Articulation with the fingers: playing cuts and strikes on the ocarina

Cuts and strikes allow you to articulate notes without interrupting the airflow into your instrument. You perform one by playing a pitch either higher (a cut) or lower (a strike) for such a short time that it's perceived not as a 'note', but a percussive blip or click.

Together, cuts and strikes are called fingered articulations. They work using the same techniques on any ocarina but, to keep things clear, I've assumed C ocarina fingerings for this article. For ocarinas in other keys, the equivalent holes would be used.

Let's jump right in and play some strikes on G:

• Finger a G and blow it at normal pressure as if playing a long tone.
• Lift the right index finger somewhat higher than standard playing position.
• Energetically drive the finger down towards its hole.
• If you completely relax control of the finger just before it contacts the instrument it will bounce off producing a very short blip.

Repeating this, you'll be able to perform a series of distinct notes, yet you haven't changed the airflow into the instrument.

Because a strike is an articulation, they should be performed in time with the beginning of the note. Have a go at articulating a series of G notes to a quarter note rhythm, placing your strikes exactly on the beat.

Notating these articulations is a somewhat complex topic as there is no universal way of notating them. For this book I will be using Grey Larsen's notation system, and a strike is shown by placing an arrow above a note.

Using this notation, the previous exercise would be written like this:

And means:

• Begin the first note normally using the tongue, and slur the following 3 notes.
• Articulate the following 3 quarter notes using a strike with any available finger.

Playing strikes on other notes

Strikes can be played using any open hole on a chamber that's being blown, as the entire volume of an ocarina's chamber is always oscillating. I tend to use these fingerings:

• D can only be struck using the right pinky.
• E with the right ring finger.
• F with either the right ring or middle finger.
• G with the right index finger.
• I almost always strike everything higher with the right index finger.
• Most accidentals can also be struck.

On the whole the exact fingering doesn't matter so just use whatever is convenient.

Have a go at playing a strike on every note from low D to high F, or the equivalent for an ocarina in a different key.

You may find it interesting that the fingerings for strikes are a great deal more flexible on ocarinas than tubular wind instruments such as flute and tin whistle. On tubular instruments only the open hole below the lowest closed hole can be struck.

Playing a descending strike

Strikes also allow you to articulate a transition from a higher note to a lower one, and entails doing two things at the same time:

• Firstly, you have to lower one or more fingers to play the desired note.
• At the exact same time you have to play a strike, such that the striking finger lands on its hole at the same moment the fingers do.

The exact technique used does vary over the range though. For the note G and higher the work can be split across both hands. For example, to strike G descending from A, you:

• Finger A.
• Descend to G.
• Strike with the right index finger, so that it contacts at the same moment the G hole is closed.

Any descending interval to, or above G can be performed in this way.

If you want to strike a note lower than G it needs to be done two or more fingers on the right hand. For example: to descend from G to F, striking F:

• Both the right index and middle finger are driven down at high speed.
• When the fingers contact, the index finger is held down, while the middle finger is allowed to rebound.

When strikes are played on one hand, the striking finger tends to dwell longer and can cause the strike to be long enough to be herd as a distinct note. Still the goal is to minimise this as much as possible.

And here are some strikes to try in an Irish lullaby called Suantree.

Cuts

A cut is essentially the opposite of a strike, separating two notes by briefly uncovering any closed hole to sound a higher pitch.

Ideally, a cut should be as brief as a strike and to achieve this, the movement of the finger must be extremely small and extremely quick. Perhaps counter intuitively, that can be developed by practising the movement very slowly at first.

Let's learn how to cut with the left middle finger:

• Hold the ocarina in front of you so you can clearly see what your fingers are doing.
• Very slowly lift the finger a few millimetres above the hole and replace it.
• If needed, your right hand can be used to stop the cutting finger from lifting too high.

After some time, a few minutes to a few days, the action will enter muscle memory and you'll be able to do it at speed without the finger lifting too high.

In notation a cut is written like this:

And let's try playing it:

• Finger F, start the first note with the tongue and keep blowing steadily.
• Articulate the 3 quarter notes by cutting with the middle finger on the beat.

You may find that at first your cuts are long enough to have obvious pitch. Try to centre them around the beat and their duration will reduce with practice.

A beginner's cuts

Well played cuts

Also:

• Try to relax. There are some tips in the article How to play the ocarina on finding and reducing tension.
• Aim to practise cuts often. Having your instrument isn't essential the movement can be done with your fingers on your leg or a table.

Cut fingerings

Any closed hole may be used to play a cut because the pitch produced does not matter when they are performed well. The goal is just a very brief blip, and what I'd suggest is:

• Cut notes below A using either the left index or middle finger.
• Cut A, B and high C using the left thumb.
• High D, D♯, and E may be cut using the left pinky. However the effect of this is isn't very strong and I usually use strikes instead.

But feel free to vary this if other fingerings allow you to play shorter cuts.

It's worthwhile practising playing cuts on every note in the same way as previously shown for strikes.

And here are some examples of cuts in a Scottish tune called 'Aiken Drum'. Note that when playing multiple cuts sequentially, you may find it easier to use one finger for the first, and a different one for the second.

Playing ascending cuts

To play a cut on an ascending interval, the cutting finger is flicked at the exact same time as the finger is lifted to play the higher note. This results in briefly sounding a higher pitch.

The following shows an ascending cut on G. Give that a try on your instrument.

Playing descending cuts

Cuts can also be performed on descending note transitions, and doing so is just a matter of playing a cut with one finger, while lowering another one. The only cravat being that the fingering used to play the cut must result in a higher pitch than the final fingered note. In some cases this may require cutting multiple fingers at once.

Fingered articulations in practice

In order for fingered articulations to work properly the following points must be obeyed:

• Their duration should not change with tempo;
• they should be as brief as your ability allows, and;
• they should be exactly on the beat.

The point about duration is important as it means fingered articulations do not function exactly like tongued articulations. Their duration can not change as playing them slowly causes them to sound like out of tune notes.

It is possible to vary the perceived strength of a cut or strike within a small margin, as cutting or striking using a larger hole causes a larger change in pitch. The effect is pretty subtle however.

And another option is to combine fingered articulations with tonguing, like in a 'tongued cut'. The note starts with the tongue at exactly at the same time as the cutting finger is lifted, adding a 'chirp' to the note's attack and emphasizing the articulation.

But used appropriately they do have a lot of value:

• When used to create articulation over a basis of slurring, fingered articulations create a very 'flowing' sound.
• They respond faster than tongued articulations, which is helpful when playing at very high tempo.

Cuts and strikes would cancel each other out if you did them at exactly the same time, but they can be combined sequentially. In such cases it is common to alternate cuts and strikes as it is less tiring to spread the effort between different fingers and, preferably, different hands.

This kind of pattern is called a 'roll', 'crann' or 'birl', depending on the idiom and where in the range it happens. An example can be seen in Jim wards jig below, and they are covered in detail on the page 'Ornamentation: rolls, cranns, and strike cranns'.

Most of the cuts in this example can be played with the left index or middle finger, and the B flat and high C cuts can be played using the left thumb. Note that this tune would more often be played in D, and the transposition here would sound at the original pitch if you used a D ocarina, treating it as a transposing instrument.

The issue of notation

Notating fingered articulations is a somewhat complex topic. They are mainly used in the instrumental folk music of the British isles and, as of writing, there is no widely accepted unambiguous way of notating them.

My preferred notation for them is Grey Larsen's system demonstrated through in this article. I feel that placing a symbol above the note indicates that the intent is a different kind of articulation, in the same sense as other modifiers like the staccato dot.

However folk musicians also notate them using grace note symbols borrowed from classical tradition. Two different kinds of these exist:

• Appoggiatura (A-pog-a-tur-a).
• Acciaccatura (aggi-at-tura).

Appoggiaturas are written as a small note symbol, and in classical theory are generally interpreted as taking half of the duration of the note to which they are attached.

And the acciaccatura, which is written with a slash, to be played 'as fast as possible', preceding the note to which they are attached.

One may assume that an acciaccatura is the same as a fingered articulation, but it isn't quite so simple. Do we mean a note 'played as fast as possible' using correct or false fingerings?

Thus, two two symbols are used to differentiate between 3 different cases:

• A note taking half of the parent note's duration.
• A note played as quickly as possible using correct fingering.
• A sound used an articulation performed with false fingering.

On top of that, the examples of folk music using this notation generally don't differentiate between acciaccaturas and appoggiaturas. Appoggiaturas are used in all cases, with the intended interpretation being 'play this with a cut or strike', depending if the grace note is written above or below the parent note.

Personally, I dislike the use of grace notes for cuts and strikes as I find Grey Larsen's system less ambiguous and easier to read. These issues are discussed in more detail in the article Notating fingered articulations.