Advice for composers writing music for the ocarina

English

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

Ocarinas are chromatic, limited range instruments with an innate volume dynamic where the high notes are louder than the low, and effectively no control over the volume of individual notes (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 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 in the hands of a good player is very high.

Composing for the ocarina requires a different approach to common orchestral wind instruments like flute or clarinet though, in many ways they are similar to recorder and certain kinds of bagpipe.

The types of ocarinas

There are many types of ocarinas, of which the most suited for serious playing is the Italian transverse ocarina and derivatives thereof. 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 below that of a minor third, 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, with the group as a whole able to greatly exceed the pitch range of what a individual player could do alone, through players using instruments in different tunings.

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

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, for example C, G or B flat, shifting the pitch of the whole instrument up or down. An ocarina in G may for instance play from G4 to C6.

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

It is not possible for a player to play everything on a single instrument, even if the music does fit in the 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 need 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 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 for E6 to C7, giving the whole instrument a range from C5 to C7

Multichambered ocarinas with as many as 4 chambers can be found, but ones with two or three are by far the most common as of writing. Chambers are numbered starting from one and ascend upwards. The first chamber is responsible for the lowest notes, and subsequent chambers for higher ones.

The physical layout of a multichamber ocarina. The first chamber is almost identical to a single chamber ocarina, with holes for the left and right hand positioned opposite each other. Additional chambers are added to the right hand, which extend the range upwards, usually having about 4 holes per chamber. Up to 3 additional chambers can be added. These chambers are additive, meaning that the second chamber on a triple ocarina is the same as the second chamber on a double, although exact fingerings do vary between makers

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

Exactly what range is provided by each chamber depends of 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 linier 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 is 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 very hard 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.

There is another type of multichamber called a 'harmony ocarina' that is designed to play in harmony with itself, but their design and fingering system is completely different. Typically two chambers are tuned at a close interval like a third. The notes are tuned to sound at the same preassure, and one chamber is fingered by each hand. They have a much more limited range, typically an octave or less.

Subholes

Both single chambered and multichambered ocarinas can have subholes. Subholes are a modification to this fingering system system which extends 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).

The range extension provided by subholes however 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. It 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' range ocarinas has very little impact to their playing characteristics. Only exceptionally well made alto ocarinas can have two without suffering from the problems noted.

In alto range ocarinas, subhole notes can work effectively as passing notes, but 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, and if a bass ocarina does have subholes, don't expect them to sound very good.

Working with the ocarina's range

The ocarina's range can be worked with in compositions in a number of 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.

Single chamber ocarinas being chromatic, also allows 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, Swedish bagpipe and 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 7 players performing together.

If a composition demands more 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, and ones in different octaves are usually treated as a transposing instrument 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 written pitch.
Contrabass ocarinas sound an octave below written pitch.
Sub-contrabass ocarinas sound two octaves below 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 follows the pattern of using the treble clef regardless of 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 clearly indicate what you are doing:

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. Some player's may prefer music 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 sounding pitch.

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 low ones.

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

Volume dynamics are technically possible, and achieving them requires partially venting or shading finger holes and changing blowing pressure so that the pitch does not change. 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 this.

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 on a bagpipe.

The instrument's pitch instability can make for effective ornamentation as well. The pitch of an ocarina's lowest notes is exceptionally sensitive to pressure changes and 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 playing a note at low pressure, and bend the note up 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 and multichamber ocarinas have a linier fingering system similar to a recorder or flute, however they do not behave identically to those instruments. The principle 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 notable distance where a finger held above a hole will 'shade' the hole and lower the sounded 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 to this, many commercially available ocarinas are designed to require the player to blow considerably harder on the high notes vs the low. This increases the difficulty of playing large leaps at high tempos, because it may not be possible for a player to change their blowing preassure so much so quickly.

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

Due to these things, many ocarinas are easiest to play in a relatively stepwise fashion. There are examples of Asian ocarina players performing 'flight of the bumblebee' on a multichamber ocarina on YouTube, with very impressive technical competency, and this piece is pretty well suited to the ocarina being mostly stepwise within a chromatic scale.

The stated limitations are to a large extent due to the design choices made by most commercial ocarina makers. It is possible to make ocarinas tuned to play at a fairly uniform preassure and which are thus more balanced volume over their range.

Such instruments are more apt for playing music that leaps around a large range, for example making use of pedal note sequences, and 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 that of singles. It is easiest to move between notes on one chamber as well as between notes on two adjacent chambers. Making a leap which skips over an intermediate chamber takes more time, due to the larger distance to move to the correct windway and move the fingers to reach the desired chamber.

For me personally, Playing 4/4 eighth notes, with each note on an adjacent chamber (leaping back and forth) is possible 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.

On Asian system multichambers, there is no note overlap between chambers, so you cannot 'cheat' as can be done on 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 that I can make any sweeping statements about what technical skills a player should or should not be expected to have.

From reading this article, you've now got a good understanding of what the instrument is technically capable of. What I would advise is to look for skilled players and find 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.

Through doing this, the available music for ocarinas is going to increase over time, and having that available should enable a standard for 'what an average player needs to be capable of' to evolve, and the teaching culture in order to train this, to evolve around the instrument.

Closing notes

Ocarinas offer a lot of possibilities for composers, yet have been largely unused within classical music at this time. I suspect that a lot of this is simply due to a lack of awareness of what the instrument is able to do in the hands of a skilled performer. As noted in the introduction, I am often met with surprise when I have revealed the instruments true capabilities.

It may also be the case that the lack of available skilled players, and 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 start to explore the possibilities of the instrument, both for solo performances and within musical ensembles of various kinds.