Ocarinas - clay whistle flutes, sweet potato. Ceramic musical instruments.

Ocarinas by K. Dunster

Ceramic Ocarinas by K. Dunster


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Dragon decoration on 'lentil' shaped ocarina.
Dragon Ocarina - stoneware
Lime Ocarina
Lime green ocarina

A bit of information about ocarinas...

An ocarina is basically large whistle that can play up to eleven notes. They are usually made of clay, as mine are. Ocarinas have been around for thousands of years, mainly in Central and South America. The Pre-Columbian peoples made clay ocarinas, whistles and flute-like instruments in many shapes such as human and animal forms with sophisticated acoustical systems.

In 1853 in Budrio, Italy, a man named Giuseppe Donati developed a ten fingerhole version which played an octave plus three notes (eleven notes). His ocarinas were shaped like an elongated egg, and he had several sizes that were played in ocarina orchestras. The word ocarina means "sweet little goose" in Italian. In the United States they are sometimes called a "sweet potato" because of their shape. In 1964 in the United Kingdom, John Taylor invented the four hole octave fingering system. Before this, an ocarina needed seven finger holes to achieve an octave. It is a lot easier to fit four fingerholes on a small ocarina!

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