It’s day 4 of a week-long marathon of ocarina batch reveals leading up to the 82nd New England Folk Festival in Marlborough, MA from April 24-26! This set, batch 25, consists of the first four of my newest larger alto pendant ocarina size (SN 067-070)! This set is another unique mix of various woods and two brand new alto pendant keys. A summary of the woods and key for each ocarina is as follows:
SN 067 (D5): madrone burl, wenge, reclaimed curly birch, aromatic cedar
SN 068 (C#5): camphor burl, reclaimed curly spalted birch, aromatic cedar
SN 069 (C#5): camphor burl, reclaimed curly birch, aromatic cedar
SN 070 (D5): camphor burl, padauk, aromatic cedar
This new pendant size proved to be more of a challenge than originally anticipated. in my experience, the smaller the ocarina, the harder it is to voice across an extended range. Since I already got the smaller soprano sizes locked down, I figured this larger alto would be a breeze. As usual though, it was not easy! trying to voice these like the sopranos, I ran into some challenging acoustical quirks at the upper end that really choked the sound. After a lot of trial and error, and losing two ocarinas, I finally figured out how to work out the voicing parameters. And the results were well worth the challenge! For me, the alto pendant size is characterized with an incredibly smooth tone, much warmer than the sopranos, that really flows. Being low breath ocarinas, they speak effortlessly with the slightest breath, gently rising up through the range and playing with sweet clarity at the top end, making them a joy to play. And because they are slightly larger, you can enjoy more of the beautiful figured woods! Yet despite the slightly larger size, they are comfortable to wear and carry around, being exceptionally lightweight still.
Full in-depth details of every ocarina, as well as the story behind the pendant development, features of the pendants, sound samples, and a full song demo from this batch is now available on the Bretti Musical Instruments YouTube page:
Pendant Ocarina Unveiling Marathon Day 4 – Batch 25
Ocarina Improv 3 – Alto C#5 Pendant Ocarina
Additional details for the new pendant ocarinas can also be found on the dedicated Pendant Ocarinas page, where I include all of the general details, range, available keys, dimensions, and other resources. This is the fourth of five brand new pendant batches for the unveiling marathon, so keep an eye out for more beautiful pendants to come!
