OcarinaWind "Forest Whisper" 12 Hole Ocarina Classic Straw Fire Masterpiece Collectible, Alto C Ceramic Ocarina - Highly Recommended by Shop Owner

Exactly what I was looking for! My son is very pleased with it. Seems to be good quality. The protective case, neck strap and song book are very nice additions as well.

Has really good sound compared to other the ocarina we bought in the past. Comes with its own case.

It sounds really really good. Really nicely tuned for the most part. Smells REALLY bad for some reason though.

The media could not be loaded. Beautifully handcrafted. I suggest handling it with great care and respect. First time owning a Ocarina, I look forward to learning how to play this beautiful wind pipe/flute. From playing around with it for a few moments the sounds are so pretty.This came packed with care, comes in a lovely and sturdy case with a cleaning cloth, the instructions booklet, and some kind of hand made necklace. It's a beautiful copper/brown color, I love it!I look forward to years of fun with this piece. Thanks Amazon for another great product.

Mine just arrived and I am blown away. I don’t have much experience with wind instruments (much more so with stringed instruments.) so, while I cannot compare it to other ocarinas, I can say that it has a beautiful sound and is easy to start playing right away. Personally, I am going to recommend ocarinas (in general, but also this brand as it is not only very reasonably priced but also well tuned) to anybody looking to start playing instruments. Part of the sound vs. price, I’m assuming, has to do with it being a fundamental heavy helmholz resonater (overtones make for a rich sound, but construction becomes very important.) Another benefit is that without a rich harmonic spread, fundamental heavy instruments almost force you to focus on technique and timing. This will, in the long run, make you a more skilled musician. Also, it comes with a nice case and sheet music/ tablature (there is a fingering guide on top of the scales for every song included with the book.)An update:I apparently forgot to press submit on the review above, so, here are some added thoughts after owning this instrument for some time. I saw a number of reviews complaining of tuning relative to a fixed reference tuning. Number one, there are two smaller holes that you can cover if you extend your middle finger, also, varying the pressure you put on the two thumb holes varies the size of the resonant cavity enough to allow for fine tuning of the notes. Breathing technique may also allow for this but my focus there is still just trying to shape the notes. Number two, this is a much older type of instrument that was invented long before scordatura, fixed tunings, and orchestras. Instead of trying to keep pace with other people, find a quiet place and bare your soul.

I recently purchased two OcarinaWind Ocarinas: First, the OcarinaWind® 12 Hole White Ocarina Exquisite Craft of Ice-crack,Recommend by Shop Owner, and second Forest Whisper 12 Hole Ocarina Classic Strawfire Masterpiece Collectible,alto C,recommended By Shop Owner. I thought I’d give you my evaluation of each in order to possibly help anyone trying to decide what to buy. I am an amateur musician, a long-time wind instrument player, but rather new to the ocarina.I chose the two ocarinas I bought because they were “recommended by Shop Owner.” I assumed that meant they were of the top quality that OcarinaWind had to offer. And the price was right.First I bought the Ice-Crack White ocarina. I thought it played very well. It is heavy and takes a bit of time to build up the finger muscles to play comfortably for long periods of time, but it doesn’t take long to get used to it. I now play it daily. I thought the sound was very pure, even the upper notes. You had to blow rather forcefully in the upper end of the scale, and rather softly around the low C and lower…making this a rather dynamic instrument. The ability to go from a high note to a low note, and play in tune, will take practice. But the tuning seemed good (once you adjusted your blowing pressure), which was very important to me. I had such success buying this ocarina I bought my second.My second ocarina was the Forest Whisper Strawfire ocarina. I have a very sensitive sense of smell, yet I did not detect much of an odor at all, unless I really put it right against my nose. Even then it was not too strong. I suppose how much of a smoky odor it has will depend on how recently it was made and what sort of ventilation it has been stored in since. This ocarina also had a very beautiful tone and I felt it was rather ergonomic, with the angled mouthpiece. My problem with this ocarina was that the tuning was off. I could not blow softly enough to get the sub notes to sound clearly and on pitch, and I could not blow strongly enough to get the notes around high C and above to sound in pitch; they were flat no matter what I did.So, both ocarinas sounded nice, both arrived in one piece with a nice storage/carrying pouch. In the end, I decided to return the Forest Whisper. If I could not play it on pitch, I knew it was just not going to be played. But I’m keeping the White ocarina, as it plays well. Naturally, each ocarina is somewhat unique. Will I buy more ocarinas? Most definitely. Will I buy more ocarinas from OcarinaWind? I don’t like returning things, so perhaps not. My admittedly limited experience with their ocarinas has me thinking that whether you get a great one or not is, in part, up to chance. The seller was very nice however, emailing me after each purchase to check my satisfaction level.