Totally new to music..

Jaylawyer09 · 10-30-2013, 06:55 PM

Hi, I just bought a Tenor Ocarina in F.

However, I am completely new to music, and am having trouble figuring out how to sort these Ocarinas.

For example, what is a Tenor, Soprano, and Alto?
Also, how are they different?

Also, How does a tenor in C major differ from a Tenor in F major?

Thanks! I am very grateful for your responses!

GreenDAY23 · 10-31-2013, 03:06 AM

Tenor, Sorprano and Alto are different ranges of notes. I'm not sure the exact values, but Tenor is the lowest of these three, hitting inbetween bass notes and melody notes. Sorprano is mostly melody notes, and Alto is high pitch melody notes. There is actually a fourth-Bass, which hits the low bass notes.

Anyway, so your ocarina is relatively low pitched, though can probably still hit some melodic notes.
However, its pitched in the key of F, so it'll be higher than one pitched in C.
Basically the four groups are ranges at different levels of the spectrum of notes from melody to bass. Having an instrument at a different key simply shifts those ranges higher or lower depending on the note.

Hope this helps!

10-30-2013, 06:55 PM	#1 (permalink)
Jaylawyer09 Groupie Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 1	Totally new to music.. Hi, I just bought a Tenor Ocarina in F. However, I am completely new to music, and am having trouble figuring out how to sort these Ocarinas. For example, what is a Tenor, Soprano, and Alto? Also, how are they different? Also, How does a tenor in C major differ from a Tenor in F major? Thanks! I am very grateful for your responses!

10-31-2013, 03:06 AM	#2 (permalink)
GreenDAY23 Groupie Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 19	Tenor, Sorprano and Alto are different ranges of notes. I'm not sure the exact values, but Tenor is the lowest of these three, hitting inbetween bass notes and melody notes. Sorprano is mostly melody notes, and Alto is high pitch melody notes. There is actually a fourth-Bass, which hits the low bass notes. Anyway, so your ocarina is relatively low pitched, though can probably still hit some melodic notes. However, its pitched in the key of F, so it'll be higher than one pitched in C. Basically the four groups are ranges at different levels of the spectrum of notes from melody to bass. Having an instrument at a different key simply shifts those ranges higher or lower depending on the note. Hope this helps!