Today I'd like to write to you about a truly special instrument. It's been gaining a perpetually bigger fanbase in the last decade. Whilst its increase in popularity is still recent, it is in fact an instrument so ancient it's unimaginable.
No matter if you are a musician or not, you probably know of a whole lot of ordinary instruments, including guitars, recorders, violins, pianos and so on. However, have you ever ever heard of the ocarina before?
The ocarina is a species of flute consisting of a bulbous body and holes for your fingers. But unlike a regular flute, it is able to play a lot more notes than it has holes, and may possess whatever shape a craftsman wants. Form and the position of the holes make almost no difference. That enables an ocarina to come in many different forms and represent pretty much a piece of art in itself.
Even better, you can make it out of practically anything - clay, ceramic, plastic, metal, stone and so forth. It gives artisans such an artistic freedom that I often think of it as the "colorful bird" of musical instruments. The ocarina comes in all possible shapes, sizings and colorations, while many other woodwinds or brass instruments such as recorders need a particular material and a specific shape to work.
But you want to find out how old the ocarina is, right?
Instruments similar to ocarinas have been made for more than twelve millenia. Actually, the most ancient clay flutes were discovered in central Africa and are as old as 30,000 years, which makes it by far the oldest musical instrument of mankind.
I find this fact totally exceptional! The ocarina and its predecessors have accompanied humans throughout the ages of our history. They were changed in shape and meaning, but their voice was always the same. Your standard orchestra instrument is a child when put next to the ocarina.
A lot of peoples have come up with these instruments without influence from one another. For example, the Chinese have the xun. It's more than 7000 years of age and is still being used today! And there is the medieval German gemshorn, which was made from the horn of a chamois. Finally, there were the Aztecs, who used vessel flutes in their music and rituals. Soon after the Aztecs had been conquered, their clay flutes went to Europe and finally to Italy, where Giuseppe Donati changed them into the modern ocarina.
The US first got the ocarina early in the twentieth century, and it was popular among American soldiers. Many took ocarinas with them during the First World War and played them to boost their morale. In World War Two, the army in fact gave ocarinas to its soldiers all over Europe. This shows you how meaningful the ocarina was back then.
Soon after the wars, people's attention for the instrument declined and it was never widely acknowledged in American lifestyle. Nonetheless, ocarinas were used in a few classic songs, like in the song "Wild Thing" or for the main theme of an Eastwood movie.
In the East, ocarinas have always been of more importance. Virtually every Asian is aware of vessel flutes the way you are aware of the guitar. Because of this, it frequently gets a place in motion pictures, music and video games. And it is for this reason that the ocarina is getting more and more widespread in the western world. Particularly thanks to Japanese films and games, the instrument has found its way into the middle of pop culture and directly into the minds of young people.
In particular, the Legend of Zelda video games by Nintendo include the ocarina as a fabled object and instrument. When that game came out back in 98, ocarinas experienced a popularity boom that hasn't stopped.
But it is much more than a simple clay flute or collector's item popularized by a game. As a matter of fact, it is a professional musical instrument that can be used in in groups. Its tone is unlike that of all other flutes, simply because it can't make over-tones. That feature grants it a full, gentle tone, clear and concentrated on the note it makes in each moment. The otherworldly quality of the ocarina is exactly as unique as its design and history.
No matter if you are a musician or not, you probably know of a whole lot of ordinary instruments, including guitars, recorders, violins, pianos and so on. However, have you ever ever heard of the ocarina before?
The ocarina is a species of flute consisting of a bulbous body and holes for your fingers. But unlike a regular flute, it is able to play a lot more notes than it has holes, and may possess whatever shape a craftsman wants. Form and the position of the holes make almost no difference. That enables an ocarina to come in many different forms and represent pretty much a piece of art in itself.
Even better, you can make it out of practically anything - clay, ceramic, plastic, metal, stone and so forth. It gives artisans such an artistic freedom that I often think of it as the "colorful bird" of musical instruments. The ocarina comes in all possible shapes, sizings and colorations, while many other woodwinds or brass instruments such as recorders need a particular material and a specific shape to work.
But you want to find out how old the ocarina is, right?
Instruments similar to ocarinas have been made for more than twelve millenia. Actually, the most ancient clay flutes were discovered in central Africa and are as old as 30,000 years, which makes it by far the oldest musical instrument of mankind.
I find this fact totally exceptional! The ocarina and its predecessors have accompanied humans throughout the ages of our history. They were changed in shape and meaning, but their voice was always the same. Your standard orchestra instrument is a child when put next to the ocarina.
A lot of peoples have come up with these instruments without influence from one another. For example, the Chinese have the xun. It's more than 7000 years of age and is still being used today! And there is the medieval German gemshorn, which was made from the horn of a chamois. Finally, there were the Aztecs, who used vessel flutes in their music and rituals. Soon after the Aztecs had been conquered, their clay flutes went to Europe and finally to Italy, where Giuseppe Donati changed them into the modern ocarina.
The US first got the ocarina early in the twentieth century, and it was popular among American soldiers. Many took ocarinas with them during the First World War and played them to boost their morale. In World War Two, the army in fact gave ocarinas to its soldiers all over Europe. This shows you how meaningful the ocarina was back then.
Soon after the wars, people's attention for the instrument declined and it was never widely acknowledged in American lifestyle. Nonetheless, ocarinas were used in a few classic songs, like in the song "Wild Thing" or for the main theme of an Eastwood movie.
In the East, ocarinas have always been of more importance. Virtually every Asian is aware of vessel flutes the way you are aware of the guitar. Because of this, it frequently gets a place in motion pictures, music and video games. And it is for this reason that the ocarina is getting more and more widespread in the western world. Particularly thanks to Japanese films and games, the instrument has found its way into the middle of pop culture and directly into the minds of young people.
In particular, the Legend of Zelda video games by Nintendo include the ocarina as a fabled object and instrument. When that game came out back in 98, ocarinas experienced a popularity boom that hasn't stopped.
But it is much more than a simple clay flute or collector's item popularized by a game. As a matter of fact, it is a professional musical instrument that can be used in in groups. Its tone is unlike that of all other flutes, simply because it can't make over-tones. That feature grants it a full, gentle tone, clear and concentrated on the note it makes in each moment. The otherworldly quality of the ocarina is exactly as unique as its design and history.
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