Played my first scale (and, actually, my first song - if badly) on the 12-hole Ocarina last night. It's much more... Touchy. It's a soprano instead of a tenor (tuned to the same key, but in a different octave), and has a smaller internal volume than my 6; longer but much narrower. Even with the extra length, though, the 10 small holes on top are more crowded than the 4 larger ones on my 6-hole. My fingers have a habit of slipping slightly off the holes as I'm changing my fingering for different notes; I need to work on that. Next time I buy an Ocarina, I'll take more care to get one with the holes spaced a bit wider for big ham-hands like mine.

(on that note, I spent some time yesterday - at work, and no, I'm not ashamed - browsing stlocarina.com's selection. Their frigging instruments range from $10 to something like $1700. That's an expensive Ocarina...)

I did make some good progress on reducing the breathy quality of my high Bs and Cs on the 6-hole, as well. I was happy about that.

I played a tune labeled in my cute little "beginner's Ocarina" book as "French Folk Tune". I can play it reasonably well on both now. I'm going to work next on re-learning "Lord of the Dance" on the 12 and practice that, though it doesn't actually hit quite the entire octave. This weekend, I'll go through the two books and pull out a couple more songs to learn; then later, probably next week, I'll start working on the sharps and flats on both Ocarinas.

Such a simple instrument, but it actually is making me very happy.

I gave my spare Ocarina to John from work. He looked surprised and pleased. Hopefully he'll enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed mine.