Ancient ocarinas, usually constructed of clay or bone, featured beautiful construction, quality tones, and in some cases, complex internal chambers. Today, scientists doubt their magical abilities, but in-depth analysis of the instruments, using x-rays and other advanced techniques, have revealed much more sophistication than previously believed. For example, among ocarinas sculpted in the likenesses of males and females, the males typically make deeper sounds. Although these bygone civilizations left virtually no writing behind about ocarinas, different ocarinas apparently served specialized purposes, as inferred by their shapes and sounds. Ocarinas held key roles in religious rituals, courtship, burials, royal affairs, protection, and entertainment.
"Hey, Jude." A Brief Historyįor a more extensive history of the ocarina, visit Songbird Ocarina.įor thousands of years, cultures on almost every continent credited the ocarina with supernatural powers. "Somewhere over the rainbow," my fingers danced and the little wind instrument sang, much to the joy of everybody sharing the car with me. I thought the two hour drive home the perfect opportunity to sharpen my ocarina skills. I wondered if the Pied Pipers, as they called their business, often used the magic of the ocarinas to lure money from the pockets of unsuspecting pedestrians.
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I extracted sixty dollars, selected a free songbook to go with it, and escaped with my beautiful ocarina swinging from my neck. People long ago believed this tiny wind instrument, almost as old as human history itself, had magical powers and conjure spirits. Soon, the dollar sign faded into the music of the ocarinas and the general murmuring of the environment. I thought this would be my life after getting an ocarina. "How did you get started making these for a living?" A businessman, dressed as a knight, would enviously ask. Their parents would occasionally inquire about the ocarinas. I wavered.Ĭhildren flocked to the stand with wide eyes, listening intently to the sisters as they played together on the ocarinas. A commoner such as I would need a few hours to work off that amount. Sixty dollars, the number glared at me in my mind’s eye.
I slipped into the ocarina’s necklace, held the instrument in my hands. Now I rode a dark black horse bareback, playing my ocarina as we galloped down the seashore. As fairies and heroes passed me by, I imagined myself in a long green summer dress, prancing through meadows, playing my ocarina. Suddenly, I noticed the breeze and the sun, the smell of the trees. The woman, dressed in simple peasant clothing, replied, "Sixty dollars." I fingered a lovely green six-hole ocarina, a small swirl on its underside between two thumbholes. I found this handmade 4-hole green ceramic ocarina at a renaissance fair in 2007.