Chiff and Fipple Forums

I have an ocarina that sounds great and is perfect pitch except for the high E which sounds airy. No matter how hard or soft I blow, hitting it detracts from the pleasure of playing it. The fipple seems to me to be a bit to rounded, should it have a sharper edge or is suppose to be rounded? Any ideas?

I wouldn't mess with the fipple; you can't really change much on one without messing up other notes.

One thing you may want to try is something called the "acute bend" that I've heard about on ocarina. When you start to move up into the high notes, bend your head down so that the ocarina is parallel to your sternum. That often clears up the airiness of the high notes on the thing.

There's a dude on YouTube called David Erick Ramos who is sort of the king of all things ocarina, and he's got a ton of helpful videos up. You may find them helpful.

Thanks, JCortese. I accidentally remembered that I was to bend the head for the high notes. Still had to transpose though. If anyone gets a chance, listen to Ocarina - Best of (2006) on youtube. the first song, Love Letters, for a 12 hole C ocarina I had to transpose down 2 semi tones, ( starts with a D, dropped it to start with a C ). Pretty song.