Joy of Wood Thrush 12 Hole Alto C Sweet Potato Ocarina Pottery Ocarina with a Protective Bag and Songbooks (Gradient Black)

Overall: I paid $19.99 for this and it's absolutely the best ceramic ocarina I've found for under $100.00.As is normal for ocarinas, the pitch and tone both vary with the volume. This one needs to be a bit louder than I would expect to play in tune with other instruments, but that's fairly easy to get used to doing and if it's your first ocarina, you probably won't notice the difference anyway. It's reasonably in tune *with itself* at any volume.I personally think the tone is best at the volume that's about a quarter step flat, but that only matters if you're playing with others and it definitely still sounds good at the higher volume for the correct pitch.The low A, Bb, and B are tricky to play in tune and the high F and E tend to be airy, but this is pretty normal and this one isn't nearly as bad as a lot of others, so while it's something to be aware of, I wouldn't consider it a serious issue.

This is my first Ocarina. I own many tin whistles, several recorders, guitars, and a piano. I have been a musician off and on for most of my life since very young. I have played professionally and just for the pleasure of music. I decided to learn this instrument after hearing some songs on YouTube. They were beautiful. After a careful analysis I decided to purchase this one. Primarily because of the reviews that stated it was easy to play and had a wonderful sound.I couldn't agree more with those assessments. I am very happy with the purchase and would recommend this to anyone for learning, playing just as a hobby or even professionally. It is a very well made instrument. The case it comes in is well constructed and protects the ceramic ocarina. It comes with a strap if you want to use one, a protective piece that slips over the mouth piece shown in the photos.I bought the Hal Leonard Ocarina Method book to go with it. It is very well written and has helped me to learn the ocarina quickly. It was in the first week I could already play Ode to Joy well with no squeaks or squawks. I know there are many other good brands out there but I would not hesitate to recommend this one to anyone else who either already played or was wanting to learn like me.I learned a long time ago that the quality of an instrument can really make a difference on whether you stay with it and continue to learn or give it up. Also, high cost does not always equate to high quality. It pays to take the time to really research any purchase if you want to be happy with your decision.The instrument does stink when you first purchase it but that is the nature of kiln dried ceramics. The smell does fade away after a week or two. I only mention this as I read plenty of reviews that took away a star on their review because of this but if you read about ceramics and the drying process you would learn that it is typical for them to smell some when first purchased. I don't see this as a reason to reduce my rating for such as well made instrument.The holes on the instrument are well done as well with a curved slope on them that helps you to feel them by touch easier. I have purchased many tin whistles over time, and some of them have been wonderful instruments where others I would not recommend to anyone.I don't have any other ocarina I own at this point. I feel eventually I will purchase another one but I am so happy with this one I'll have wait and see if I see a need for another. Likely, what would motivate me is buying would be to own one with more range to it. A bass or double hole ocarina with more octaves might be nice to have. I am a fan of Baroque style music and have already started learning a Bach song on the Ocarina outside of the Ode to Joy.

I found this Ocarina when I was looking for Christmas gifts a while ago and fell in love with the Idea of finally teaching myself how to play an instrument. When I got it I fell in love with how nice it looked and felt. Still learning the basics but as far as I can tell this was well worth the money. Might look for other ocarinas from them.Addition: After getting used to this ocarina I fell in love with it so much I crochet a protective sleeve for it for an extra case cushioning. I only have one gripe and my hands are small and the ocarina is quite large making it harder for me to finger the holes. See pictures of my hand with ocarina and pinky finger with the note hole my pinky needs to cover. If you have a small hand you might need to look for a smaller ocarina. {I'm keeping this one but I'm looking for a smaller one of a similar sound and quality.

I don't know enough about playing music to write a proper review for this but I like the way it sounds. The tone sounds somewhat heartwarming to me in general. It was actually a video review here on Amazon that made me decide to try the ocarina because of how good it sounded in the video. Alto C is a nice range and it is the most common ocarina major. I'd like to try an F major, which I believe would a tenor, for a smoother deep tone, but I also want Alto D for Irish music, so maybe Alto C is a good balance to play a wide variety of music with. I bought this ocarina back in October but I've been too busy to spend more time playing it, but it seems fairly easy after a while. I don't have a background in music but I was able to get Happy Birthday down in a day, although I needed the fingering chart to remember the notes. What I'd like to learn for this ocarina is European folk music, like the music played on medieval and ancient flutes. The funny thing is how many other people have also jumped over to Ievan Polkka with their ocarinas, so that's one Finnish folk song I know can be played well. I don't know if I'll ever get good enough to play something like Korpiklaani's music but the ocarina should be great to have when hiking and camping, good campfire instrument. I mainly bought the ocarina as something to bring into the outdoors as a hobby, so I don't have any plans to join a metal band with it or anything big like that. Based on my time of using it though, I really enjoyed the way it sounds and simplicity of the instrument. It feels just right for size and weight, and then the color is a plus. My pictures don't show the cord because I didn't bother figuring out how to tie it on but I'm thinking of using a thick blue lace or hide.Forgot to mention one last thing from my original review, I do have a few notes that play airy at lower volume, those where the right thumb is uncovered. Does anyone else have this? The ocarina seems to play best at a medium air pressure, like half of full blown. Maximum air flow doesn't produce noise because [explanation of acoustic and wind physics here] but you can still get very loud with it.