Blog and News

We invited Christa Liggins, modern language teacher and director of Ocarina Workshop, to explain how her teaching work inspired her learning model…

My modern foreign language classes buzz with the sound of spoken German. Children confidently handle inflexion and vocabulary, ready to converse with a ‘sympathetic native speaker’ as required for GCSE oral. Visual stimuli – pictures, objects, actions – elicit words, questions, phrases, and even new grammatical structures; inhibitions are lost as students are immersed in an increasingly-familiar language. Read more

There’s nothing new under the sun. Take for example product placement. You may think that placing a BMW in a James Bond movie is a relatively recent idea for gaining sales and prestige. Think again.

On 12th July 1887, Alberto Mezzetti received a letter from WIndsor Castle thanking him for the musical composition that he had “kindly sent” to the Crown Princess and the Princesses Victoria, Sophie and Margaret of Prussia. Sending his musical work to Windsor Castle and receiving such a letter of approval was quite a promotional coup. Placing Ocarinas in a War Zone was something else… Read more

On the Royal Festival Hall stage, the children in the Montagu School Ocarina Group listened eagerly to the adjudicators as they prefaced their comments with “we don’t know how difficult it is to play an ocarina, so it hasn’t been easy to assess this performance”.

This is an ongoing issue with Ocarinas. Are Ocarinas too simple? Do children learn music ‘properly’ with these four-hole wind instruments? Is reading from tablature as acceptable as reading from staff notation? People get hung up on the instrument and its teaching methods, overlooking the quality of music performed – the very thing that should mark a child’s musical progress. Read more

In 1964, when the Beatles boarded a plane for the USA, they did what many touring boy bands have done since, played one-night stands in different venues, introducing their music to thousands of fans.

100 years earlier, between 1863 and 1880, a very different boy band toured Europe and the USA. The ‘Mountaineers of the Apennines’ wowed audiences all the way from Rome to Vienna, and even to the Tsar’s Palace in St Petersburg. These seven young men from Budrio in Italy, dressed in Robin-Hood-style costumes, grabbed their music and Ocarinas and took to the stage playing folk music from home, and classical themes by popular ‘modern’ composers such as Giuseppe Verdi; all in seven-part harmony Read more

When driving into Rutland, England’s smallest county, you are greeted by the sign “Multum in Parvo”. The phrase means “a lot in a little” or “a great deal in a small space” and if you know Rutland, you’ll know that this is an apt description. The county may be the smallest, but it’s a little gem and not to be missed. Read more

Last night a new Guinness World Records™ Largest Ocarina Ensemble record was created by school children from all over the UK, Jersey and Gibraltar.

1,300 T-shirted children with yellow ocarinas around their necks rehearsed all afternoon. And in the evening, during a wonderfully musical Barnardo’s Supporters Concert, they helped ocarina expert David Liggins to rehearse the whole audience, ready to play the performance piece. Read more

Royal Albert Hall, London, 5th November 2013. The Guinness World Record for the Largest Ocarina Ensemble was smashed by 3,081 primary school children and their parents and teachers. This is a short excerpt of their performance, which had to be ‘classical’ in nature and professional in execution. At least 95% of those taking part had to play faultlessly throughout. Thank you to everyone who helped achieve this wonderful record and memories that will last a lifetime… Read more

There will be an attempt to break the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for the Largest Ocarina Ensemble, on 5th November 2013 at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

A massed choir of 1,200 children will lead an evening of Music and Ocarina-playing at a Young Supporters’ Concert, organised by Barnardo’s. The audience will be invited to take part in the World’s Largest Ocarina Ensemble. Everyone will play Ocarinas together. Read more

Children Star in Ocarina Guinness World Records™ title

Primary School Children at a Barnardo’s Young Supporters’ Concert became Guinness World Records title holders at the Royal Albert Hall on 5th November 2013.

Children as young as five years of age led a total of 3,081 players to form the Largest Ocarina Ensemble in the world, smashing the previous record of 831 set in China three years ago. Read more

Ocarina Workshop has been shortlisted in the 2011 Music Industries Association (MIA) Awards, appearing in the Best Supplier (Small) category.

“We are surprised and delighted to be nominated. As a small family business, we enjoy giving a high quality service and are pleased to have been noticed!” commented Ocarina Workshop Director, Christa Liggins. Read more