Ocarina
Russia has always been famous for talented handicraft masters, whose work has long since impressed and continues to amaze people with amazing works of folk art. Among the arts and crafts of Russia, which are known throughout the world: the famous Russian nesting doll, Gzhel ceramics, Zhostovo trays, Khokhloma wooden dishes, Fedoskino lacquer miniature. And, undoubtedly, the colorful Dymkovo whistle toy, which is the most important element of folklore, deserves special attention. In addition, in the life of the Russian people, it had a very important sacred significance. In ancient times, it was used in the treatment of plots, to drive out evil forces, to call for rain in a drought, with it the spring was called for. In the Russian land, this toy was called simply a whistle, but it has another name, Okarina. Such a name has a whole class of instruments - whistling flutes made of clay and having a similar device and principle of sound formation. But also this name has a very specific musical instrument with a very beautiful sound, which in the middle of the nineteenth century was created by Italian Giuseppe Donati.
The history of ocarina and many interesting facts about this musical instrument, read on our page.
Sound
The ocarina musical instrument has a magical soft soothing and slightly hissing sound, although a coolish tint prevails in timbre. The height and brightness of the instrument's sound directly depends on the size: the smaller the volume of the sound chamber, the more the ocarin sounds higher, lighter and louder. And if the instrument body is larger, then the sound is quiet and muffled.
The sound of the ocarina results from the action of a jet of air directed into the interior of the ocarina on the tongue, which cuts through the air and causes it to vibrate, thereby creating a resonance in the tool body.
Ocarinas can have diatonic or chromatic order. On instruments with diatonic systems, extraction of chromatic sounds is possible with partial overlapping of the playing holes. The range of the instrument depends on the number of holes, the more of which, the wider the sound range.
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Interesting Facts
- The ensemble Okarin "Gruppo Ocarinistico Budriese", which was originally called "I Celebri Montanari degli Appennini", organized by the creator of the instrument D. Donati together with his friends, exists and successfully performs now.
- The very interesting exposition Okarin is presented in the museum, which is located in the homeland of the inventor of the instrument D. Donati in the Italian city of Budrio.
- During World War I, soldiers took the ocarines with them as a guardian and a small toy, which with its sound reminded of the house and lifted their spirits.
- Ocarina sounds very nicely in the introduction of the song “Belovezhskaya Pushcha”, well-known in our country, performed by the popular Belarusian ensemble “Pesnyary”.
- In Italy, ocarina is scornfully called “Bologna sausage”, and in the United States it is affectionately called “Sweet potato pipe”.
- In the 60-70s of the last century, Ocarina was one of the important accessories for representatives of the hippie youth subculture.
- The International Festival of Okarine Performers is traditionally held every two years in Italy in the homeland of D. Donati in the city of Budrio.
- The Japanese company "Nintendo" in 1998 interestingly presented the tool in the fifth issue of the video game series "The Legend of Zelda. Ocarin of time." The tool in the game has magical properties, helps to fight evil, as well as move in time. After the release of this series, the popularity of ocarina has greatly increased, and the number of its sales has increased markedly.
- In cinema, Okarina can be heard on the soundtrack to the Italian director Sergio Leone’s film "Good, Bad, Evil," written by the famous Ennio Morricone, as well as in the film The Meaning of Life According to Monty Python, an absurd comedy by the English comedian group Monty Python. "
- The sound of the ocarines was used by the British rock band "The Troggs" and "Duran Duran" as well as by the American singer Bing Crosby, the Irish rock musician and composer Chris de Burg, the British and Georgian singer Katie Melua.
- In the animation Ocarina vividly demonstrated in the Japanese animated films "My Neighbor Totoro", "Dragon Pearl Z "and" Anpanman ".
- One of the world's best manufacturers of Okarin is a company located in Los Angeles (USA) and founded by a large fan of the instrument Darrin Songberd.
- The Smule development team has created an entertaining app for the iPhone and iPod Touch that allows you to convert devices into a musical instrument - a virtual ocarina.
- Everyone is well-known sports whistle, in its essence, too, is ocarina, since its device is similar to the instrument.
Design
The design of the ocarina is not particularly complex. This is a closed sound chamber with a whistle device. The sound chamber, the shape of which can be very diverse, is provided with holes for changing the tone. The number of holes can vary from four to thirteen. The mouthpiece with a mouthpiece and an air duct, which is called Windway, enters the whistle device. Next to the mouthpiece is the window of the whistling device - labium and air jet spreader - tongue.
Varieties
Ocarina today is striking in its diversity, the instruments vary in shape, size, build, pitch and range.
Okarina is probably the only musical instrument that has so many forms today. It can be in the form of birds, fish, animals, as well as various geometric shapes. The material from which the tool is made is also quite diverse: ceramics, wood, glass, metal, plastic and others.
Ocarinas are simple and complex in construction. Simple include single-chamber instruments with a small range of sound. Sophisticated ones are two or three-chamber instruments with a range of up to three octaves, as well as ocarinae, equipped with a valve and piston mechanism, which allows changing the mode of the instrument.
The ocarines, differing in size and pitch, have names: piccolo, soprano, alto, tenor and bass. These instruments, combined in an ensemble, allow you to perform any work, from classical to modern.
Tools differ in their structure: they can be diatonic and chromatic.
Application
Ocarina, distinguished by its great diversity, is widely used throughout the world. The range of its application is very diverse. In people's lives, it is a talisman, a souvenir, a children's toy, a signal device, and even a ritual attribute. In music, it is an interesting instrument that has found a worthy application in various musical directions, ranging from folk to rock music. Ocarina goes well with the voices of other instruments, it is often used in various ensembles: strings, folk, pop, wind and even percussion. Ocarina also sounds beautiful against the background of a symphony orchestra. Chicago, Los Angeles and St. Louis orchestras often use it in their concerts. It should also be noted that there are ensembles that consist only of Okarin. The repertoire of such groups is very diverse. It includes works of various genres and trends, even those that require a very virtuoso performance.
Story
The history of ocarina as a full-fledged musical instrument, which is now successfully used in various musical directions, began relatively recently, only from the second half of the 19th century. However, Okarina has a very rich prehistory, which was lost in ancient times and is mainly associated with the time when a person first learned to burn clay and make different things out of it for his everyday life. The age of the archaic samples that have come down to us, prototype tools, archaeologists estimate more than ten thousand years. The geography of the finds is very extensive - these are India, China, Korea, Japan, Egypt, Macedonia, Romania, the countries of Central Asia, Africa and the Americas. Primitive whistle instruments of very diverse forms in the form of ovals, birds, fish, animal figures and various abstract configurations played a significant role in the life of our ancestors. They were used for sound accompaniment of various religious rites, on holidays, or simply worn as decorations.
Nevertheless, according to legend, the progenitors of modern ocarina are tools that, by order of the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes, for entertainment of the imperial court of Charles V brought a group of Aztec dancers and musicians to Europe in 1527. The performances of the ethnic group impressed the emperor so much that Mexican artists were sent on a "tour" in European countries, including Italy. Having seen a peculiar instrument of Americans at such a concert, one young enterprising Italian baker, who liked the unusual whistle, decided to do something similar. The idea of the young man was also liked by local bakers, who also began to make small ceramic toys - whistles, since after baking bread, the ovens remained hot for a long time.
Three centuries have passed. Whistles in the form of birds and animals, issued from three to five sounds, have gained great popularity among children. One of these boys, who was familiar with the whistling toy from early childhood, was Giuseppe Donati, who was born in the baker's family in 1836 in the small town of Budrio, near the Italian city of Bologna. The boy, who from childhood showed an interest in music and musical instruments, and also played music on the clarinet, liked the sound of a whistle, but did not suit a small range and inaccurate intonation. At the age of 17, Giuseppe decided to transform a child's toy as a joking fun initially. As a result of the modification, he had a musical instrument with 10 holes, which had an excellent build and a significantly increased range. The young man, again jokingly, called his invention ocarina, which from the Bologna dialect of Italian means “gosling”. The tool really resembled the headless body of a gosling. Donati Okarina had eight holes of the same size, arranged in two rows and two more on the sides, which were closed with your thumbs.
On this research the young inventor is not over. Subsequently, he created other varieties of ocarina, differing in size and pitch: piccolo, soprano, alto and bass, which then became part of the Okarin ensemble created by Donati together with friends.
The ensemble, called "I Celebri Montanari degli Appennini", which means "Famous Highlanders of the Apennines," successfully performed in European countries. The number of instrument fans grew very quickly. In major European cities such as Milan, London and Paris, workshops are being opened for its production. In the United States, ocarina came into vogue from the beginning of the twentieth century, and a little later in Japan. The Japanese are so fond of the tool that they have repeatedly attempted to modify it. And in 1928, T. Aketagawa created an ocarina with twelve holes, which accordingly increased its range. Enthusiasts were engaged in improvement of the favorite tool constantly and in the different countries. For example, in the 63rd year of the last century, Englishman D. Taylor invented Ocarina, which had only four holes, but allowed to perform a full octave scale with chromatisms. And in the 80s they created an educational plastic ocarina, called “polik”.
Ocarina - this very simple musical instrument, now winning more and more fans, is gaining immense popularity all over the world. Ocarina, beautifully sounding from the scenes of concert halls, captures the hearts of millions of music lovers around the world. It is very exciting and enjoyable to play it, so many music lovers enjoy this instrument with great pleasure.
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