Introductory notes
As we explored in Introducing musicality, articulations are how we can separate one note from the next, and ornaments are decorations that we can add to draw attention to some notes. Both are critical to making music sound musical.
This section focuses on teaching you the different kinds of articulation and ornamentation that ocarinas can perform, as well as the mechanics of how to perform them. However I do not offer guidance on how you should be applying them.
Musicality is a complex topic to discuss as there is no objectively correct way of doing it. Every genre of music has its own way of approaching it, and stylistic goals. Often, the guidelines of one tradition are the polar opposite of another.
What I would recommend is to learn to perform the techniques discussed throughout this part of the book in isolation. Once you can play them, I recommend looking for guidance on the performance style for the genre you are playing, as numerous books and studies have been made, targeting many different instruments, and which can be easily adapted to ocarina in many cases.
Where ornaments and playing techniques have standard notations within sheet music these have been explained, however its also important to note that not all musical traditions abide by those standard interpretations, and may use symbols to mean different things.
The importance of listening
One overarching thing to developing musicality is the skill of listening, listening to recordings or live performances of music in styles that you are looking to replicate.
There's a huge variation in the details of how ornaments are performed, leading to a wide range of musical effects, and these can really only be learned from listening.
Its of particular importance for those playing from sheet music as the notation can create a false sense of security. For new musicians, it is easy to assume that a score notates exactly how something should be performed, but it doesn't.
Sheet music is an approximation, in the same sense that written English is. When one reads, they read in their own accent, and experienced musicians do the same thing when performing from sheet music, adding details as required for the idiom they are playing.
Notation can be more or less specific with these details. Classical scores are often very specified, while folk music often sounds completely different to what the notation suggests. But on a small enough scale, there are always unspecified details.
