Buyer's Guide: Ocarina Styles, Ranges, and Holes

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Buyer's Guide: Ocarina Styles, Ranges, and Holes; For the basic ocarina types
Topic Started: Apr 23 2008, 09:49 AM (640 Views)
Moonsyne	Apr 23 2008, 09:49 AM Post #1
Anti-cliché Posts: 1,997 Group: Moderator Member #55 Joined: April 23, 2008	There are three main styles of basic ocarina. 1. English Pendant Typically round with 4-6 six holes, they use a cross fingering technique of play. 4 holes have four on the top. Range: 1 octave (.5C to 5C) 13 tones. 5 holes have four on the top, one on the bottom. Range:octave+1 (.5C to 6D) 15 tones. 6 holes have four on the top, two on the bottom. Range: octave+2 (.5C to 7E) 17 tones. 2. In-Line With the mouth piece at the end and the fingerings in a straight line in either Flute or Peruvian style with 6-10 holes, the fingering is intrinsic to the scale. 6 holes have six on the top. Range: one octave-2 (.5C to 4A) 11 tones. 7 holes have six on the top, one on the bottom. Range: octave-1 (.5C to 4B) 12 tones. 8 holes have six on the top, two on the bottom. Range: 1 octave (.5C to 5C) 13 tones. 9 holes have seven on the top, two on the bottom. Range: octave+3 (.5C to 7E) 17 tones. 10 holes have eight on the top, two on the bottom. Range: octave+3 (.4B to 7E) 18 tones. 3. Transverse (Sweet Potato) Intrinsic but mouth hole on the side and one end coming to a point with 8-12 holes, they have a wide variety of hole variations that are not all covered here. 9 holes have six on the top, three on the bottom. Range: octave+5 (.5C to .1F) 18 tones. 10 holes have eight on the top, two on the bottom. Range: octave+5 (.5C to .1F) 18 tones. 12 holes have eight+accidentals on the top, two on the bottom. Range: octave+8 (.3A to .1F) 21 tones. Comparing the range: Here is a chart that compares the most popular types of ocarina. As you can see, hole number does not automatically mean greater range. This is very evident when you look at the Peruvian style inline ocarinas in comparison to pendants. Because Peruvians have the same size holes, thier range is diminished, but they are intrinsic. There are many opinions over the ease of play in comparing intrinsic to cross fingering. They both have their strong and weak points. Intrinsic systems follow the scale and put those who are familiar with music more at ease. There are also a lot of fingerings to remember if you are not familiar with music and you use all your fingers to play. English cross fingering system has less holes to deal with and to remember, but you have to remember the combinations to play the scale. They are a lot less fingerings to remember and you don't have to have limber pinkies because they are not used. If you are thinking of trying ocarinas for the first time, I would recommend the pendant. There is only ONE tonal difference between a 6 hole pendant and a 10 hole sweet potato. 12 holes give you three lower tones, but can have 'airy' high notes that are hard to play. The price of a great pendant is >$20 while the price of a great sweet potato is $90+. There is so little difference in the difficulty of play to make it purely a matter of opinion. My recommendations First Ocarina Purchase: Good price for the quality I love my soprano pendant from Songbird Ocarinas. Susato Ocarinas are great wooden pendants. Plastic too. Mountain Ocarinas sound good and are quality plastic. Focalink has an astounding assortment of pendants. Beyond the Basics: For those who KNOW they love playing Menaglio makes the Italian classic ocarina design. Focalink has wonderful quality sweet potatos. If you love wood, you can't go wrong with a Hind. MapAram is highly rated in sound quality. Zelda Replicas: Ocarina Of Time / Fairy Ocarinas Clayz has English fingering Zelda Replicas and triforce pendants. Dragon Ocarinas has triforce pendants and English fingering Zelda Replicas. If you want a transverse Zelda Replica, I love the STL 9 hole type R. (Out of stock) Charlie Hind sells "Zelda-Stones" made of Corian. Terry Riley makes custom "authentically holed" Zelda Ocs. There are OoT Replicas from other makers that are not sold all* the time. They include: Spencer Dunster Oberkappel Glossary: Intrinsic to the scale - The scale matches your anatomy. Each finger in a row 'walks' up the scale as it is lifted off a hole. Range - How many tones an ocarina can play. *In this guide, key is not mentioned. Ocarinas can be in a different key but the still have the same range amount.



OcarinaNL	Apr 23 2008, 09:51 AM Post #2
Dutch Mod squad Posts: 77 Group: Senior Member Member #51 Joined: April 22, 2008	Its amazing :wub: This wil help out a lot of people



Moonsyne	Apr 23 2008, 10:18 AM Post #3
Anti-cliché Posts: 1,997 Group: Moderator Member #55 Joined: April 23, 2008	Thanks! I was thinking of the basics and what I would have wanted to know.



DeMaulwurfn	Apr 23 2008, 10:43 AM Post #4
I'm not insane. I'm interesting. Posts: 2,131 Group: Administrator Member #5 Joined: February 3, 2008 Browser: Firefox 3 Oc of Choice: Focalink Double Alto C Website: http://demaulwurfn.deviantart.com TON Blog: http://theocarinanetwork.com/blog/main/24367	This is astounding. Very useful!



Panchi-tiger	Apr 23 2008, 02:10 PM Post #5
The Whistlemaker Posts: 124 Group: xat Moderator Member #21 Joined: March 13, 2008 Oc of Choice: My own.	You've been here for... what, a day? And you've already made yourself more useful than I ever will be. XDD Welcome to TON!



Pyromanaic21	Apr 26 2008, 09:32 PM Post #6
the pyro/urban ninja Posts: 139 Group: Member Member #65 Joined: April 25, 2008	that's freekin' sweet........ :ph43r:



Moonsyne	Apr 26 2008, 11:52 PM Post #7
Anti-cliché Posts: 1,997 Group: Moderator Member #55 Joined: April 23, 2008	STL website currently does not sell the type R, but they are still available from thier Ebay shop.



Myung	Apr 27 2008, 05:34 PM Post #8
~HAWTGURLE~ Posts: 1,111 Group: Moderator Member #50 Joined: April 22, 2008 Oc of Choice: Maparam dbl AC, Focalink dbl SG, Spencer AC Website: http://www.youtube.com/myung1983	Another excellent guide Moonsyne A suggestion for great 6H pendants. Even though a little more expensive but still very affordable. I would highly recommend the Juniors and Soprano Wallnuts from Mr. Hind. Although they are actually more like 5 holes with an occidental on the bottom. I would also love to get one of his inlines or the double wallnut. But that's getting a little offtopic.... Surprised to see there aren't really that many pendant players on the forums and on youtube. I really like the english style fingering although it is a little less intuitive than the transverse. But still fairly easy to learn!



Moonsyne	Jun 5 2008, 09:10 AM Post #9
Anti-cliché Posts: 1,997 Group: Moderator Member #55 Joined: April 23, 2008	I limited my recommendations to ocarinas that I own or have used, but I'll expand it to add some of the highest rated ocarinas!



OcarinaTycoon	Oct 7 2008, 02:20 AM Post #10
Amateur Ocarina Maker Posts: 257 Group: Member Member #1,491 Joined: October 3, 2008 Oc of Choice: 5-hole sweet potato, and 10-hole sweet potato	Hey, this guide is great! It actually helped me think about what kind of range my ocarinas have on paper!



kyleismr.smiley	Oct 7 2008, 03:06 AM Post #11
[ Insert Member Title Here ] Posts: 230 Group: Member Member #1,481 Joined: October 2, 2008	OcarinaTycoon Oct 7 2008, 02:20 AM Hey, this guide is great! It actually helped me think about what kind of range my ocarinas have on paper! WOW! lol, I was thinking the same thing! Im def. Saving that chart! I also learned of a few new ocarina sellers because of your guide! THANKS A BUNCH!



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