Why NOBODY Knows the Ocarina

Ocarinas deserve a lot more recognition than they have.
We'll discuss why they're relatively unknown and how we might be able to popularize them more!
Read the blog: andycormier.blog/2023/01/02/w...
Note that when I say "ocarinas lack establishment," I am referring to a comparable level with other instruments. There are numerous amazing ocarina communities and plenty of fantastic resources, such as those by ‪@DavidErickRamos‬ and ‪@OcarinaOwl‬. However, if you compare the ocarina community to how many instruments are simply a normal part of society, that is what I mean!
ALSO note that some of this analysis is conjecture from putting together pieces that seem obvious-it's not 100% certain that my theory on overlapping niches with the recorder is correct (I'm an expert on ocarinas, not recorders), so if you know I'm wrong about anything, please correct me in the comments~
00:00 Intro
00:35 Hard data & harder realities: Google Trends
02:03 Google Ngram Historical Data
04:33 WHY are Ocarinas so niche?
07:47 It's not just the Recorder's fault, either!
09:58 Ocarinas lack establishment (comparably)
10:57 How can we popularize ocarinas?
14:29 What can YOU do to help?
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Twitter ►► / ocarinaofandy
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My Equipment (Affiliate Links Included):
andycormier.blog/2021/01/17/a...

[@marymoocow1276]

I've started up an ocarina ensemble in my school and we're working on building an entire septet collection at it! Right now we have four members and a soprano and alto (focalinks) we've donated to our school. We're really working on it and after we get our ensemble working our band director might be letting us perform at the next band concert.

[@-_-Potato_Wedge-_-]

Broooo that is AWSOME 🤩

[@user-pi2vm2gj9t]

That is so cool 💪

[@OcarinaOwl]

One of the reasons I continue to post on KZbin, also posting small shorts that seem kinda silly but get a lot of attention towards the instrument. Great video Andy!

[@shirethe]

I literally 2 days ago woke up from a nap. Had a dream about a pendant ocarina (always loved the sound in general) went to KZbin to look up just general performance, landed on your channel and bought a night by noble. I can't wait for it to arrive

[@Eyleenelly]

The reason why I picked up the ocarina (beside me falling in love with the sound when I heard someone playing it when I was a child) was to be able to play music publicly or even in my flat where my neighbours can hear me after I got too traumatised by a stressing performance to be able to sing in public again. Ocarina is perfect - it is my new voice. So I'm glad it has the same uses in music than the singing voice, since that is exactly what I am replacing ! 😄

[@5thkiechannel]

As a theramin player at least you guys have a game made after your instrument 😭😭😭

[@LunamrathP]

Variety in what is performed is definitely something I want to work on as I get better with my ocarina. I've noticed so many books of songs seem ripped straight from David Erick Ramos' channel or song books. I love what David has done and continues to do, but I feel like one thing I've noticed as a novice is there is not a large pool of music to choose from. I want to perform more classical and some of the wide range of pop culture pieces that haven't been performed.

[@lawrenceszenes-strauss2223]

Right now the classical repertoire of North American ocarina players is the score of a video game from a console that hasn't been manufactured in 20 years. It's good incidental music, but it doesn't mean much to anybody who is too old or too young to have owned an N64. I think the ocarina's future popularity will have a lot to do with whether current players can develop a new body of music, or successfully adapt existing music in a way that audiences find compelling. People want to play music that they want to hear.

[@johncaswell2648]

I'm originally (and primarily) a saxophonist. But I'd say I'm equally good on the ocarina, just in different aspects of playing. I was *very* rigidly classically trained on saxophone, so I can sight read some crazy stuff, but I can't learn a song by ear to save my life... But maybe because I taught myself ocarina, I find it much easier to learn songs by ear. Echoing the awareness issue, I recently took one of my ocarinas (Oberon gosling) to a convention and played the most recognizable bits of various themes for different cosplayers. No way could I walk around a convention with my alto sax like that. While people seemed to enjoy it, the most common remark was people asking what it was and being surprised it was an instrument. I also agree it's hard to find a place for it, but the same can be said for classical saxophone as well so I'm used to it. I eventually picked up a soprano, tenor, and baritone so I can quartet with myself, and I'll probably have to do the same on ocarina if I ever want to do any septet pieces.

[@joshua-we9xr]

Literally in the same boat. Tenor sax player, classical training, and picked up Ocarina because of portability 😂

[@OcarinaBoy]

It's a shame that so little people know about this beautiful instrument. I'll try my best to help popularize it, I've already inspired a friend to start playing!

[@CaptainX2012]

Hopefully not. I like it being niche.

[@sharkpyro93]

@@CaptainX2012 is there a reason for this?

[@vhfgamer]

I gave my niece an ocarina for christmas. Hopefully something sprouts from that... she loves music.

[@grboden05]

You make such great content! I always enjoy your videos! I’m planning on playing my ocarina in church pretty soon!

[@ArtemisDalmasca]

We're about to start homeschooling my 6 year old, who has expressed an interest in learning an ocarina as an instrument... so we're trying to learn together. Currently, he needs to practice more, but he loves it when he does. I've promised him that if he actually commits to learning it and getting better on the plastic one I got him, then his dad and I will invest in getting him a nicer ceramic one when he gets bigger. He's currently trying to learn a 6 hole, but wants to learn a 12 hole cause its what I'm currently working on learning mainly lol

[@alumnidemiurge7713]

I just started playing, bought the plastic bravura with the strap and the 12 hole mini soprano stl to challenge myself! >:) But truthfully I love that not that many people know about it, makes it more mesmerizing when you pull it out and play it. Totally blows people's minds, especially when they don't know you play an instrument. I hate when things go mainstream as usually people tend to ruin everything and make stuff cringe. Love the channel tho and thanks so much for your informative videos. Helped me buy my first ocarina and got me up to speed on some stuff I didn't know. Happy new years and God bless!

[@tanyabrown9839]

I'd never heard of the Legend of Zena and came across Ocarina's when looking at musical instruments on the temu (a sales) website. Interesting that recorders are taught in junior primary schools in so many places around the world. Recorder was the instrument we also learnt then In Australia

[@joemorton9217]

How was the Temu ocarina?

[@northstarocarina]

Excellent video! I think it's very possible to make the ocarina more widely known

[@401AceLee]

I’ve been trying to get myself and the ocarina into my schools mass performances with no success. Anything my ocarina can do, the choir and soloists can do

[@CaptainX2012]

I like it being obscure. It always impresses people and starts a conversation.

[@ArtemisDalmasca]

Also, in terms of bringing Ocarina's into a more known area, I plan to incorporate it into my d&d ttrpg games. I'm still learning and working on getting a song down... but once I have a few down, I want to make a bard in d&d who plays the ocarina so that I can bring it to the table if needed :)

[@maximedaneau3397]

Honestly I feel like the 12 hole's range is just too small. If you want to expand the repertoire beyond video game music, you need to be able to play pop music and for that I think you need a good 2 octaves at least. For example, playing Olivia Rodrigo's "drivers licence" in C major, you need A4-G6, but on a 12-hole the A is gonna be too silent and you would need Milt's technique to get the high G. Hell, her "Deja Vu" song requires two octave plus one note. That's actually doable on a recorder (although barely), but you would need a double ocarina for that. What you need is a version of the ocarina that can do everything a recorder can with a plus value. Interestingly, I think the CODA EDC fits that niche. It has an easy two octaves, has much easier fingering than a recorder, has a pretty flat breath curve so the whole range is usable, doesn't squeak like a recorder and most importantly is more portable so kids could bring it with them anywhere. I think if we had a good cheap plastic alto f/g triple, it would be a recorder killer. Nobody truly wants to listen to kids playing an instrument as high pitch as a soprano recorder, but their hands are too small to handle an alto f so you're stuck enduring the squeaking. I could be wrong, but I don't think an alto f ocarina would not have the same ergonomic problems as an alto f recorder.

[@lawrenceszenes-strauss2223]

Agree with a lot of this, though I think the major issue with the sound of kids playing soprano recorders is that most instruments sound bad when played by large groups of barely-trained children. Alto recorders wouldn't necessarily be better -- they would squeak a fifth lower, but just as often. If the ocarina were to replace the recorder as the school wind instrument of choice, it would likely inherit the recorder's reputation as that awful thing you learn to play before you trade up to a real instrument. Ocarinas squeak less than recorders, but their pitch is, in my experience, at least as sensitive to breath pressure changes, and it takes a lot of practice to get that skill under control.

[@jackragland9222]

If it helps, I bought a Night by Noble at your recommendation, and love it! (Although I live in an apartment, so I’ll have to make my own Mr. Mute out of plumbing connectors and gaskets because I’m broke) 😂

[@samufinland5765]

Many years ago, I bought the ocarina of time you're holding at the start of the video, the white areas and the shape of the silver area are very recognizable. I thought I'd ask what your opinion on the thing is.

[@samufinland5765]

It would appear mine might be the spencer ocarina from the tierlist video now that I look at it, in the single hand subhole configuration. Though the ocarina booklet mentions songbird ocarinas and I got this as a child, so I don't exactly remember where it was exactly bought from

[@samufinland5765]

Ah not not a spencer the backside doesn't have the watermark and the lil holes, and the silhouette is slightly less rounded.

[@samufinland5765]

Ok yeah I located the ocarina in the tierlist, you just had a fancier color on it. Alright, opinion obtained, ocarina recognized.

[@mathijs5854]

You should make tutorials for songs beginners medium players and better players on the ocarina, since there arnt alot of ocarina tutorials around there

[@user-qu8pf7it1v]

what brand ocarina is the one your using in this video? I'm having a hard time finding a good one

[@cool2b16]

hmmm i 3d printed one and i was able to do the finger movements so now i ordered a zelda stl ceramic and the plastic night by noble one honestly i didnt think my fingers would be fast enough to do it . if i did not 3d print one i would never have bought one. let alone 2.

[@robh.2400]

I started playing Ocarina about 6 months ago, and now my 12 year old son is learning too.

[@daveyfromdownsouth7889]

I love the ocarina

[@TommyViper]

You make some very valid points. Before I truly had access to the internet, I honestly thought the Ocarina from the Ocarina of Time was actually something made up. I had never heard of it before. But I thought, it's a fantasy world, so why not? Then one day just for the heck of it, I looked it up in the dictionary and low and behold, it was actually a thing. To be honest, it sounds like the Ocarina would've been more fun to play in school than the recorder and truthfully, I like the sound of the Ocarina myself. If I had the extra room, I'd love to buy a good Zelda replica for display. I don't know a thing about playing music, but it would be fun to give it a try, I suppose.

[@BlueAmpharos]

4:14 I can't find an ocarina in My Neighbor Totoro and I've seen the movie, where is there an ocarina in it? Can you point to the scene? If you mean the gourd-like wind instrument Totoro uses, I'm pretty sure that's not an ocarina...

[@jeremysmith3859]

I know what you mean until I was stationed in japan for 4 years I thought the ocarina was a fictional instrument created for the legend of zelda game series but I would say the ocarina is easier for me to play than a recorder

[@guillermoal1667]

I am just started with the ocarina few weeks ago and I love it its just so fun to play and relatively easy. The problem is that is a little bit loud ajaja so I cannot play it every single day. And also I don't know if I am doing it wrong but when I play my ocarina gets full of saliva ajajaja xD

[@samuelluc132]

Is it a plastic one? I have quite a few ceramic ocarinas and none at all have that problem, but my only plastic ocarina (the Focalink alto C) is just so bad at dealing with humidity in the windway. I practically don't drool at all in my instruments but for some reason the condensation alone is enough to block the windway after 5 minutes of playing on my plastic ocarina.

[@antjestr1047]

I think its cool, that not so many people know about it

[@michaelfuerst4576]

Neither ocarinas nor recorders are marketed as an instrument for playing by ear. Ocarina education/advocacy should be re-oriented towards this and towards a repetoire of popular music. A good plastic soprano recorder chromatic over 2 octaves costs less than $40 (Aulos, Zen-on, Yamaha), all of which can pulled apart into 2 or 3 pieces for easy storage. Yamaha once manufactured ocarinas, but no longer does. A decent sounding plastic ocarina with the range and capabilites of the Songbird Harmony Triple Ocarina for $100-125 is needed. I am a skilled (probably level 4) recorder player (plastic soprano), play mostly by ear, play only popular music, but except for harmonies possible with a Songbird Harmony Triple, no ocarina would expand the range of music I can make

[@michaelkibble740]

I love the ocarina I just wish I could play it better

[@michaelkibble740]

Hi Andy I just wanted you to know that I own three ocarinas

[@aidandoesgaming4418]

I played recorders in elementary school

[@AndyCormierYT]

Me too! No hate on recorders, but they out-marketed the ocarina in America. Ocarinas would certainly be easier for children to learn, so I wish the reverse were true 🫡

[@heroofangst]

It’s so sad when someone asks what it is 😭

[@Keeby.]

in the UK (im 17 rn and born in 2005 maybe its changed now) we did learn the ocarina in primary school cant remember it much but ik it happebed for atleast like 2 years

[@AndyCormierYT]

WHOA! I know some schools use ocarinas, but it's only a few. That's really cool!

[@isleling5191]

I gave my friend an ocarina for a christmas gift he never heard of it

[@themageasdeth]

what about Ocarina of time

[@syncringe1885]

I'm laughing my ass off. You pick my street everyone knows. You pick my aunts street same thing. I learned from zelda sure. She learned because well.... She plays a lot of things. Our neighbors know what we play because we don't stop playing our favorite ones.

[@Knights_12]

I like recorder and ocarina but i think ocarina is better