cmeiselman Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 I would love to connect with someone who knows about ocarinas. I have Barry Hall's book From Mud to Music and Janet Moniot's manual Clay Whistles, but I am having a hard time. I have watched countless youtube videos. I have make about 10-12 ocarinas and all of them either have a lousy sound or no sound or you have to blow with great effort. even the specific lip placement is so subtle . I would love to brain storm to improve the sound quality. ) the one in the picture is two small domes thrown on the hump.. slip scored together with a hand built mouth piece) Thank you so much , Courtney Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pres Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 Have you mastered the whistle yet, working with the whistle will help you to get to the ocarina. I taught a few sessions for the music teacher that taught theory and harmony at our school. We had them making whistles, but some got into doing the ocarinas after completing a proper whistle. these are more difficult and his book explains about needing to tune them. I made a few along with the teacher and found that the body wall thickness was important. For tools we found that bamboo chopsticks worked really well for cheap tools in abundance. a little whittling and you had all the tools you needed. Your pic does not show exactly what I need to see as the position of the top hole depends on the shape of the mouthpiece and throat. The air hole has to be over the curve of the throat . best, Pres cmeiselman and Min 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterH Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 Maybe loosely relevant. @ChenowethArts has previously posted on ocarinas, although hasn't visited here since Jan '22 ...his website seems to still be online http://www.paulchenoweth.com/ but dates seem to be '21 ... contact page (was?) https://www.paulchenoweth.com/?page_id=718 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted February 13 Report Share Posted February 13 The wedge has to split the air, so the alignment of the mouthpiece and the tip of the wedge is critical. Adjusting the wedge up or down usually solves the problem. The width of your mouthpiece slot may be a problem, since the slot appears to be wider than the wedge hole. Could be a lot of the air is just going into the cavity without ever touching the wedge. I used to do a lot of whistles with my kids classes, and we just used a sharpened popsicle stick to make both the mouthpiece slot and the wedge hole, so everything was the same width. Beyond getting it to whistle, I cannot offer any help with actually tuning an ocarina. I've only ever made whistles. cmeiselman and Min 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmeiselman Posted February 13 Author Report Share Posted February 13 3 hours ago, Pres said: Have you mastered the whistle yet, working with the whistle will help you to get to the ocarina. I taught a few sessions for the music teacher that taught theory and harmony at our school. We had them making whistles, but some got into doing the ocarinas after completing a proper whistle. these are more difficult and his book explains about needing to tune them. I made a few along with the teacher and found that the body wall thickness was important. For tools we found that bamboo chopsticks worked really well for cheap tools in abundance. a little whittling and you had all the tools you needed. Your pic does not show exactly what I need to see as the position of the top hole depends on the shape of the mouthpiece and throat. The air hole has to be over the curve of the throat . best, Pres mmm I did jump right into ocarinas. ill take a step back and tackle whistles first. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmeiselman Posted February 13 Author Report Share Posted February 13 36 minutes ago, neilestrick said: The wedge has to split the air, so the alignment of the mouthpiece and the tip of the wedge is critical. Adjusting the wedge up or down usually solves the problem. The width of your mouthpiece slot may be a problem, since the slot appears to be wider than the wedge hole. Could be a lot of the air is just going into the cavity without ever touching the wedge. I used to do a lot of whistles with my kids classes, and we just used a sharpened popsicle stick to make both the mouthpiece slot and the wedge hole, so everything was the same width. Beyond getting it to whistle, I cannot offer any help with actually tuning an ocarina. I've only ever made whistles. yes the popsicle stick tool has been my go to. I will double check the thickness of both. the micro details matter. thanks Pres 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.