THE OCARINA (Francisco´s speech)

The Ocarina:           

For this presentation I brought this. This is an ocarina. The ocarina is a very old musical instrument, similar to the flute. A regular ocarina has four to twelve holes but there are a lot of variations.

The most popular variation is the transverse and the one that I currently have. You have to hold it with both hands and horizontally to play it. Another type is the Peruvian pendant which is smaller and more portable. There’s also the multi-chambered ocarina that’s basically two ocarinas attached to each other.

The ocarina is believed to date back 12.000 (twelve thousand) years ago from Latin America and China.  The expeditions of Hernan Cortes found several versions of the ocarina made by both Mayans and Aztecs. The Aztec ocarina became quite popular in Europe as a toy rather than an actual instrument. Then, 200 (two hundred) years later a musician called Giuseppe Donati improved it and made the transverse ocarina with it.

The ocarina has the following parts:  the body, the thumb holes,  the finger holes,  the air way entrance. And a little hole called “voicing or whistle”.

Ocarinas can be made of clay, as plastic, wood, glass, metal, or bone. Mine in particular is made of ceramics and was made by an artisan in Cordoba, Argentina who makes all sort of instrument. If anyone wants to visit Argentina I recommend going to Las Rosas, Cordoba to check this man out.

Ocarinas can be big or small.  The bigger, the lower pitch they have. The smaller, the highest pitch they have.

I chose the ocarina for this presentation because I really like playing the ocarina. It has become a very important part of my life and I think it’s also a very important part of Argentina’s life, so I thought, why not share this ancient instrument with the rest of the world?