Q & A
Resonating
You mention in your web site, "the basic playing method or how to resonate". Could you tell me what you mean by "resonate"?
anonymous question
There are two internal factors that make the instrument resonate. (The external factor is the place of performance.)
One of the factors is the wind (how to blow) and the other is your body. These two things cannot be separated.
First, I'll talk about the wind (how to blow).
I think you already know Pascal's principle. I remember I learned it in junior high. You need to feel this principle is working when you play the ocarina. i.e., You feel the air in your lungs like a swollen air bag, and add pressure to the bottom of your lungs by means of your abdominal muscles to send out the air from your mouth. I don't know if I'm explaining well, but I think you will understand easily if you actually see how I do it and listen to the sound. (What is different from the flute is that you can't control the resistance of the air by yourself. So you have to make it by yourself.
Secondly, about your body.
If I remember correctly, an acoustics textbook says that the expanse of the player's mouth doesn't have anything to do with the sound.
However, to me that makes difference. If you believe me, give it a try:
I wrote above; you feel the air in your lungs like a swollen air bag. Similarly, widen your throat and mouth. Then you will get the reverberating sound. The high notes will resonate nicely even if you haven't been able to do it until now. (Note: This is not easy.)
A supplement of the wind issue.
A lot of people play the ocarina using "raw" wind.
What is not the raw wind is the wind I wrote above. That is the way you can completely make it resonate.
If you don't understand what I write here, you can neither teach the ocarina nor make good ocarinas.
Did I put it rather strongly?