I have some experience playing the guitar, can read music and understand basic music theory, but have been out of practice for years, and until I get a doctor to look at the trigger finger that Guitar Hero gave me, I won’t be picking the guitar up again for a while. So I bought an ocarina as an impulse purchase at a gaming convention, thinking it would be a fun instrument to get my feet wet with as I try to get back into playing music again. I specifically got a triple ocarina because it had the highest range.
It came with a fingering chart, but three things have me confused:
How do I blow into it? It looks like there are three air holes. Do I blow into all of them? Block two with my tongue?
Can/should I cover multiple holes with one finger, like a barre chord on a guitar?
What’s up with the holes that have a tiny hole next to them?
At least one of the holes you aren’t blowing into should be left open for your breath to escape. If all but one or two holes are on the same side, those are for your fingers and the others are 1) for your thumb or 2) for your breath to escape. The finger holes are mostly laid out in a +/- straight line, and uncovering them sequentially ascends the scale. Uncovering the next to the last hole should give you a sharp; eg, holes 1-6, 8 covered and 7 open should be the sharp of 1-7 covered and 8 open.
Thanks. That appears to be the company that was selling the ocarinas at the convention. I found this awesome thing on their site: http://site.stlocarina.com/fc/tripleocarina.html which seems to indicate that only one chamber is blown into at a time. Judging from the youtube videos, it looks like you’re supposed to slide the mouthpiece to get to the right chamber, rather than putting the whole thing in your mouth like I originally thought.
Yes, it looks like the point is to give you the full range of three different ocarinas–I don’t see how you could successfully finger all of them at once. You might get some cool effects by using one as a drone while playing another, or even trying some harmonics (with simple fingerings). I don’t have a multi-ocarina, but I have a dual flute and a drone/flute, and you can do some odd things with them, like generating beat patterns, in addition to harmonies and drones.
I jumped the gun because I was thinking of a different style of ocarina. In cleaning out my parents’ attic, I came across an old Gretsch “sweet potato” – the pistol-shaped ocarina of my childhood.
ETA: those are some spendy ocs. Although I’d be tempted to lay out $69 for the plástic triple.
But the upside is, you can ride a horse!