
• Subholes typically cause the ocarina's breath curve to be steeper, making wide leaps harder to play in tune.

Subholes also have ergonomic issues because they are played by sliding a finger, which is more challenging than lifting/placing them, as the finger will tend to cling to the instrument. This can be an obstacle at higher tempos.

The range that an ocarina can sound naturally decreases as chamber volume increases. Introducing two subholes in soprano ocarinas has minimal impact on their playing characteristics. However, only exceptionally well-made alto ocarinas can have two subholes without suffering from the problems noted.

In alto range ocarinas, subhole notes can work effectively as passing notes. Still, I do not advise starting or finishing a piece of music on one of these notes, unless you are deliberately going for a weak effect.

Bass and lower ocarinas should not be expected to have subholes. If a bass ocarina does have subholes, don't expect the subhole notes to sound very good.

Working with the ocarina's range

The ocarina's range can be worked with in compositions in several ways. If single chambered ocarinas are used as a solo instrument, they are great for playing lyrical music like song melodies. An ocarina will tend to take the lead in a mix.

Being chromatic, single chamber ocarinas also allow for minor and modal music, for example, modulating between different modes in a given range. Examples of this can be found in music for the French central bagpipe and the Swedish bagpipe, as well as in Arabic music.

A wide range can be attained by writing for multiple players, each playing ocarinas tuned to different keys, with overlapping ranges. Melodies can then be written to hand off between the players, while others provide harmony. There is an established tradition of the ocarina septet, a group of seven players performing together.

If a composition demands a greater range from a single player, then a multichambered ocarina can be requested. These are technically comparable to a flute, but lack volume dynamics much like a recorder.

There is no reason that a multichamber could not be used in arrangements involving multiple players, but this is rare at this time.

Music notation

Music for ocarina is written in standard music notation in the treble clef. Ocarinas in different octaves are usually treated as transposing instruments whereby the ledger line C below the staff refers to an ocarina's low C. Consequently:

• Soprano ocarinas sound two octaves higher than written.
• Alto ocarinas play an octave higher than written.
• Bass ocarinas sound at the written pitch.
• Contrabass ocarinas sound an octave below the written pitch.
• Sub-contrabass ocarinas sound two octaves below the written pitch.

The treble clef is used for notating music in all octaves, as all of these instruments have the same fingerings. Players often start on an alto C ocarina before moving to ones in different octaves.

Ocarina septet and other ocarina ensemble music also follow the pattern of using the treble clef, regardless of the sounding octave. Some historic septet music used the F clef for contrabass parts, although this is no longer common.

Ocarinas in other keys may be treated either as transposing instruments or written at sounding pitch. Just be sure to indicate what you are doing clearly:

• In prearranged ocarina ensemble music, ocarinas in G and other keys are usually treated as transposing instruments and music is written as if they were in C.
• When adapting music from other instruments to the ocarina, players will choose an ocarina key to fit the range, and it is quite common for players to learn to read music at sounding pitch. Due to this, some players may prefer music notation at sounding pitch.

One reason it may be preferable to provide notation at sounding pitch is that a player may prefer to play something on a multichamber in a different key, which overlaps the required range. It is easier to work out how to do this when music is written at the pitch it sounds at.

Playing characteristics, volume dynamics and ornamentation

Ocarinas are among the least pitch-stable wind instruments, with it being possible to bend the pitch of the low notes over a range of about a perfect fourth by varying blowing pressure. Because of this, for any single fingering, an ocarina will only play in tune at a single volume.

Ocarinas have an innate volume dynamic where the high notes are considerably louder than the low ones. This is also true of multichambers, where the higher notes of the first chamber are generally much louder than the lowest notes. Higher chambers are likewise louder on their higher notes than on their lower ones.

The volume balance between multiple chambers is usually relatively flat. There tends to be a mild drop in volume between the lowest note on one chamber and the highest note on the previous one. All of this varies between ocarinas and isn't standardised.

Volume dynamics are technically possible by partially venting or shading finger holes, which will raise or lower the pitch, and then altering blowing pressure to bring the note back into tune. This is quite difficult to do consistently, and as of writing, it is not advisable to expect a typical player to be able to do so.

Instead, I'd advise:

• Composing in a way that utilises the innate volume dynamic of the instrument.
• Create emphasis using varied articulation and ornamentation.

An easy way of approaching composing for the ocarina is to write the music such that the parts of the music one wants to emphasise are high notes, and parts that are de-emphasised are lower notes.

On top of this, notes can be emphasised or de-emphasised in a few ways:

• By varying the durations of notes. Short staccato notes, for example, will tend to be less prominent than longer notes.
• Emphasis can also be created with ornamentation. Ocarinas respond very quickly to changes in fingering, and briefly opening or closing a hole creates a percussive blip. These can be combined rapidly to create emphatic ornaments similar to those used in bagpipe playing.

The instrument's pitch instability can also be used ornamentally. The pitch of an ocarina's lowest notes is exceptionally sensitive to pressure changes. It can easily be bent sharp by about a major third and flat by about a major second. The high notes, on the other hand, will only bend by about a semitone before screeching.

One can start a note at low pressure and gradually bend it to the intended pitch, creating a simultaneous change in pitch and volume. Naturally, breath vibrato is easily achieved on any note.

The mechanics of fingering, and how long it takes to move between notes

Transverse single chamber, as well as multichamber ocarinas, have a linear fingering system similar to a recorder or flute. However, they do not behave identically to those instruments. The principal difference between ocarinas and other wind instruments is that the fingers have to move further away from the holes to avoid impacting the sounded pitch.

There is a significant distance where, if a finger is held above a hole, it will 'shade' the hole and lower the pitch. This can be a technical obstacle when playing at high tempos because fingers must move a larger distance (relative to other wind instruments), and finger movement time can end up being a large part of a note's total duration.

In addition, many commercially available ocarinas are designed to require the player to blow considerably harder on the high notes than on the low ones. This increases the difficulty of playing large leaps at high tempos, because it may not be possible for a player to change their blowing pressure so quickly.

The difference in blowing pressure also causes the high notes to sound considerably louder than the low notes. This creates issues in music that includes large leaps because the abrupt change in sound volume can sound unbalanced.

Because of these factors, many ocarinas are easiest to play in a relatively stepwise manner. There are examples of Asian ocarina players performing 'Flight of the Bumblebee' on a multichamber ocarina on YouTube, with very impressive technical competency. This piece is well-suited to the ocarina, being mostly stepwise within a chromatic scale.

The stated limitations are mainly due to the design choices made by most commer­cial ocarina makers. It is possible to make ocarinas tuned to play at a relatively uniform pressure, which are thus more balanced in volume over their range.

Such instruments are better suited to playing music that uses large and/or repetitious interval leaps, such as pedal note sequences. I'd recommend specifying an ocarina with a flatter breath curve if you'd like to include such features in your compositions.

Specific considerations for multichambered ocarinas

The playing characteristics of multichambered ocarinas are very similar to those of singles. It is easiest to move between notes on one chamber as well as between notes on two adjacent chambers. Making a leap that skips an intermediate chamber requires more time, as it involves a longer distance to reach the correct windway and for the fingers to move to the desired chamber.

Personally, I can play eighth notes in 4/4 time, with each note played on an adjacent chamber (leaping back and forth), up to about 180 BPM. On a triple ocarina with a chamber skip, the same exercise at 170 BPM is achievable. Both feel like I could raise the tempo with practice.

With Asian system multichambers, there is no note overlap between chambers, so you cannot 'cheat' as can be done on a violin by changing positions. The Pacchioni system does provide an overlap and offers some of those benefits. See Multichamber ocarinas and their tuning systems.

Performing a switch cleanly is usually done by tonguing the note (stopping the sound) to prevent off-sounds from being created. Regarding an alto C ocarina:

• The break between the first and second chamber is between D6 and E6 in both the Asian and Pacchioni systems.
• The break between the second and third chamber is between C7 and D7 on an Asian system, or G6 and A6 on a Pacchioni system.
• The break between the third and fourth chamber is between A7 and B7 on an Asian system, or between C7 and D7 on a Pacchioni system.

It is essential to be aware of this while composing, as the music needs to be phrased to avoid forced breaks that awkwardly split phrases.

What can a player be expected to be able to do?

As of the time of writing, the ocarina does not have an established player tradition or ecosystem. Thus, I don't feel I can make sweeping statements about the technical skills a player should or shouldn't be expected to have.

From reading this article, you've now got a good understanding of what the instrument is technically capable of. I would advise looking for skilled players and finding someone to collaborate with. Write music for them, observe how they perform it, make adjustments if they can't physically do something, and learn what is possible through practical deduction.

By doing this, the available music for ocarinas will increase over time. Having that available should establish a standard for 'what an average player needs to be capable of', enabling the teaching culture to train this to evolve.

Closing notes

Ocarinas offer numerous possibilities for composers, yet have been largely unused within classical music to date. I suspect that much of this is due to a lack of awareness of the instrument's capabilities when played by a skilled performer. As noted in the introduction, I am often met with surprise when I reveal the instrument's true capabilities.

It may also be the case that the lack of available skilled players, as well as the lack of an established 'serious' player tradition around the instrument, creates a 'chicken and egg' situation, where people feel reluctant to write for an instrument that very few can play well.

I hope that the information in this article inspires some people to take a serious look at ocarinas and explore the instrument's possibilities, both for solo performances and within musical ensembles of various kinds.