What are ocarinas capable of?

To understand what ocarinas are capable of it is important to take the right point of view. The ocarina is a limited instrument which works brilliantly in some situations. All instruments have their strengths and weaknesses, and much of the skill involved in creating a musical performance is knowing the situations where a given instrument can hold its own.

Ocarinas can play quite a wide range of music from lyrical song melodies to more upbeat music like Scottish dance tunes. Their musical function is similar to the tin whistle, Scottish smallpipe, and cornemuse du Centre. But it is worth noting that how ocarinas feel to play is quite different to other wind instruments.

Ocarinas have been played in a wide range of scenarios, including:

• Solo,
• In ensemble with other ocarinas,
• And with other instruments.

Ocarina is an instrument that demands a creative approach from players as they do not have an established role in any genre of music as of writing. The ocarina is primarily a lead melody instrument as their tone is very prominent. They work well for playing interludes in a song, but you would not want to play over a singer.

The author has played with guitar accompaniment and solo, and has found ocarinas very effective as a lead instrument in live performances. The pure tone always rises to the top of a mix and easily cuts through a raucous crowd. They have proven very effective at getting people's attention and often silenced the audience at open mics.

The Budrio Ocarina Group (GOB) have played with a local orchestra at the Budrio Ocarina Festival, which was very effective.

Technical capabilities

Articulation

Articulation refers to how the notes in a performance are separated, and ocarinas can articulate notes in a number of ways:

• Using the tongue. Notes can be articulated using the tongue to start and stop the airflow.
• Changing the pitch. Multiple notes can be slurred together in a continuous breath.
• Using the fingers. Notes can be separated by sounding a higher or lower pitch for such a short duration that it is perceived as an atonal blip or click. These sounds can be used in much the same way as tonging, and are called Cuts and Strikes in Celtic folk music.

Ornamentation

Ocarinas respond very quickly to both changes in breath pressure and in fingering. This allows them to perform a wide range of ornamentation, including:

• Breath and finger slides
• Vibrato
• Trills
• Turns
• Mordants
• Grace notes

Celtic ornaments including rolls, cranns, and strike cranns may also be easily performed. These are essentially an ornamental articulation of multiple sequential notes.

Timbre

Ocarinas can be designed to produce quite a diverse range of timbres from extremely pure to noticeably 'buzzy'. These differences are created by changing the size and shape of the sound hole, and is fixed when the instrument is made.

• Italian made ocarinas tend to have a more textured sound,
• Asian ocarinas are generally very pure sounding.

There are also a few ways of varying the timbre of an ocarina while playing:

• By humming or singing while blowing.
• By changing one's fingering and blowing harder or softer to maintain the same pitch.
• By varying initial blowing pressure. Starting a note with an abrupt pressure spike can cause it to briefly squeak and create a percussive effect.

Volume dynamics

Volume dynamics can be created by varying both fingering and blowing pressure at the same time.

The pitch of an ocarina varies with blowing pressure so you cannot create volume dynamics by changing blowing pressure alone. Rather, you must cover, or part-close a hole, and blow harder to maintain the same pitch.

The inverse, opening or part-opening a hole, and blowing more softly also works.

Microtones

Microtones are very easy to play as ocarinas have really unstable pitch. One can choose a fingering that gives a pitch close to the desired one, and increase or decrease blowing pressure to attain the desired pitch.

Achieving this reliably requires both a good ear, and good breath control.

Creating expression

Given that their pitch changes with blowing pressure, ocarinas only sound in tune at one pressure for a given fingering. Creating volume dynamics is technically possible, but in practice expression is mostly created using varied articulation and ornamentation.

Making use of the innate volume dynamic

First, ocarinas have a natural volume dynamic whereby the high notes are considerably louder than the low notes. If you are composing your own music, this can be kept in mind. You can also look for existing music where the strong notes are always higher notes.

Varying articulation

Notes can be emphasized by beginning them with an different articulation, or ornamentation. They can be de-emphasised by reducing the notes duration. Short staccato notes create an impression of lower volume.

Sliding into or out of a note with the breath can give an impression of volume dynamics, but must be done with care. As pitch changes, one needs to ensure that a pitch slide begins or ends in tune.

Varying pitch

The instrument's unstable pitch is also an effective expressive tool. Vibrato can be used to draw attention to notes. Rhythmic, subtle de-tunings may be used to imply an underlying beat, and the intonation of notes in itself can be used expressively to create tension and various effects.

Things that ocarinas aren't good at

Like all instruments, there are a number of things that ocarinas are naturally poor at:

Accompaniment

The same characteristics that make the instrument effective at lead melody make it function poorly as an accompanying instrument. They are too prominent and steal focus from the lead.

Music that demands precise control of volume dynamics

As noted previously, ocarinas have an innate volume dynamic leaving the high notes much louder. Consequently, they work well in some pieces of music, and terribly if the situation calls for a loud low note.

Music requiring a very large range

Lastly, ocarinas have a limited sounding range, meaning that there is a lot of music they cannot play.

Multichambers do a lot to address this, but their range is still limited, and some note transitions are technically difficult. Music selection is very important. There is no guarantee that anything you may want to play will actually fit on the instrument unmodified.

Note that ensemble playing can work around this limitation. A group can play ocarinas with overlapping pitch ranges, and melody can be arranged to span two or more players.

Closing

People often consider instruments as having built-in capabilities. For example, the recorder is often dismissed as a child's instrument, whereas the violin and piano are considered 'real' instruments to which skilled musicians will aspire. If you take the time to examine this assumption, however, you will see that it is flawed. The recorder, violin, and piano are all inanimate objects. All they can do by themselves is gather dust.

Because of how they are viewed in culture, violins and pianos have numerous virtuoso players, people who have put in the effort to create truly moving performances. As people often look down on the recorder, few discover its full potential but, if you look into it, you'll discover that recorder virtuosos do exist. They produce truly excellent music with their seemingly simple and limited instruments.

Visually simple instruments often hide their potential underneath their appearances, and the ocarina is no exception. If you explore its potential, you'll find that the ocarina more capable than you think.