Articulating notes on the ocarina

Ocarinas let you articulate, or separate, notes in several ways:

• Slurring notes in a single breath.
• Interrupting the airflow with the tongue or diaphragm.
• Momentarily changing the pitch by lifting or lowering fingers.

Making use of varied articulation on the ocarina is especially important. The instrument cannot easily vary the volume of a note, so varying your articulation is essential to create phrasing and interest in your playing.

Tonguing

Tonguing separates notes by briefly stopping the airflow with the tongue. It is the standard method of articulation on all wind instruments.

Varying how long the air is stopped creates a different effect. The sound can be flowing (close to legato), if you briefly stop the airflow. When the air is stopped for longer, the gaps become clearly audible—this kind of phrasing is 'staccato'. Legato and staccato are not absolute; there is a spectrum ranging from only briefly stopping the sound to an extreme staccato where the gaps between the notes are longer than the notes themselves.

Tonguing is done by touching the tip of the tongue to the area behind the upper teeth, as if making a consonant like 't', 'l', or 'd. This stops the airflow and causes the area behind the tongue to pressurise. Lowering it again releases this stored pressure and restarts the note cleanly. The initial pulse of air pressure gives an 'attack', a moment when the sound quality is different from what you get with steady blowing.

Other forms of tonguing are also possible, called double and triple tonguing. These involve using both the tip and the rear of the tongue. Double tonguing, for example, is done by articulating a note with the tip, then articulating a second note with the rear of the tongue. Think ta, ka, ta, ka. In triple tonguing, a 3rd note is added to the pattern, articulated with the tip of the tongue further back in the mouth. Think ta, ka, da.

These techniques can allow you to tongue faster than single tonguing, but do take note of the impact that tongue position has on the timbre you are producing. Positioning the tongue closer to the teeth creates more turbulence, resulting in an 'airy' attack. Moving the tongue back, touching further back along the roof of the mouth gives a cleaner sounding attack. Mouth posture also affects tone clarity. Please see 'Blowing an ocarina correctly' for more.

Slurring

Slurring or 'legato' is playing a series of notes with no articulation. Generally, you begin and end a slur using the tongue, playing two or more notes in a single breath. It creates a loose, flowing sound.

Slurring on the ocarina is done by raising or lowering fingers to change pitch without stopping your breath. While slurring, remember to both start the first note and finish the last note with the tongue. To keep the instrument in tune, you must synchronize breath pressure with finger movement. Also, whenever two or more fingers move, they must move at exactly the same time.

Because the airflow is not stopped, slurring only articulates notes that have different pitch. Slurring two notes of the same pitch joins them into a single, longer note. If you wish to articulate these without tonguing, fingered articulations can be used.

Fingered articulations

Ocarinas can separate notes by briefly sounding a higher or lower pitch. This works because of a quirk of perception: when the duration of a sound is short enough, it stops sounding like a note. Rather, it is perceived as a percussive blip or click.

The following audio sample demonstrates this idea.

These brief sounds can be used to separate two notes as you would using the tongue. The pitch can be higher (a 'cut') or lower (a 'strike'). You should not think of these sounds as notes in the own right, and their use doesn't follow the same rules. They can be considered modifications to the attack of a note, similar to how a violinist can put pressure on the bow begin a note with a 'scrunch'. In order for them to work effectively as articulations, the following points must be obeyed:

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

To more easily achieve these goals, fingered articulations are performed using special fingerings and techniques. These are chosen not for their timbre or intonation but to make it easier to produce a short enough sound. When played well, fingered articulations do not have an identifiable pitch, and it does not matter if they are in tune.

Unlike tonguing, there is very little ability to change the duration of fingered articulations. If they are played too slowly, they stop sounding like articulations and are instead perceived as out of tune notes. They should be subliminal, in the same sense that you don't perceive the gaps created by tonguing, unless they are particularly long.

Fingered articulations come into their own when playing quickly as they respond faster than tonguing. Both cuts and strikes will be described assuming C ocarina fingerings. They work just as well on ocarinas in any key.

Strikes

A strike is a fingered articulation performed by momentarily covering an open hole, lowering the sounded pitch. Strikes can be used to articulate notes of the same pitch and descending intervals. They don't work well on ascending intervals. But while they are inflexible, they are easy to correctly execute.

How to play a strike

A strike is played by energetically flicking a finger against any open hole. The easiest finger to strike with is the index finger as it is the most agile.

Try playing a strike on G. Finger a G. In preparation for a strike, lift the right index finger somewhat higher than standard playing position. Energetically drive the finger down towards its hole. Just before the finger hits the tone-hole, relax it, and it will rebound off the instrument, producing a very short blip. I don't advise practising this slowly as the finger must not dwell on the hole.

You can practise some strikes by playing a sequence of G notes, separating them with strikes. Make sure each strike is placed exactly on the beat.

Strike fingerings

Strikes can be played using any open hole. The lower notes are the most restrictive: D can only be struck using the pinky, while E can be struck with the ring finger. F can be struck with either the ring or middle finger. G can be struck with the index finger, and I almost always strike everything higher with the right index finger. Most accidentals can also be struck—just strike with any finger that is not covering a hole.

Playing a descending strike

To play a descending strike, you have to do 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 as you do this, you have to play a strike. The striking finger has to hit the instrument at exactly the same time as the note is fingered.

At first, this is easiest to do on notes above G as the work can be split across both hands. For example, to strike G descending from A, you finger A, descend to G and, at exactly the same time, you strike with the right index finger. Any descending interval above G can be performed in this way.

Striking descending notes lower than G has to be done using two fingers on the right hand. Both should be moved energetically. When they contact, you hold one finger down on the hole while allowing the other to rebound. For example: to descend from G to F, striking F, both the right index and middle finger are driven down at high speed. The muscles for the index finger are engaged, allowing the finger to stay on its hole. The middle finger is allowed to rebound.

Notice that the strikes I am playing in the above demonstration are better when the work is spread over two hands. Practise your strikes and aim to eliminate this variation. Doing so is essential if you intend to use strikes on the higher chambers of a multichambered ocarina.

Cuts

A cut is essentially the opposite of a strike, separating two notes by briefly sounding a higher pitch. However, cuts are more versatile than strikes. Cuts can be used anywhere you would tongue two notes to separate them; they work on unison, ascending, and descending intervals.

How to play a cut

A cut is played by briefly uncovering any closed hole without stopping the airflow. You can try playing a cut on F by fingering F, and then briefly uncovering the left index or middle finger hole, jumping the finger off the hole and immediately replacing it. This is shown in the video below.

Ideally, a cut should be as brief as a strike. To achieve this, it is important to minimize the movement of this finger; it should only lift a millimetre above the hole. The best way to develop this fine control is to practise the movement very slowly. Because cuts require fine muscle control, it is best to begin with fingers that can cut many notes. The left middle finger works well since its hole is large enough to create a strong effect without being overpowering on lower notes.

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. At first, it can help to use the fingers of your right hand to prevent the cutting finger from lifting too high. It is good to practise this as often as you are able. You don't need your instrument to do so. You can practise this slow finger movement with your fingers on your leg or a table.

While playing cuts, it is absolutely essential to stay relaxed. Any tension will cause your movements to be jerky and your finger to move too far from the hole.

Practising this slowly allows you to quickly build an accurate muscle memory of the action, which will be reified by sleep. When this happens, you will be able to quickly perform a cut without losing control. This may take several days of gradual refinement, so don't be impatient. Note that making cuts short is the target, and they will get better with practice. My cuts in the videos here passable but somewhat slow.

As your cuts get faster, it is worth practising them to a metronome. Because a cut is an articulation, it should be placed exactly on the beat. At first, when your cuts have a long duration, you should aim to centre them on the beat. As your skill develops, their duration becomes shorter until they are perceived exactly on the beat.

Cut fingerings

A cut can be played using any finger which is covering a hole. As the sounded pitch does not matter, you don't have to play them using standard fingerings, and the same finger can be used to cut multiple notes. On tubular instruments, it is common to play cuts using the left and right index finger—right for notes below and including F, and left for notes between F and B. This will work on the ocarina, but it requires learning to cut with at least three fingers.

While it is difficult to hear the exact pitch of a cut, it does affect the strength of the articulation. Cutting using a larger hole is more obvious than a smaller one. As the ocarina's pitch depends on the size of a hole, you should be playing cuts using a fairly large hole. I almost always cut notes below A using the left middle finger as shown before. The high B and C can be cut using the left thumb. As your experience grows, you can experiment with cutting notes using smaller or larger holes for variation.

It is possible to cut the high D, D♯, and E using the left pinky. The effect of doing so is quite poor as this hole is so small. The high F cannot be cut. Strikes, covered in the previous section, work better on these notes.

Playing ascending cuts

When ascending, 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.

Playing descending cuts

When cutting a descending note the cut should occur very slightly after the second note is fingered. If they are played simultaneously the ascending cut and descending note cancel each other. Slightly shorten the previous note so the cut is placed on the beat.

Compound (stacked) articulations

Finally, it is possible to combine these articulations to produce other effects. You can simultaneously tongue and cut a note, starting the airflow exactly at the same time as the cutting finger is lifted. This adds a 'chirp' to the note's attack, creating a stronger articulation. It is called a tongued cut. The start or finish of a slide can be emphasized by either tonguing or cutting/striking it.

Cuts and strikes would cancel each other out if you did them at exactly the same time, but they can be combined sequentially. When used to articulate multiple notes sequentially, it is common to alternate cuts and strikes. This is ergonomically useful, 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. These are covered on the page 'Ornamentation: rolls, cranns, and strike cranns'.