How to make an ocarina

[ftdevilliers]

I'm sorry that I seem to burden this forum with my questions...but so far I have found that people in this forum are so helpful - and I have been getting lots of help and solutions here, only after I have searched the internet for hours and days on-end.

I am now interested in the ocarina. I think the material that I would be able to use, would be clay.

Is there a scientific/ mathematical formula according to which one can determine the fingering hole placing and size and the size of the body?

Any hints?

Thanks!

[Tim2723]

I just searched Yahoo! for 'How to make an ocarina' and got several pages of links, some of which look pretty helpful. Not sure if you'll find a mathematical formula, but the ocarina is an ancient instrument that has been made long before the math guys got to it.

[mutepointe]

Walden had a thread a long time back about how to make a paper ocarina. He played a tune on the ocarina he made. I made an ocarina that looked just as nice and played like kaka. Buy a lot of clay.

[Kypfer]

Ocarinas don't have specific fingerhole placement ... provided the holes are not too close to the "whistle-hole" window. They work as a resonating vessel, where the pitch of the emitted note is a function of the volume of the vessel (as in blowing across a bottle) and the area of the open hole(s)

So, easy peasy ... make a container/vessel with a fipple mouthpiece, add packing internally (wax etc) to bring it up to the key of the lowest required note, then drill holes, one at a time, to fit where your fingers want to be ... placement is NOT critical !!

Note that the first hole or two will be quite small, getting bigger as the pitch rises, LH1 will be significantly bigger than RH3 (or RH4)

Note also that there are effectively two styles of fingering pattern :
1 - the diatonic "in-line" as used on many "sweet potato" types and by Mountain Ocarinas. This is usually configured with the low note of the scale being under the RH4 finger, much like a "simplified-fingering" recorder.
2 - the "english style" ocarina fingering is basically four finger-holes played in various combinations to give eight notes, often with an extra one or two higher notes under the thumb(s).

There may be interest in an ocarina effectively fingered as a whistle or baroque recorder (barocarina?) rather than using one of the established fingering patterns, something like Susato have done with their plastic gemshorn.

[Elvellon]

I tried to make a paper ocarina then suddenly realized that you need strong paper, clean holes, airtight construction etc. And some glue ready! Back to buying them whistles I suppose.

Anyway...

There may be interest in an ocarina effectively fingered as a whistle or baroque recorder (barocarina?) rather than using one of the established fingering patterns, something like Susato have done with their plastic gemshorn.

Is there an ocarina somewhere with whistle or Scottish bagpipe fingering? (if 6 fingers = D, then 2 or 1 sharp, not zero sharps as in simplified C fingering).
A modified G Mountain Ocarina (thumbholes reversed and C# instead of C) would be a great Scottish/Irish instrument, with the whole bagpipe range with open fingerings, low F# and high B for Irish-friendliness and chromatics for extra versatility.

[Kypfer]

Is there an ocarina somewhere with whistle or Scottish bagpipe fingering? (if 6 fingers = D, then 2 or 1 sharp, not zero sharps as in simplified C fingering).
A modified G Mountain Ocarina (thumbholes reversed and C# instead of C) would be a great Scottish/Irish instrument

... the Susato gemshorn will play as a baroque recorder (more or less), so is a close approximation to a D whistle with a low C - see http://www.susato.com/konakart/download ... gering.pdf

I'm currently re-tuning 2 Mountain ocarinas to use similar fingering, a C and a G

RH2 drilled out, RH1 reduced in size and LH1 drilled out (a lot!) ... more or less works

[Tim2723]

(Snip)....something like Susato have done with their plastic gemshorn.

I wasn't aware that they had developed a new fingering, by which I mean that I thought all gemshorns had similar fingerings. The cowshorn models are the same, no? Do you have any more info on this to share?

[Kypfer]

I thought all gemshorns had similar fingerings. The cowshorn models are the same, no? Do you have any more info on this to share?

... sorry, I don't know specifically about "all gemshorns", I've got a blue Susato and it'll play F# "four fingers down", like a whistle, and C# "all fingers off". There's no tonal difference between the fingering for F# shown in the chart and to the one I use. The instrument has not been modified. Just got to remember LH2 down and thumb off for the high D, else play it like a whistle

[Walden]

Historic gemshorns only had 4 finger holes and a thumb hole, which meant they only had a very limited range. They are only standardized, today, to the extent that they were revived in modern Germany by recorder players, and thus they tend to be made to approximate modern recorder fingerings, as an alternative instrument for recorder ensembles.

Some small modern cow's horn "gemshorns" are made with modern pendant ocarina fingerings. These thus have usually the same number of holes as the old instruments, but a wider range, whereas the typical recorder-style gemshorns have a bit of a different appearance from the old gemshorns, due to having twice as many holes.

Susato's plastic gemshorns use the recorder-gemshorn fingering, but add an extra hole to increase the range by one note. All gemshorns have narrower ranges than typical recorders, because they don't have the overblown octave.