Chamber switching on multichamber ocarinas
Because multichambered ocarinas have multiple chambers, you have to move your fingers and blowing between the different chambers depending on the note that you want to play, which is called chamber switching.
As was discussed in Blowing a multichamber ocarina, you use your lips to direct the air into a single windway. Chamber switching is on the surface, just a matter of sliding the ocarina from side to side, aligning the aperture with the desired windway, and fingering the note as needed.
But how you approach it impacts the ease of switching. For instance, if you either have a lot of the mouthpiece in your mouth, or there is a lot of pressure against the lips, the mouthpiece will grip against the lips, pulling on the skin, and smooth switching will be difficult or impossible.
First, when you are blowing a multichamber ocarina, the mouthpiece should not be inside your mouth at all. Rather, an aperture is formed with your lips, and then the mouthpiece rests gently against it, so that there is minimal pressure. See Blowing an ocarina correctly.
You may slide the instrument from side to side while blowing it, and find where the windway is located. If you blow off centre then the instrument will not sound very good.
Then to switch between chambers, this pressure needs to be released, as follows:
- Slightly move the ocarina away from the lips, such that the mouthpiece is not touching them.
- Move to the desired windway.
- Move the mouthpiece back into contact with the lips.
Note that it does not matter if you get a slight air leakage when switching, although I would recommend using the tongue to stop the flow of air.
You can see the process in the video below. Note that this video does not have audio as I am not blowing the ocarina. I don't recommend blowing while practising at first.
When you first start out with this, you may move the mouthpiece to create a large break between it and the lips, like shown in this video. As your skill develops, aim to reduce the amount that you move the ocarina from your lips. The main thing is to reduce the pressure against the skin and, consequently, friction.
Experiment with holding the ocarina against your lips, and make very small movements such that your pressure varies, and see how hard it is to move the instrument.
Vary pressure to find the point where you don't get any air leakage when you blow the ocarina.
A basic exercise for chamber switching
Try fingering a fixed note on two chambers, and then alternate between them:
- finger a G on the first chamber and an E on the second, assuming an Asian tuned C ocarina. See 'The fingering systems of multichamber ocarinas'.
- To a slow metronome, play the note on each chamber alternately: G, E, G, E. Use a tuner to check your intonation, and aim to play both notes in tune from the start.
- It is a good idea tongue chamber switches to avoid creating off sounds. However, this can be done very lightly to create a legato switch.
Moving the instrument vs moving the head
Note that there are two ways of switching chambers, moving the instrument and rotating the head. Some players have strong opinions about this but in principle I don't think it matters.
- Try moving between chambers by moving only the head.
- Then try moving between chambers by moving only the ocarina.
I think an optimal approach is to do both at the same time, moving in opposite directions so that each only moves half as far.
Supporting a multichamber ocarina while chamber switching
Holding a multichambered ocarina while chamber switching is much simpler than playing the high notes of a single chamber. Because only one chamber is active at a time, you can support the instrument by covering the holes of the inactive chamber. Thus the task of supporting the instrument alternates between your hands.
Commonly the fingers of the right hand will rest on the second chamber by default, and will only move onto the first chamber when you are using it.
If you were to play a scale starting from the low C, then once you have reached the G, you may want to rest your right hand fingers on the holes of the second chamber.
Some multichambers are balanced such that they can be supported between the right thumb and pinky finger. This is ideal because the ocarina is normally supported by the right thumb and other fingers serve only as additional support. You usually have to apply some amount of force to the pinky in order to balance the ocarina.
Please note that I have curled my fingers in this picture to clearly show where the right pinky is. Curling your fingers like this is never desirable while playing.
The only time supporting the instrument while chamber switching may become tricky is when playing the highest notes on either chamber, as there aren't enough fingers down to push the ocarina to the other windway. This can be accommodated for by placing your left index finger onto the cappello, the same as you would on a single chamber. Again, note that fingers have been curled for image clarity only.
If a right thumb hole exists, you can usually deal with it by holding the ocarina with your other hand. It is also possible to roll the right thumb instead, like the 3 point grip on a single chamber ocarina.
How to practice chamber switching
You can practice chamber switching in two ways:
- By learning music that naturally includes chamber switches.
- Using exercises.
In either case, either playing over a recording slowed down, or to a metronome, will help you with smooth switching.
The goal of exercises is to exhaustively learn muscle memory for interaction with the instrument in advance, which makes playing new music easier.
Diatonic intervals exercise
Play diatonic intervals like thirds, fourths etc, starting on the first chamber and repeating the pattern following through the whole range of the instrument. Once you get to the top of the range, go back down again.
Melodic figures exercise
Take a melodic figure, and practice it across the whole of your instrument's range.
Adjacent chamber leaps exercise
This exercise is to practice jumping between the first and second chamber. If you have a triple or quad ocarina, ignore the higher chambers for now.
Assuming C ocarina fingerings:
- Finger G on the first chamber.
- Play the sequence G A, G B, G high C, G high D.
- Then continue this across the chamber break, G E, G F, and so on, moving your fingers between the chambers as needed, until you have leaped to all notes on the second chamber.
Once you have done this starting from G, the same pattern can be performed using A, B etc as the first note. A G, A A, A B, A C, A D, A E, and so on.
This exercise can be performed using the other scales as well.
Leaps from the low notes on the first chamber
Once you can do this reliably, practice playing leaps starting from the low C on the first chamber, and play all leaps until the highest note on the second chamber. This will require jumping your right hand between the first and second chamber repeatedly as you are playing.
Leaps between the second chamber and third chamber
- Start on the lowest note of the second chamber.
- Leap through the scale notes on this chamber sequentially.
- Once you get to the chamber break, start playing leaps between the two chambers as before, moving your fingers as needed.
Leaping here will involve moving your right hand fingers back and forth between the two chambers.
Leaps over a larger range
If you aren't playing music that is leaping around the range, then practising large leaps may not be useful for you.
Leaps from the first to third chamber
Finger G on the first chamber, and practice leaping from G to the notes on the third chamber. Doing this requires skipping over one of the wind-ways, but does not entail jumping your right hand between chambers. Repeat this from A, and the other higher notes of the first chamber.
Do this over the whole instrument
Do the exercises addressed above, but then extend them over the full range of the instrument, starting from the lowest note on the first chamber, and leaping to every note sequentially, up until the highest note on the highest chamber that you have on your instrument. Also practice them chromatically if you wish.
Practising on ocarinas with note overlap between chambers
When you have an ocarina with note overlap between chambers, play the figure in all possible positions. Play it just on the lower chamber, any possible combinations crossing chambers, and on just the higher chamber.
