Hey, Ocarina

While I was at Cornell for the summer I took advantage of the moderately decent weather to visit the farmer’s market on multiple occasions. There was the time I walked to the farmer’s market after walking to Cass Park from Collegetown (four miles total, because why not?). There was the time it started pouring right after we left. There was the time I got my very own ocarina.

Thusfar, I’d only spent money at the farmer’s market on food. There’s a really popular Cambodian food place that I tried. I had rice with potatoes and chicken in some sort of curry-like sauce that was good. Another time a friend and I had peanut lime noodles and corn fritters from another place that were really good, followed by a strawberry lemonade and a raspberry chocolate shortbread bar that I saved for later (both also good). The only thing I’ve eaten at the farmer’s market so far that was disappointing was a samosa. The filling was bland even though I dumped in several spoonfuls of sauce.

But back to the ocarina. Thanks to The Legend of Zelda, I already knew what an ocarina was when I saw them at the farmer’s market. I decided that I was going to spend my hard earned money on something other than food because 1) The Legend of Zelda and 2) obscure woodwind instrument. First, The Legend of Zelda is my favorite video game series; my brother and I first played through Wind Waker and Four Swords Adventure, then my brother played most of the old Zelda games, after which Twilight Princess came out, and finally Skyward Sword. I’ll always remember Wind Waker as the first Zelda game we beat, but the dungeons in Skyward Sword rival it, plus Skyward Sword has (finally) an orchestral soundtrack and benefits from MotionPlus on the Wii. Also, Link is originally left handed and my favorite character to play on Super Smash Bros. Second, I appear to be starting a collection of instruments, including my clarinet, a recorder from third grade music class, and a tinwhistle. With that kind of solid reasoning behind my choice, I decided to buy an ocarina to add to my collection.

The ocarina I got is a five hole ocarina, and I currently know how to play a major scale on it. I can play most of Davy (the fight song) and O Christmas Tree the Evening Song. I’m thinking ocarina Christmas caroling in a few weeks. Who’s with me?