-----
Contents:
* I'm a Zelda fan. Which ocarina do I get?
* Is there a particular type that beginners should buy?
* Is the ocarina easy to learn? Can you learn it without taking lessons?
* Which type of ocarina is the easiest? (What are different ocarinas like?)
* How much do they cost?
* I want an ocarina with a high sound quality. Which one should I get?
* Should I get a plastic ocarina?
* What's the difference between clay ocarinas and wooden ones?
* Should I get a Single, Double or Triple?
* I want an ocarina with more range, but I've never played a 12-hole ocarina before. Should I get a Double?
* Does it need any special sheet music?
* What sort of songs can an ocarina play?
* Tenor, Alto, Soprano? What does this mean?
* What is 'range'?
* Key of C? G? F? What does this mean?
* What are STL tabs, and should I learn them?
-----
I'm a Zelda fan. Which ocarina do I get?
It depends what you're looking for. In short, my recommendation goes to the STL Zelda 12-hole Tenor. There's also Songbird's Zelda ocarina, which is somewhat cheaper. The 12-hole may look harder to play than Songbird's 5-6 hole, but the 12-hole is actually easier.
For more Zelda replicas, click here.
If you don't care what the ocarina looks like, and instead care about how they play and sound, read on.
Is there a particular type that beginners should buy?
Not especially, because all ocarinas should be pretty easy for any beginner. It depends what you want from an ocarina.
If I had to recommend one ocarina that's a good all-rounder, I'd go with STL's 12-hole Tenor (or the 12-hole Alto if you prefer something smaller to hold, or a higher pitch in comparison to the Tenor). It's not too expensive at $55.50, it has a large range of A4 to F6 (1 octave +5 notes), it's easy to play/learn than some other types of ocarina, it has a nice and reliable quality, and its pitch is not too high/piercing (which is useful for not annoying neighbours
).
If money is an issue, the Alto is $42, and the Soprano is $31.50 (note that the Soprano is the highest-pitched of the three). Songbird Ocarina does some nice pendants, from $20 to $50 (but keep in mind their range is lower than the 12-holes'; the pendant range is 1 octave +1 note).
If you want one with better sound quality (at the expense of slightly more cramped fingering -- which I imagine would only be a problem to those with large hands), get STL's 12-hole Tenor Horn. It's almost exactly like the 12-hole Tenor (same price, same pitch, same range), except it sounds nicer/clearer/more resonant.
If you want to know which type is easiest, see below.
Is the ocarina easy to learn? Can you learn it without taking lessons?
Yes; the ocarina is one of the easiest instruments to learn. With tabs, you could be playing recognisable tunes within a couple hours -- even if you've had no previous musical experience.
Which type of ocarina is the easiest? (What are different ocarinas like?)
They're all pretty easy. It depends on your music experience, and how you intend to use it (tabs, playing from ear, sheet music, etc.).
Inlines are said to be among the easiest. You hold them sort of like a recorder, with the ocarina in front of you pointing away from you. They have a completely linear fingering system, so you just cover holes to play lower notes and uncover holes to play higher notes, walking your fingers up the holes. The only con is that the sound quality usually isn't as clear as clay or wooden ocarinas, and the C (deeper) ocarina requires more breath(/more controlled breath) to get a clear sound. [Note: The last comment doesn't apply for Hind's inlines.]
Transverse ocarinas come a close second, because they're pretty much the same: they have a linear fingering system. With most transverse ocarinas, either there will be subholes* (as with 12-hole ocarinas), or you have to half-cover holes to get some of the sharps/flats (as in 9-hole/ ocarinas). You get used to subholes quite quickly, but half-covering notes is prone to being inaccurate, so it can be a little tricky with faster songs. They also might be more comfortable to hole due to their rounded shape -- hands can 'wrap' around the ocarina more than the inline.
* subhole = a little hole next to a main hole that you cover with the same finger, at the same time
English system -- or "pendant" -- ocarinas are typically considered third in terms of ease. They're also very easy, but the fingering system involves remembering arbitrary seeming hole-covering combinations. So it sort of feels more random, instead of just walking up the holes. It might be easier if you only want to memorise a couple simple songs (and don't want to read sheet music, play by ear or whatever), because you only have to worry about 4 fingers. But if you're interested in playing, it can be slightly more difficult than other types of ocarinas. Also, involves half-covering holes to get some of the sharps/flats which, as mentioned above, is less accurate. However, it's a lot easier to find picture-tabs for Pendant ocarinas than other ocarinas (which makes it possible to play songs without learning sheet music or a tabbing system), and the tabs are easier to read quickly.
I recommend checking out Moonsyne's guide to ocarina styles for more information.
How much do they cost?
A good-quality starter ocarina is usually around $20-$60. Ocarinas can go from anything around $10 for the cheap or small ones, to $400-$500 for the really fancy ones.
I want an ocarina with a high sound quality. Which one should I get?
Maparam (12-hole), Hind (inline and 12-hole), and Focalink (12-hole) ocarinas are known to be good. Spencer ocarinas are also said to be good, but they're currently hard to get ahold of [this section will be updated with a purchase link when available].
If you're looking for something cheaper, try the STL Horn.
Should I get a plastic ocarina?
Unless you're talking about a Mountain Ocarina, I would advise against getting a plastic ocarina (unless you just want something cheap and durable). Their sound is usually (though not always) more airy and less pure/rich than clay or wooden ocarinas. Watch Kissing88's video review of his plastic ocarinas to see what I mean.
What's the difference between clay ocarinas and wooden ones?
Wooden ocarinas are typically said to have a mellower/warmer tone.
They are, of course, a lot less breakable than clay -- but they're typically also considerably more expensive.
Should I get a Single, Double or Triple?
It's recommended to get a Single first. Pros and cons of each are as follows:
Single
Pros: easiest to play/learn; has the most resonant sound; less bulky.
Cons: less range than the other two.
Double
Pros: nicely balanced between the Single and Triple; rather high range (2 octaves +2 notes).
Cons: it doesn't have a 'specialty' (it balances a rich tone quality with extended range); it has two chambers (which takes practice to switch between).
Triple
Pros: highest range of all ocarinas (3 octaves).
Cons: requires most complex fingering; requires changing chambers which can be hard to do smoothly; requires controlled breathing; least resonant.
See Kissing's guide for more information.
I want an ocarina with more range, but I've never played a 12-hole ocarina before. Should I get a Double?
It's advised to get a normal 12-hole to get used to it and see if it takes before you get a Double.
Doubles can be a little overwhelming if you haven't even played a normal 12-hole ocarina before. Not only are there more holes, but you have to switch chambers in the middle of a song to play the higher notes, which can be tricky. Also note that Doubles are more expensive than regular ocarinas, so there's more loss if
It's possible to play the Double just like a single by only using one of the chambers, but the other chamber might be a lil' distracting when you're learning basic things like fingering.
If you've had previous music experience, or motivated to put the extra effort into learning a Double, and range is important to you, then you might be fine with a Double without previous ocarina experience.
Does it need any special sheet music?
You can use any standard sheet music as long as it's within the range of your ocarina. You can also transpose the notes up/down so that it fits to your ocarina range/key.
What sort of songs can an ocarina play?
Just about anything, so long as it's in the ocarina's range!
The standard ocarina's range is more limited than some instruments, so you may have a hard time with some classical concertos or other more complicated music, but you should be able to play most popular songs, video game music, simple melodies and so on.
You can 'cheat' by transposing/changing some of the notes of a song to make it fit within your ocarina's range. It won't sound exactly like the original, but often it can still sound pretty good.
The bigger the range of the ocarina, the more songs it will be able to play. A transverse 12-hole has a bigger range than a pendant 6-hole, so will be able to play more songs without transposing.
Tenor, Alto, Soprano? What does this mean?
Those are pitch classifications. From high to low: Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone, Bass. What they actually sound like differ in each ocarina maker, but Tenors, Altos and Sopranos are the most common. Tenor or Alto is usually considered the 'middle-range' pitch -- not too high, not too deep.
Click here for a chart of ocarina ranges.
What is 'range'?
The range of an ocarina is how many different notes it can play. The more notes it can play, the more songs you can play. Songs with large differences in notes (i.e. it has very high and very low notes in the same song) require more range than songs that don't.
Most older video game music, nursery rhymes and pop songs usually require less range than classical music, jazz or other more complicated songs. But even video game music and pop songs sometimes need the odd high note to be hit.
For a list of ocarinas and their ranges, see Gerald_G's range comparison chart.
Key of C? G? F? What does this mean?
The key refers to which notes it can play (which makes a difference to how high-pitched it is). It's important if you're playing with other people (or backing tracks, or playing along to songs or whatever), but not really worth worrying about otherwise.
If you have an ocarina with one octave and its key is C, that means the notes it can play are: C, D, E, F, G, A, B and high-C. If you have an ocarina tuned to the key of C with one octave plus 2 extra notes, it might be: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, high-C, high-D and high-F.
Ocarinas with (for example) 5 extra notes might not start on the same note as its key, but they would contain the whole octave of C. So, an ocarina with an octave+5 might have these notes: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F. Think of it like a C-octave ocarina, with wiggle room in case the song goes a bit higher or a bit deeper than the octave of C.
As you can see on the range comparison chart, ocarinas in G might be higher than ocarinas in C, because G is later on in the octave (which means it's a higher note). In other words: if you just shift the range from C to a higher note (like G), then the whole octave will be higher.
What are STL tabs/numerical tabs, and should I learn them?
It's a system (commonly used by St. Louis Ocarina -- hence the name 'STL tabs') that's kinda like sheet music, except you don't have to do transposing to get it in the key of your ocarina.
In other words: no matter ocarina you have, you can use those tabs to play songs without having to convert it into a format suitable for your ocarina.
Should you learn them? Well, they're only really useful if you want to buy STL songbooks (or perhaps if someone tabs out songs on the forum). The effort spent learning numerical tabs could be spent learning sheet music -- which is a lot more versatile (you can get sheet music made for any instrument, and as long as it's in your range, you'll be able to play it on your ocarina). Sheet music is also connected to understanding music/what you're doing better, which is fun.
So, I would recommend sheet music over numerical tabs, but if you're interested you could learn both (they're kinda similar).
Click here to learn how to read numerical tabs.
-----
If anyone has any other questions, just ask and I'll endeavour to answer as fully as I can.
You also might want to check out the stickies on the forum.
If you have a suggestion for how to make this guide better or more accurate, please do let me know! Moderators: I may not be around to keep this guide up to date, so feel free to edit the post to add questions and answers at your discretion.
