KEY OF C
A Few Words About
Imagine
a hauntingly beautiful flute
small enough to take wherever you go.
®
®
You could find time to enjoy it _ and to
FINGER PLACEMENT
become really good at it _ because you
Take it Along
could play anytime…
The magic of this little flute is that it tags along,
Watching the sunset…
ready to play whenever you are.
LEFT HAND
RIGHT HAND
Hiking in the mountains…
Balance Point for
Waiting in a parked car…
To take full advantage of its portability, consider
Right Little Finger
wearing your ocarina around your neck or in a
Right Little Finger
case on your belt. In this way, many of us have
embraced the satisfying daily habit of playing in
Magic
That is the
Right Ring Finger
frequent, short sessions, whenever we have a
Left Ring Finger
spare moment. This simple habit has not only
of
helped us to fit music into our busy lives but also
Right Middle Finger
to make surprisingly rapid progress.
Left Middle Finger
Right Thumb
®
Grasp The Potential
Left Thumb
Right Index Finger
Left Index Finger
You will find that, relative to most other instru-
ments, Mountain Ocarinas
are very easy to
®
learn to play. Nevertheless, despite their apparent
Window
simplicity, they can produce music of tremendous
Concert-Quality
beauty, expressiveness, and complexity.
Pocket-Sized Flutes
Mouthpiece
In fact, Mountain Ocarinas
are specifically
®
that give you
designed to be instruments that you will grow into
Windway
rather than grow out of. Therefore, you should
the freedom to play anytime
realize that your ocarina's sound will improve
dramatically over time, growing richer, clearer,
fuller, and more beautiful as you master the
KEY OF C
Sound Samples at
nuances of proper breath control and technique.
Tips On Playing Mountain Ocarinas
®
Cradle the mouthpiece gently between your lips (not between your teeth) without putting too much in your mouth.
fl
Keep your fingers relaxed and curved, and cover the toneholes with the area of the finger just behind the fingertips. Don’t worry if it
fl
seems difficult to completely seal the toneholes at first. Covering the toneholes soon becomes easy with a little practice.
When —and only when— playing high notes (B, C, D, and E), support the end of the ocarina with your right little finger.
fl
Tonguing: To cleanly start a note or to clearly separate one note from another, whisper the word too (instead of who) as you blow into
fl
the mouthpiece.
Especially when you are first learning to play, you will sometimes need to clear condensed moisture from your ocarina’s windway to avoid
fl
ragged sounding high notes. One method for clearing the windway is to blow sharply into the mouthpiece while covering the window with
your finger. An even more effective method is to suck quickly and sharply on the mouthpiece a few times.
Since a clean windway is vital to good sound, it is best to rinse your mouth whenever you play soon after eating.
fl
Occasionally you should polish your ocarina’s windway to keep it clean and smooth. To do so, tear white paper into 2 inch (5 cm) strips.
fl
Fold the paper a few times to the approximate width and thickness of the windway, and tear away excess paper. Then repeatedly slide
Songs To Get You Started