The ocarina in Irish music

The event

Irish music is both dance and tradition: the common repertoire brings people together, even strangers, to dance and sing. Irish music is fluid, traditionally learned by ear, and often varies from musician to musician.

In this workshop, led by Robert Hickman, you will learn how to adapt Irish music to the ocarina, understand the different types of melodies (Polkas, Jigs, Hornpipes and Reels) and learn how to embellish them with various finger articulations and ornaments as taught in the tradition.

The ocarina is an unusual instrument, but is ideal for Irish music as it offers musical nuances that are not easily achievable on the tin whistle or simple flute.

This is a fully participatory workshop: teaching will be mainly by ear, with sheet music available to give the ‘bones’ of the music. The pieces will be adapted to a single by Alto C ocarina.
The lab will be conducted in English and will last approximately two hours.

Robert Hickman

Robert Hickman began playing Irish songs and folk music on the ocarina in 2011. He adapted his style to the tin whistle technique, and has been performing regularly ever since.
He wrote the book “Serious Ocarina Player”.
As a maker, he has created instruments designed to meet the needs of Irish music, with a minimal breath curve, and a timbre and volume balanced across their range