About a year ago, or perhaps more, Warp posted that he was learning to play 
the ocarina.  I had never heard of it before, but I certainly recognized the 
sound once I heard it.  Long story short, I'm learning to play now as well. 
I've noticed quite a rapid improvement in myself, which certainly makes 
learning to play even more fun.

So, Warp, do you still play?  I don't hang out here as much as I used to, 
but I still try to catch up every now and then.

I've got a Tenor from www.stlocarina.com.  I'm considering buying an Alto 
(or Soprano F - same thing), but I'm not sure if I should pay for one of the 
more expensive "Purple Clay" varieties, which apparently have a better 
sound.  Any advice and/or experience?

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Jeremy M. Praay <jer### [at] questsoftwarecmo> wrote:
> So, Warp, do you still play?

  Rarely.

> I've got a Tenor from www.stlocarina.com.  I'm considering buying an Alto 
> (or Soprano F - same thing), but I'm not sure if I should pay for one of the 
> more expensive "Purple Clay" varieties, which apparently have a better 
> sound.  Any advice and/or experience? 

  Actually I am looking for other people's experience on *good* ocarinas.

  My experience from two different (cheap) ocarinas is that in both of
them it's very difficult to get to the notes on the higher octave. The
more holes there are open, the more difficult it is to get a nice sound
(or a sound at all). Yet with high-quality ocarinas it should be possible.

  I'm interested in your experience with that ocarina of yours. What is
the range that you can play effortlessly, without the sound breaking up?

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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"Warp" <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote in message 
news:48a341dc@news.povray.org...
>
>  Actually I am looking for other people's experience on *good* ocarinas.

Here is the one I have ($55 USD) : www.stlocarina.com/wz1.html  I still only 
have one, but I'd like to try out the higher pitched instruments too.

>  My experience from two different (cheap) ocarinas is that in both of
> them it's very difficult to get to the notes on the higher octave. The
> more holes there are open, the more difficult it is to get a nice sound
> (or a sound at all). Yet with high-quality ocarinas it should be possible.

I can hit the high notes just fine, but the sound becomes more and more 
"airy" the higher I go.  I understand that this is fairly normal, but the 
more expensive "purple clay" ocarina's apparently mature with use, and sound 
much smoother over time.  Unfortunately, they're about 3 times the price of 
their standard clay counterparts.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the one that I have, but I have to wonder how 
much of the "airy-ness" of the high tones is a result of my inexperience, or 
if it's a result of the ocarina itself.  Perhaps (probably) some of both.

>  I'm interested in your experience with that ocarina of yours. What is
> the range that you can play effortlessly, without the sound breaking up?

I've been practicing a song by Sojiro called "Dream of Bhutan".  Sojiro is 
an ocarina god, so I can't even get close to sounding as good as he does, 
but after practicing the song for a couple weeks, I can probably play it 
well enough that it doesn't hurt people's ears, or maybe even well enough 
that people could enjoy listening.  It's hard to be objective.  The range of 
this song is, iirc, from D4 to D5 (I learned it by ear).  Hitting D5 without 
sounding awful (and loud) took some practice, but I can hit it reasonably 
well now.  I read somewhere that you should bend your head down toward your 
chest while playing high notes to make them sound a bit less airy.  That 
helps a little.

I don't have any trouble hitting D5 (or even F5), but the higher notes are 
definitely more airy, which makes me wonder if I should fork out the extra 
money for the higher quality ocarinas.  On the other hand, I'm not a 
professional, and wonder if the extra quality would be wasted on me.  That's 
my dilemma.

There are an abundance of videos on Youtube now.  docjazz4's video's are 
very informative.  For inspiration, you could search-out Sojiro's songs, if 
you like New Age music.  "Dream of Bhutan" is actually a pretty simple song, 
yet has a nice melody.  I got it off iTunes, which may or may not be 
available to you.  If you'd like, I could email you the mp3.

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> "Warp" <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote in message 
> news:48a341dc@news.povray.org...
>>
>>  Actually I am looking for other people's experience on *good* ocarinas.
>

I ordered the alto and soprano from stlocarina.com on Thursday (just the 
"standard" 12-hole models, not the professional purple-clay) and received 
them today (fast!).  I played around with them outside of my work-place 
during lunch, and I'm fairly impressed with the sound quality of those as 
well.  If you've got the cash, you might want to try them.  I noticed they 
ship internationally, but I didn't check on the cost.

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