Erica’s Ocarina Experience: Song of Time

Have you ever had the desire to play an ocarina like our favorite hero? Maybe amaze a few friends with your ability to summon a mare with just a few short notes? Well, I did. About a year ago I was online looking at some Zelda videos when I came across Heather Scott. Many of you know her from the live online Zelda Ocarina Concert that showed back in April. I travelled her YouTube channel, and decided I wanted to play too.

After much consideration and self-motivation, I have decided to help those of you who wish to play but don’t know where to start. Every week or so, I will post a video of myself playing a Zelda song with a fingering chart for whatever ocarina I am playing on for that song.

For this week, I present you with the Song of Time!

Here’s my history with STL Ocarina. Last year, my birthday was coming up. I followed Heather’s links to STL Ocarina, where I found a lot of information on ocarinas and all sorts of models and videos. I emailed my mom about the ones I wanted, and simply said. “I want this for my birthday”. A few weeks later I had my first two ocarinas. One is a 12-hole tenor ocarina that’s modeled after the Ocarina of Time, while the other is the same thing but a mini version that I wear around and play for fun. In this video I play the larger model while the other is around my neck.

Then for Christmas I asked for a double octave ocarina so I could play a wider selection of songs. These cost a lot more, so I don’t suggest buying one of these unless you’re really dedicated. I am still practicing using this one, but I don’t carry it around to practice like the others.

This last April, I bought a 6-hole shield ocarina. This one I mostly bought because it just looks so cool. It has a really pretty tone, but has fewer notes than the 12-hole.

Just so you all know, I play over a half a dozen instruments and have a pretty rich history in music. I’m not a professional musician, but I’m definitely not a beginner when it comes to playing an instrument. It only took me about ten minutes to start playing the Song of Time from memory, and pretty soon I was playing along to Star Wars while watching the ending credits for the next episode of a marathon.

If you don’t want to spend a lot of money on an ocarina, you don’t have to. The ones I play are ceramic and breakable, but they do have plastic Zelda ocarinas for about $28. There are many other sites that sell ocarinas, but I personally suggest going to STL Ocarina. All of my ocarinas are beautiful and play with a great sound.

If you have requests for certain songs on the ocarina, just ask in the comments below! I play songs other than Zelda, of course. I can give tips on how to play as well, so just comment away! I hope you enjoyed this new Zelda Informer exclusive!