Ocarinas

Ocarina is an Italian word for "little goose." Some ocarinas resemble the body of a goose, especially those also known as "sweet potatoes." Ocarinas are also called vessel flutes or globular flutes. Unlike their cylindrical relatives, they are ovoid (egg-like) or spherical in shape. Many have air duct assemblies or fipples. In this series of videos, I am including examples of ocarinas I have bought, as well as those I have made myself.

Here's an ocarina I bought from an ebay seller. It has four finger holes and two thumb holes. The ocarina was made in South America--Peru, if I remember correctly.

I bought this and the next one from an ebay seller who made both. Each has four finger holes and a thumb hole.

I made this ocarina myself. It has four finger holes and two thumb holes.

Here's our friend, the plastic ocarina, aka sweet potato, with seven finger holes and a thumb hole.

Here's a clay "sweet potato," also with seven finger holes and a thumb hole. I'm glad to note I could get more than a few notes from this model. Making and tweaking it were not the easiest things to do.

The Chinese xun is an egg shaped flute, open at one end and with anywhere from no finger holes at all to as many as six or eight. One plays the xun in a fashion similar to the way one plays the transverse flute: blowing gently across the top opening. This makes the playing the xun a bit more challenging. My xun, such as it is, looks more like a small clay potato than an egg. At least I manage to get fairly clear sounds while playing this rather crude model.