Do you remember painting by numbers? Well we’re going to play music by numbers. So first of all, look at your 4-hole Oc. If it’s not handy, just look at the picture below and see if you can identify…
How many finger-holes does it have? How many different notes can it play?
Okay. We have a 4-hole Ocarina. It plays 11 notes by covering different combinations of holes.
In 1995, the BBC featured school assemblies in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales and asked to include ocarinas. We sent them to Edinburgh and the resulting song is below. All other songs in the programme were accompanied by sixth form students and professional musicians. This song was entirely accompanied by nine and ten year old children on ocarinas. The main tune is played on 90 plastic school ocarinas whilst the five harmony parts are played by a small group on Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass ceramic ocarinas.
