Hal Leonard Ocarina Method by Cris Gale | Beginners Guide with Video Lessons | Learn Ocarina Techniques, Songs and Music Theory | Includes Fingering Charts and Classic Folk Songs

Learning how to play any musical instrument is difficult. The single chamber, 12-hole, transverse ocarina with "Taiwanese" style subholes is as easy an instrument as they come... and capable of playing music within a limited tonal range. This book very affectively teaches the fingering and hold techniques required to play this type of ocarina. I picked up on it quickly and naturally, despite being clumsy with no experience playing wind instruments. However, the book still is very difficult to learn regarding playing from sheet music instead of tableture (ocarina tabs). With this book's expert help, I got the split fingering down and can use all ten fingers to play the notes, including the extra two subholes, while still supporting the ocarina well through all the vicarious movements. I started with this book and have never dropped an ocarina. The skills taught in this book translate into using more advanced, multi-chamber ocarinas with more tonal range as the musician improves. The book does not teach you directly all those skills, though. It creates the foundation for that. The book is well-rounded, teaching the other skills associated with playing the 12-hole ocarina, also. Nothing is left out.

I’ve seen Cris Gale in concert and it is my opinion that she is one of the best Ocarina players around. When I found out she was releasing an Ocarina Method book through Hal Leonard, the world’s largest music print publisher, I knew this book was going to be top notch! Being a beginner in music in general I was pleasantly surprised to see that the layout of the book is perfect for myself as a beginner and also the intermediate musician. The first several pages are dedicated to a quick history of the instrument, types of ocarinas and music theory. Then immediately I’m playing my first note by page 12. The instruction is not overly difficult to understand and the graphics are very easy to follow. I was a little surprised by the price breakdown of the book. Half of the price goes toward the book itself and the other half toward online videos. I used the access code in the book to quickly pull up the videos and I was floored to see 21 videos dedicated to each chapter in the book! These can be viewed online or downloaded to watch later. This is FULL ACCESS to one-on-one instruction with Cris Gale! It’s very professional and does not disappoint. I’m pretty sure I’d be paying much much more than 12 bucks to get this kind of private one-on-one instruction. Each video mirrors what is in the book and I can see how she plays the instrument so I know instantly if my technique is wrong. What a great product! It will take me a while to master this instrument but Cris makes it extremely easy to jump in and get started right away.

I've never played a music instrument and I found this guide easy to understand and I have almost completed it. I would definitely suggest it and I haven't even watched the videos that come with it yet.

Having used Hal Leonard method books while in school to learn various instruments, I have to say I have a fondness for them due to how easy they are to read and the fact that they are truly for absolute beginners who know nothing about music. This book is no different as it is very helpful with learning how to read music, how to form a proper embouchure, includes a brief history of the ocarina, and allows beginners to play songs after learning how to play certain notes. I only wish that this book covered the double and triple ocarinas and the 4 to 6 hole ocarinas as it is written for the classic 12 hole ocarina. But this book is excellent for beginners as this book covers techniques (tips on how to easily change fingering), how to properly breathe and create the embouchure for the instrument which ocarina tabs cannot teach.

This is the best method book available for ocarina. It is well-organized and the included videos are great. The videos actually don't stream particularly well, but the option to download them which allows for easy playing. Sometimes method books have too much information for the beginner, and get confusing very quickly. This is definitely not the case with this book. In fact, if there is any err this book has made, it is that while the content is very well researched and accurate, there is not a whole lot of it. For example: the fingering chart does not provide any alternate fingerings, and as such, some ocarinas may not work with the fingerings provided. For example, the fingerings for high C#/Db and D#/Eb are not suited to smaller ocarinas because of several factors. Of course, these are the standard fingerings for the size of ocarina it is geared towards, so it's not that big of a deal. Overall, while it's not perfect, it's minor imperfections can be readily supplemented by a teacher. Great job, Cris!

As a beginner, this has been immensely helpful! They instruct you very well and even have access to voice guidance. I thought learning to read music would be hard, but it happens right alongside learning the instrument. Wonderful! If you hear random Zelda songs in the middle of nowhere it might be me!

Amazingly fun and easy to understand and learn. Especially if you have learned some music theory in the past. Great refresher. I don’t know how beginner friendly it really is though.

This book is well-written and covers everything a beginner needs. However, if you have some previous experience with wind instruments and standard music notation, this book is likely to be too easy for you. I am a flutist and just started to play the ocarina recently. I ended up returning this book because it is a lot easier than expected. Still, I would recommend this book to someone with little to no previous experience with wind instruments and/or standard music notation.

I was able to play simple melodies within minutes and I'm learning the fingerings and how to read music, all with the lessons from this one book.

Sinceramente esperaba algo más, básicamente en un libro con tabs(si viene una introducción y una que otra cosa),pero para el precio siento que no lo vale,ya que son cosas que puedes encontrar fácilmente en internet:( o

I have been trying to learn Ocarina with help of YouTube videos. The info was scattered all over in bits and pieces. This musical instrument is unheard of in India. I searched the internet for a teacher here and found none. This guide integrates everything into a simple learning method. Cris is a wonderful teacher and online access to her video lessons comes free with the book. Ocarina Method is a wonderful guide for those who wanted to learn to play this magical ancient instrument.

Good instruction book

It's good but i think is destinated to children or people so noob, although the book and the medias, are very good explained, but I though there are more information and another type of sheet music.