Reviewing STL Ocarina's new Wooden Ocarina
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- Опубліковано 27 сер 2024
- HI! My name is Ashley. Welcome to my channel. Today I'm reviewing a new wooden ocarina that STL ocarina recently released. I'm really loving the instrument. If you're thinking of trying it our yourself, feel free to use offer code "ASHLEY" for 10% off...even on top of sale items. Thanks so much for watching and have a lovely day!
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flute, flute solo, flute cover, woodwind, woodwinds, Ashley Jarmack, Ashley Jarmack flute, Ashley Jarmack woodwinds, world flute, remote recording, world music
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I hope because of the advancement of technology, The Irish flute makers will create the (Alto, Tenor, Baritone (Contralto), Bass, and Contrabass etc) flutes in a serpentine style with low G footjoints made out of 3D printing, polymer or Blackwood. They'll be called Serpent Flutes They’ll use simple fingerings and ornaments. They’ll have swan necks, flute-type horizontal embouchures and headjoints. They will be held vertically. Boehm-system versions of these instruments will also be available. They'll have vertical designs. The most common of these will be the tenor size (an octave below the standard D flute)!!!! It’ll be innovative!! It’ll be a great instrument to play the bass lines in world flutes arrangements!!!❤❤❤
I would love a comparison to a quality plastic one. I want to get a more durable ocarina for travel, and I’m trying to decide between this one and the Night by Noble! :)
I sadly don't have the wooden one, but I do have a Night by Noble! The Noble is amazing, and really good for travel. I took it to the Ren Faire last year, a convention a month ago, and I plan to take it on a road trip in a few months. It's also been dropped a few times and is just fine!
In terms of sturdiness, my 7 year old has his own NBN, and after it swinging around him, being dropped, thrown and lost in his room, it's still just fine. My toddler has a plastic STL that sounds similar to the NBN(though I personally prefer the sound of the NBN and the Bravura) and shes managed to scratch it, and even chip off part of the mouthpiece and it still plays just fine.
Andy Cormir does some really good ocarina videos, and he features the NBN in a lot of them, and has said a lot that it's one of his go-to travel ones 😊
Hope this helps if you still need to make a choice! :)
I can barely find any reviews on this ocarina, so thanks a lot! I want to start playing ocarina and I really want a wooden instrument, so I'm thinking of getting this one.
Absolutely my pleasure! Happy to help! I genuinely like this ocarina and will use it when the opportunity arises. If you end up deciding to try it out you can feel free to use my offer code "ASHLEY" to get a discount...even if the ocarina is already marked down. 😜👍 Also, feel free to let me know if you have any other questions about this ocarina!! 🎶
@@AshleyJarmack You just earned a subscriber! xD Thanks so much for the tips and the encouragement! I'd love to see you play more songs on this ocarina. The sample you played here and the other short are so beautiful! I did actually end up ordering this one thanks to your review. Because I live outside of the US and wanted to avoid the shipping cost, I also ordered the plastic bass ocarina and a teacarina along with it. I'm crazy excited to for them to arrive, but it might take up to eight weeks. xD
I used to play the recorder a long time ago and I wanted to start playing the ocarina to get back into music and because it's such a unique and underrated instrument. Apart from the different hand position, what are some of the major differences to the recorder I should be prepared to encounter in your opinion? Thanks so much again for your help!!
Oh gosh! That's so nice of you. Thanks for subscribing. Also, YAY, Congratulations on your new ocarinas. Hopefully they arrive sooner rather than later. 🤞 You never know. Sometimes I have had international packages arrive more quickly than ones from within the country. 😅
In regards to how it's different from recorder...I mean it's a completely different instrument. 😅 Fingerings are similarish, but different...well actually, the 12 hole ocarina in C is closest to the recorder in fingerings. That's the wooden one you bought. 6 hole ocarinas are different, so be sure to look at a fingering chart. The one other thing to really look out for is air speed. You can change the pitch dramatically by changing your air speed. It's less dramatic on recorder. So don't be afraid to experiment in that arena. 😉👍 Hope that helps! Excited for you!!
@@AshleyJarmackThanks so much once again for the tips! I'm really excited to try it out! Finding the right breath pressure sounds a bit challenging, but also like it's giving you more creative freedom in your playing. ^^
I've read a review from someone who had his order shipped to Europe and it took a bit more than a month, so I'm cautiously hopeful. ^^
I can't wait to try out the plastic bass ocarina too. From the videos I watched, it seems like it has a really lovely deep tone. ^^
Have a wonderful day!!
You play beautifully on both ocarinas
Great review of this. I’ve been learning to play on a plastic one but would like to get something a little nicer and really wanted a wooden one before finding out how uncommon they are.
Really good breakdown of what’s actually different about it compared to ceramic ones.
Not sure how long you’ve had the wooden ocarina, but I’m curious what your thoughts are on the durability of it compared to a ceramic ocarina. As well as if you’ve noticed any issues regarding humidity (more so than a ceramic one)
Hey, there. I just received this ocarina in the mail today. I know you didn’t ask me, but I figured I would give you my unsolicited opinion. Do with that what you will haha.
It’s definitely more durable than ceramic ocarinas. I’ve already dropped it on hardwood floor and my two-year-old has thrown it one good time already too.
There is a noticeable impediment caused by humidity/condensation building up in the windway, as is true of all wooden instruments, like you noted.
I have a wooden Charlie Hind ocarina as well, and, for whatever reason, I can play this STL ocarina longer before having to clear the windwayb of moisture.
I have some thoughts on the tone and general playability if anyone is interested, please don’t hesitate to ask.
@@cainanneedham9022 I'm curious about what you have to say about tone and playability 😊
@@OcaReyna Sure thing! Let me preface my take by saying that I’m no expert and that I’ve played exactly 5 ocarinas (two of which were essentially identical, save for the finish).
Playability:
While I think this ocarina is beautiful and feels great in the hand when simply holding the instrument, it’s not particularly comfortable to play for MY hands. I know this is highly subjective, so it’s not a knock on the ocarina itself, just it’s comparability with my hands. The tone holes for your left hand are positioned in more of a C or horseshoe shape, whereas every other sweet potato ocarina I’ve every played has had a softer (I.e. less drastic) curve to the arrangement of the tone holes.
I hope that makes sense. I can elaborate more if it doesn’t. Basically, the middle and ring finger of the left hand have to be positioned closer to the center of the body of the instrument than I am used to. This made me miss a few notes when I was playing songs I’d known for the better part of a decade, but muscle memory dies hard. I know that I would get used to it eventually and it would feel natural, but it makes my left pinky ache a little to play it for more than a few minutes at a stretch (I have extremely thin fingers though, so it may just be me)
As the lady in this review said, the finish on the instrument is quite nice and everything else about the general playability in terms of “feel” is on par with every other ocarina I’ve played, save the angle of the mouthpiece is such that my right palm is facing more to my left than it does when I play any of my other ocarinas. This is quite nice actually. I feel like I don’t have to have my right arm bent so much at the elbow and can play with noticeably more relaxed posture in my shoulders and arms (just my dang left pinky isn’t liking it)
Tone:
Again, I’m no expert, but I was a little disappointed in the tone of the ocarina. I have a Charlie Hind ocarina that I was lucky enough to snag years ago, and fell in love with the soft, warm, “earthy” tone of it. I know that Hinds are better quality and more expensive, so it’s not altogether fair to compare them to STLs, but it’s the only other wooden ocarina I’d played, and they don’t really have anything uncommon with respect to tone. I found this ocarina to be surprisingly “airy” sounding - especially on the higher end of its register. I know almost all ocarinas are airy in the high notes, but this one seemed noticeably more so. It’s nowhere near as airy as a plastic ocarina, but truth be told, the $55-dollar Lord of the Rings themed porcelain ocarina by STL sounds significantly better and is far and away the most comfortable ocarina I’ve ever played. It’s actually more comfortable and easy to play than my Charlie Hind. I know you didn’t ask about any other ocarinas, but I just wanted to mention that. I can elaborate on that STL if you (or anyone else) would like.
In short, I think it’s probably the best bet in terms of wooden sweet potato ocarinas, unless you want to spend a ton of money, but I wouldn’t recommend it over some cheaper clay ocarinas, UNLESS you just definitely want a wooden one, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone if the tone hole issue I described sounds like it wouldn’t be a good fit for you (but I know, everyone’s hands are a little different and this might fit your hand perfectly )
I hope this helps, and if you have any other questions that I might be able to help with, please don’t hesitate to ask!
@@cainanneedham9022 Wow I really appreciate the detailed information! That's really helpful. What you say any the alignment of the left hand holes is good to know. I think that's something that would definitely trip me up as well. Maybe all it would take it just getting used to, though.
I'm only a beginner on the ocarina (as you can tell from my channel lol) but I've been already thinking of upgrading my Night by Noble and had been thinking of getting a wooden alto. I like the idea of wood over ceramic/porcelain in case I drop it, but I'm on the fence hearing about the airiness. Still, the tone would definitely be better than my plastic one, right?
It sounds like your wooden ocarinas are pretty different from each other but if you compare them to the ceramic/clay/porcelain/plastic ones, would you say that they share some tone quality that's particular to being made of wood?
Also, if you want to say anything else about any of your ocarinas, I'm all ears! I love learning about the things I love 😊
Sure thing! I just listened to a couple of your videos and they sound great! You may be a “beginner” in terms of the amount of time you’ve been playing or compared to pros, but you are clearly talented on the instrument and as long as you enjoy playing you’ll continue to grow and get better and better. I’ve been playing ocarina for almost ten years, and I can’t play nearly as many songs as you have on your channel. I play for the joy of it, when the mood strikes me. It’s not my primary instrument, but my daughter likes it when I play for her and they’re great instruments to take on hikes into the woods.
Anyway, I’m getting off track. Yes, from everything I understand about ocarinas, even cheap ceramic ones are likely to sound better and be less “airy” than plastic ones, but I’m not familiar with the brand you cited. I would be willing to bet that this, or really most any ceramic ocarina would be a “nicer” instrument than a given plastic ocarina.
With respect to the tonal differences between my two wooden ocarinas, the Charlie Hind ocarina I have (12-hole F sweet potato) is vastly superior to the STL wooden ocarina in this video. It requires minimal breath pressure and sounds mellow and warm and earthy and organic. It was the first wooden ocarina I ever played, and I assumed that most wooden ocarinas would share similar tonal characteristics being that they were made from similar materials, but that was not my experience with this STL. The STL still sounds nice, but it was lacking in warmth and richness to my ear and didn’t sound as good as the ceramics I have from the same brand (in my opinion)
So, to answer your question, it seems that, from my limited experience, wooden ocarinas can still vary from one another widely in terms of tone and there isn’t really a reliable set of tonal characteristics one can expect simply because of the material.
I will recommend that, if you’re interested in an alto ocarina that’s wooden, maybe try to find a Charlie Hind on secondhand marketplaces like Ebay. They’re definitely expensive, but they’re incredible we’ll-made and sound beautiful. I’ve been wanting an alto Hind for years now. The video demonstrations I’ve seen on them all sound incredible.
One last thing that’s 100% unsolicited and I hope it doesn’t come off as out-of-line or snobbish. I know you consider yourself to be a beginner on the ocarina, but it’s clear that you practice and that you have some skill on the instrument AND are passionate about it. Your videos may seem beginner-quality to you in large part because you’ve likely seen no shortage of ocarina covers and demonstrations online that sound “better”. While there are definitely little tricks and expressions that come with time, I think you’d be shocked at how much better your recordings would sound with just a touch of reverb and EQing. There’s a great microphone that can be plugged directly into iPhones and free apps that you can record / edit in that are pretty user-friendly. A tiny bit of reverb on woodwinds goes a LONG way. It’s really incredible how much better my recordings that I make sound after 5 minutes of cleaning them up and adding light effects.
Your playing is gorgeous!
After playing ceramics for so long, you can really tell a difference in the tambre! I absolutely love that sound... And it's not a bad price! I've wanted a Charlie Hind Ocarina for years, but the price has always kept me away. I might get one of these. I also like that the Triforce is still standard to get those sales up hahaha
Aww. Thank you for the kind words. And YAY! So happy you like it. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I did like this model. And the price ain't bad either. You can save a bit more if you use offer code "ASHLEY" at checkout. 😉👍
Awesome!!!
Thanks so much! ☺️🎶
Is the wood quieter than the plastic?
Not really. Just a different tone color.