Is Night by Noble REALLY the Best Beginner Ocarina???
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Hello Friends, we have been excited to do this side-by-side-by-side comparison episode for you guys for a while. We went in with some questions in mind: Is a plastic or a ceramic ocarina a better choice for a beginner? How huge a difference in tone quality will there be between our tenor ceramic and the plastic ones we're testing? How good could plastic really sound?? Is Night by Noble really the best ocarina you can get to start learning with??? Let us know if what we discovered surprises you!
Want to check out the websites where we get most of our lovely ocarinas? Here are their links below:
♫ STL Ocarina - www.stlocarina...
♫ Songbird Ocarina - www.songbirdoc...
♪Just Looking for some background music? • Hanging with Alair
♪ We stream live on Twitch! / pianorogues
Check us out on Thursday nights at 9:30 CST ♪
♪ Other social media:
♪ Patreon: / pianorogues
♪ Discord: / discord
♪ Instagram: / piano_rogues multi chamber ocarina
Hello! It's so great to see more people doing reviews of ocarinas and getting into the ocarina. I love you guys' ratings, rankings, vibes and I agree that out of the ocarinas you showed the STL plastic is the most suited towards a beginner. I subscribed :)
I've been playing and teaching ocarina in the classroom and privately for over 7 years. I would like to add a couple of things for any beginners watching:
Plastic Ocarinas are my number one recommendation of any brand for beginners. They have many advantages that every ocarinist needs, especially portability. The following brands in no particular order are fantastic starter ocarinas, probably better for the price than any other ceramic you could find:
1. Focalink Stein (Sold by Songbird)
2. Odami Ocarina (Ocarina Monster on Etsy)
3. STL Plastic
4. NIGHT by Noble
One of the reasons you had to adjust your breath curve on the Noble is because Noble's website states that their ocarinas are tuned to the Asian tuning system, which is tuned to 442, rather than 440. Most other plastics on the list above are not to my knowledge. I usually recommend the first three to beginners. Hence why I appreciate your rankings and your recommended selection for beginners.
STL makes good plastic ocarinas, but one really important detail that is crucial to correct is that their ocarina naming is incorrect and sometimes a topic of controversy. The name "Tenor" isn't correct, as Tenor ocarinas are rare and are usually not tuned in C. All the ocarinas shown in this video have a range of A3 - F5. These ocarinas are considered Alto C Ocarinas, almost universally by the whole ocarina world. STL is the only maker that names their C ocarinas Tenors.
There's more to say, but you can find more info on this video by David Erick Ramos - ruclips.net/video/9iQTOoDNxi0/видео.html
Finally, if you ever want to know more makers in the ocarina world I made an extensive guide of all the makers I know and had time to put in a 30 minute video - ruclips.net/video/5Hp02K8w7Ns/видео.html
Hello!! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment and share your knowledge with us! Your revelation of the higher tuning for Night by Noble was an eye-opening “well duh” moment for me! Now that you point that out, it makes sense to me that an instrument produced and sold from Asia would be tuned to the Asian preferred tuning frequency. I had a friend from Japan who happened to mention that they tune their instruments a bit higher to A 442, so I had that info rattling around in my brain. I just hadn’t connected those dots! 🤣 (This is Alair writing, btw 😅) Where did you learn the tuning information about the Night by Noble? Knowing where to look for that kind of information would be incredibly useful. We will definitely be taking a look at your guide- thank you so much for sharing it with us. It is pretty clear there is a ton to learn about ocarinas!
@@PianoRogues Hey! I didn't know either until I heard about it from a friend. It's so nice to make friends that play ocarina. The knowledge is usually posted on the maker's website, but it's hard to look at each individual one. Honestly one of my favorite things is to learn from others that have more experience than me too. I know a group on Facebook called "Global Ocarina Community" feel free to join it! There's a lot of makers, professional players, fans and teachers on there that are super helpful and kind. Looking forward to future videos! I enjoy ya'lls content :D :D
Thanks for my good info. We need to work on Facebook. Within hours of us trying to start a page Facebook took it down and we have not been able to get it back.
I have have the STL plastic Ocarina of Time (edit: it's the same as the second ocarina you reviewed), and I love it. I also have their plastic bass, and they are really good for non-professional instruments.
We were really pleasantly surprised. I did not see a plastic bass. I will have to see if they still carry that. :) they also have a triple chamber plastic which I may or may not have my eye on. Lol
Aire
@@PianoRogues i do recommend the plastic bass ocarina of time. It's an amazing find.
Thanks for the review.
Suggestion: place time stamps in the description? I just came for the Night by Noble and I had to skip around looking for it.
Thanks for the recommendation. We are not big enough for RUclips to let us have chapters. I was not sure anyone would look for them in the description. I will add it to our to do list. :) Aire
Thanks very much for the review. Bought the STL. Will be nice to have a fine carry-on plastic ocarina with good intonation.
Glad to help inform your decision. What color did you pick?
@@PianoRogues Only a blue one was available. Which is fine for me, reminds me of Link's ocarina.
Blue is one of my favorite colors. It might’ve been what I would’ve picked but I already had to blue ocarinas so I wanted us to have something different.
@@PianoRogues I hope I'll get it soon! Ordered it from a shop in the Netherlands. So it may take a few days to ship to Germany.
That’s the worst part, having to wait. :) good luck 🍀
I think price is too often the focus of what makes a good 'beginner' ocarina. I'd say the best is the one somebody will enjoy and want to play long term. That includes how it sounds, appearance, feel in the hands, and how one feels about it. It's a subjective thing, but when I see a plastic ocarina, especially those bright colored ones, the word that comes to mind is 'toy'. I also don't like their sound as well as a ceramic or even a wood (which are not really good beginner instruements). I would recommend that ceramic STL one all day long as the better instrument to learn on. It sounds better, looks better, and if my ceramic ones are any indication, feels a lot more substantial in the hands. It's not a 'toy'. There are very few instruments where one can get a pretty decent one for $50 and a really good one for $100. Just as I wouldn't cheap out on my computer mouse or keyboard, I wouldn't want to (and didn't) when I decided to learn to play an ocarina as a real instrument.
That is a fair opinion. My first ocarina was a $250 bass and Alair’s was a triple ceramic. (We talk about all of ours in an episode about our collection) I have this same discussion with art supplies. In the long run it is cheaper to get the expensive supplies off the bat but if you decide it is not for you that is a larger lost cost. And a plastic can go in a glove box or purse and thus might get more use by virtue of being more available. It is personal choice and lifestyle that might make one better over the other.
And I understand the frustration of having ocarinas look like a toy because that is a reputation that we are also trying to dispel about ocarinas. They are viewed as not actual instruments. This is why we have videos using them as actual instruments.
I sometimes buy a really nice planner because the cost I spent on it helps motivate me to use it so I also understand that can play a role in deciding.
My personal opinion is get ALL THE OCARINAS. :) Then you have one for what ever mood you are in and one’s hiding in bags and cars and are never out of reach of an ocarina. Lol
I've been an Ocarina player for about a month. I have to say it's the easiest instrument I have ever learned to play. (for frame of reference I have been playing almost every day (missed a few with covid) for two to four hours a day for.. 32 days and for my muscial background I dabble in everything pretty much, little piano, 7 years of trombone with my HS band, little violin, little cello, drums) I got the Essential Elements instructional book from Amazon along with the Night by Noble ocarina in black (that white looks... not good lol, the black one is *so* much better looking, at least it appeared that way in the video). Overall I was pleased with my Night by Noble as a beginner instrument.
I have found that if you angle the mouth piece just a little 15 - 20 degrees toward your right side the alignment feels a lot better. Also, if you are pressing down on the holes hard enough to leave indents like that on your fingers, you're holding *way* too tight. (this from my instructional booklet) . I did that myself and when I stopped I got much better tone. I think it might have to do something with kind of muting the instrument by putting pressure on the resonance chamber, but I'm not sure. I have come to think of it like an egg, hold onto it tight enough you don't drop it, but not tight enough to crack it either. This may be a side effect of both of you playing multi-chambered Ocarina as well since I'm sure they're heavier and you might have to hold onto them a little tighter to not drop them, but that's just a guess.
The tone and tuning are good, but it does get whistley toward the upper part of it's register. Particularly that high F can be tough to get out sometimes if it is cold.
Overall it's a great instrument. I have however bought a purple clay Ocarina from Songbird since, and I love it even more. The tone is so much warmer and less sharp (as in jabby, not the musical sharp). All in all I'd say there are a lot of Ocarina's out there for a decent price and if you can deal with the much more fragile nature of the clay you should just jump into it. It's a much better sound. ...although I can already tell I'm going to have 30 or 40 of the things in a few years so... starting off with two might not be a bad idea ;). Next I want to get and try a soprano or a multichambered one, I haven't decided which yet.
I have wanted to play the Ocarina ever since I first played Zelda: Ocarina of Time when I was a kid, but now I *love* the instrument. It's such a hidden gem. Good video, just thought I would share my thoughts and experience with the Night by Noble as it seemed much different than yours.
Aire- it has grown on me a little since having it here but yeah the upper notes are not so good. The issue with the pressing is that my fingers are so thin that I have to press that much to seal the holes otherwise air leaks. I can barely cover the basses holes. Lol
Thanks for such a in depth comment. Good to know you have a similar option to ours. It is a fine ocarina and surprisingly good a perfectly good option. :)
Essay?
Know where I can get the entire collection of playable songs from legend of zelda series?
@@MissionSiloSongbird Ocarina sells legend of Zelda songbooks on their shop. I’m not sure how many songs are in the legend of Zelda series, but the songbooks seem to have a lot.
What’s the difference between a tenor ocarina and a alto Ocarina?
You should take a look at Z Ocarina plastic ocarinas recommended for schools. Much better sound!
If you warmed up the plastic, could you add an indention for the sub hole?
Um... maybe? Personally, I would not feel confident trying to add holes to any of my ocarinas. From what I understand about ocarinas, size and positioning of the holes impacts the pitches the ocarina produces, so adding another one might cause problems, especially if it is the wrong size or in the wrong place. But I don't really know much about this, so I would really recommend doing some more research and reading rather than listening to me before trying this!
Who would just wear an Ocarina around? ::eyes Alair's necklace::
If you're fishing for durability issues by saying, "It has seams, so eventually it MIGHT, MAYBE break," I'd say we're at 10/10 durability. You're not GETTING more durable than "you can play catch with it." Name me an instrument you'd give 10/10 to if not that. >_>
I would argue that a few of those color choices for the St. Louis Ocarina looked much more professional than the green you guys got.
Aire- who wouldn’t wear an ocarina as a necklace? :p
Plastic can get brittle over time. Yes that does not affect the immediate durability but you might not be able to pass it down whereas a piano can be passed down to the next generation so that has a little consideration. :)
Yeah green is not the most professional color. At least not this green. Lol