Shopping for the Zelda fan in your life?

by: Sean Colleli - posted: 11/3/2009 1:13:00 PM

Shigeru Miyamoto inadvertently caused a resurgence in ocarina popularity when he released the industry-changing Zelda game that featured the curious little instruments. It's been over a decade since the release of Ocarina of Time, but the clay flutes are still quite popular with cosplayers and average Zelda enthusiasts.

STL Ocarina recognized this popularity and now they offer a whole line of Zelda-themed ocarinas. I browsed their online selection and found that while you could venture into "expensive musical instrument" territory on par with brass and stringed instruments, STL also offers a number of highly affordable ocarinas. They also have song books that show you how to play many of the melodies, passages and pieces from several Zelda games. Needless to say, they're great gifts for a Zelda fan.

This is the best kind of intersection between gaming and real-world subjects, when a game gets someone interested in something like music that they'd never have explored otherwise. It's easy to self-teach with an Ocarina so it's a good place to start learning music, too. If you're gift shopping for a gamer in your life, give STL's website a look.

Ocarina Spans Ancient, Digital Worlds

Young Video Gamers Buy Up Timeless Instrument

 

Fans of the video game "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time," and parents seeking an inexpensive, easy-to-play instrument to introduce their children to music lead a resurgence of interest in the ocarina. And STL Ocarina (www.stlocarina.com) is ready to equip them with thousands of the pocket-sized, pottery wind instruments in all shapes and colors.

 

An ancient instrument with roots that lie in the dawn of history, clay ocarinas were played by the Mayans, Aztecs and Incas of South and Central America. A world away, ocarinas shaped like birds and animals and dating from as early as 5,000 BC have been found in India.

 

The ocarina was popularized in the United States during the first and second World Wars, when servicemen were often issued the instrument. But it was largely eclipsed by other wind instruments and fell into obscurity — until the release of "The Legend of Zelda" in the 1990s.

 

In 2004, Laura Yeh, an instructor at the St. Louis School of Music (www.stlschoolofmusic.com) bought several ocarinas while on a visit to Taiwan. A master of the violin, Laura was impressed by how easy the instrument was to pick up and play. She decided it would be a perfect fit for the Suzuki methods of teaching music, which stresses every child can learn music.

 

"Not every child will actually come and study music simply because of the cost of buying a violin and the cost of lessons," she says. "So we thought that for those kids that don't otherwise get a chance to be in touch with music, what can we offer them?  The ocarina seems to be the ideal instrument. It doesn't cost a lot and the learning curve is very, very easy for kids."

 

The school started to sell ocarinas locally and online. Soon fans of the video game began ordering the instruments, creating a demand that compelled STL Ocarina to offer special editions of the instrument. These magically colorful "Zelda" ocarinas come in nine-hole, 12-hole tenor, and double and triple models, with two- and three-octave ranges respectively. The company also sells Zelda songbooks and other accessories.

 

As the video game has boosted interest, STL Ocarina is tapping new markets, including parents wanting to introduce their kids to the joy of music, home schooling families and adults looking for a fun, compact and intriguing instrument.

 

"It doesn't take that much time or effort to enjoy the music in the way that you couldn't imagine before, which is to involve yourself in it in the process of making music," Yeh says.

 

To learn more, visit STL Ocarina's public web site at http://www.stlocarina.com and the St. Louis School of Music's site at www.stlschoolofmusic.com.