[Aztlan] Ocarina Wind Instrument

[Justin Kerr]

Dear Friends,
I have just posted a Veracruz double flute? Whistle? (9146A, 9146B, 9146C in
Portfolio) This double barreled instrument has only whistle holes and no
stop holes. However a similar instrument K5751 has both whistle hole and
stop holes. It seems to me that definitions defy reality and maybe a generic
definition such as wind instrument would suffice. But there are whistles
such as K5849 (similar whistles are still being made today). However I am
going to stick to trumpet for the big ones.
As for recording; with Dr. Michael Closs we recorded sounds from Jaina
whistles at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto.
Justin Kerr


-----Original Message-----
From: aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org [mailto:aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org]
On Behalf Of Arnd Adje Both
Sent: Friday, March 06, 2009 6:48 PM
To: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
Subject: [Aztlan] Ocarina Wind Instrument

Dear colleagues,
you touched a difficult topic. The explanation by Burgh is not exact, such
as many of his conclusions on the music of the ancient Maya. From the point
of organology, both "ocarinas" and "whistles" belong to the group of flutes.
There are "tubular flutes", which are wind instruments with a straight pipe
as resonating chamber, such as a cane flute. Then there are "globular
flutes", which are wind instruments with a globular or oval resonator. The
only difference of a "whistle" and a "flute" is if the instrument presents
stops or finger holes or not. If it presents stops it's a "flute". In
Mesoamerica, these instruments usually present one to five stops,
occasionally six, such as a beautiful Maya tubular flute of 32,5 cm length
from Aguateca. If the instrument has no stop it's a "whistle". Thus, both
whistles and flutes can be globular or tubular, but a whistle never presents
stops. The term "ocarina" is generally applied to glubular flutes with stops
(in Mesoamerica, usually o!
 ne two four), while a "whistle" (in Spanish "silbato") can be a glubular or
a tubular flute without fingerholes. In Mesoamerica, all four instrument
types are present, and many subtipes in anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, or
fitomorphic form. Thus, there are double whistles and flutes, even cuadruple
flutes with more than six finger holes, such as in Teotihuacan. In most
cases, ceramic wind instruments are excavated, although there are also
tubular flutes made from stone (Aztec finds of the Templo Mayor). The sounds
which can be produced on these flutes depends greatly on the form of the
resonating chamber (tubular or globular) and the number of stops, but also
the playing techniques (blowing soft of strong, etc.). As no notation is
preserved, we have only the testimonies of the early 16th century,
especially on the Aztec music culture, and the excavated instruments
themselves, which are often in playable condition. However, although
improvisational playing of these instruments!
  is valuable in terms of experimental archaeology, the sounds produced

 could give us only a very general idea on the pre-Hispanic music, which is
lost forever. 
For those who are interested in the music archaeology of Mesoamerica, please
check my website: www.mixcoacalli.com
Best regards, Adje Both

---
Dr. Arnd Adje BOTH
homepage: www.mixcoacalli.com

Chair, Music Archaeology Study Group of the ICTM
e-mail: adje at zedat.fu-berlin.de
homepage: www.ictmusic.org

Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen
C5 Zeughaus
68159 Mannheim
Tel 0049-(0)621-2932122
Fax 0049-(0)621-2933064
e-mail: adje.both at mannheim.de
homepage: www.rem-mannheim.de




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