We received the ocarina pictured below to facilitate this review.  As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own (or those of my household members).

I was intrigued from the first moment I saw the product line at STL Ocarina.  The wide variety of artistic designs are inspired, in many cases, by popular movies and the like.  I thought this was a fantastic way to use pop culture to interest a new generation in the arts!  The ocarina pictured here is the Hobbit.  Isn’t it beautiful?  Some of the others are even more striking in their shape (or iconic in their design — like the Ironman ocarina!)

Here’s a beautiful example of the soprano Elf ocarina in use:

My husband — who has an extensive music background — was disappointed to see that the music that came with this was not sheet music.  It seems, however, that tablature is a very common method of writing ocarina music.  (Sheet music is sometimes used, too.)  We would prefer a tablature that includes timings, which this didn’t seem to have.

Of course, there is music available at STL Ocarina, but if you want more, Ocarina Tabs is a site with some free music you can play around with while you learn.  And this site will help you write out music of your own.

We learned something very interesting about ocarinas.  You may have noticed that they come in a wide variety of shapes and, if you’re like me, you wondered how they can not have strange sound if there’s so much variation.  As it turns out, unlike most instruments, the shape of the ocarina, to a large degree, does not matter!  Apparently even the placement of the finger holes is largely irrelevant, in terms of sound (although I’m sure that a consistent placement makes them easier to play)!  The tone is dependent primarily on the ratio of overall (total) hole surface area and the volume of the interior.  Amazing, isn’t it?  And wonderful for the way it allows the ocarina itself to be just as much a piece of art as the music it produces.

The ocarina is a fairly simple instrument and, especially if you use the type of tablature that’s built on diagrams of the finger holes (which is what comes with these), a good option for beginners.

I’d love to collect these just for the beauty of them!