       
Wind Instruments
Native
American Style Flutes
Harmonicas
Sweetheart Flutes
Ocarinas
Miscellaneous
Wind Instruments
Native American Style Flutes
 High Spirits' founder Odell Borg's heritage of German and Chippewa Indian is reflected
in the design and craftsmanship of these fine musical instruments.
Odell makes each flute from a solid piece of the finest cedar (instead of gluing two halves together as is so
common) eliminating splits or separation caused by moisture of the breath.
Each flute is
finished with three coats of a non-toxic hardening oil for
durability and clarity of sound,
and each flute is precision-tuned so that it will blend perfectly with other instruments.
Ralph Sweet has been making fine woodwinds since 1974 and is widely recognized as a maker who gives excellent value for a player's investment.
Renaissance flutes, Baroque flutes, Irish style flutes, whistles and fifes are all available.
Ocarina, vessel flute, sweet potato - these are just some of the many names
given to the little flute-like instruments that humans have been tooting on for
as long as can be documented. What's so fascinating about ocarinas?
It's probably that they come in so many shapes and sizes. Unlike
most flutes which rely on length to vary their pitch, ocarinas depend on
volume--volume as in how much air they can hold. That means they can
be almost any shape instead of being stuck in life as a long, narrow tube.
The simplest example of an ocarina is probably a soda bottle. Blow
across the top of one and you get that nice, robust tone. A little bottle
gives you a high pitch, but blow across a big bottle and you get a very low
pitch. In fact, something the size of a milk jug will give you a note
almost too low to hear. That's why most ocarinas are quite small.
They can be made out of many different materials like clay, ceramic, wood and
plastic and out of many natural vessels such as gourds and horns.
There are two main finger-hole arrangements for ocarinas. One is the
four-hole set up. By using the four holes of different sizes in various
combinations a player can make the eight notes of a scale plus most of the
sharps and flats. With an extra hole or two the range can be extended
upwards a bit. The small number of holes means ocarinas with this system
can be made very small and still be ergonomic enough to comfortably fit your
fingers. Many ocarinas are tiny enough to be worn as a pendant.
The other common fingering system is an eight hole set up which works much
like the recorder's fingering. Makers often add a couple of extra holes so
that all of your fingers have something to do. The old sweet potatoes are
made like this.
Most ocarinas have a whistle-type mouthpiece that produces a tone that's
sweet, playful and expressive all at once. Other ocarinas like the Chinese
xun just have a simple hole to blow across like our friend the soda bottle.
These instruments are a little harder to play, but the tone is more
controllable.
We have all sorts of ocarinas at the The Folk Shop. Feel free to call
or e-mail us about them. Happy Toots!
Recorders, Tin Whistles, Harmonicas, Pan Pipes, Kenas, Kenachos, Bagpipe Chanters, Shakuhachi, Kavals...you get the picture.
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