Forgotten and Obscure Instruments...

 - - It entered my mind the other day that no one plays the ocarina anymore; in fact, you could probably ask a crowd of people what an ocarina was to find few who knew.  The ocarina is a strange little musical instrument looking like a potato with holes that is played with the mouth.

The ocarina is an obscure musical instrument in the same class as other little-known music-makers such as the jaw harp and kazoo.  If you pulled out any of these devices today, you'd probably be wrestled to the ground as a probable terrorist as they are largely unrecognized in current times.

When I was a kid in long-ago times, we had and played kazoos; in fact, I participated in some great and spirited choruses of kid kazoo playing.  I was pretty good with a kazoo, actually, and could produce lots of recognizable melodies.  That was because in those primitive and medieval times, we didn't have and feel entitled to $200 hand-held video games...being ignorant, I didn't even  realize how bad I had it!