Unexpected possibilities…
One of the guys, Wasanth, didn’t feel comfortable with the clay and preferred to stick with the bamboo material he was used to working with. As the clay workshop went so prosperous, I found some extra time to work with him privately. he was skilled in making a variety of different bamboo and wooden flutes, but the small ocarina’s he made till now lacked in quality and playability. He shared a wish with Shankar to make big wooden ocarina’s he spotted on the internet. By changing the way he was used making the labium and borrowing some techniques of the clay Natey, soon we developed a pentatonic Bamboo ocarina with a range of over an octave and with a beautiful sound. In the past, he learned to copy existing instruments, but never gained the skills of doing the measurements for different size instruments. So I developed an easy system for him using just 1/3 and 2/3 scales to make instruments in any size he wanted. Within two weeks we developed a new instrument with different Indian scales that would fit the other harmonic instruments that were made by SVARAM. Just a few days before I left he already received his first order…