Word: ocarina
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...company one command by such tricks as bringing them to a smart attention, and shouting "April Fool" when the Professor didn't show ... Does anyone know why Gordon Johnson keeps a pigeon on his bureau? ... And if the swing rendition of taps on the ocarina in C Entry Chase has you puzzled, blame it on Kelly Hunt, pride of the Lone Star State...
...popularity of the ocarina and the tonette, especially among soldiers -TIME...
...tonette is practically an old-fashioned penny whistle. It can be played only in one key. But the ocarina has a full set of sharps and flats, confers upon its player a corresponding sense of superior achievement...
Priorities on clay, the usual ocarina material, are no difficulty. "Sweet potatoes" shaped out of plastic have the added advantage of being practically unbreakable. Since Pearl Harbor, sales of plastic ocarinas have skyrocketed. Biggest manufacturer, the Fred. Gretsch Mfg. Co. of Chicago and Brooklyn, now sells some 250,000 to 300,000 a year...
...ocarina's Latin name is usually said to be derived from the Italian word oca (goose), but some authorities trace it to the Italian occare, meaning to harrow. The ancient Chinese, Aztecs and Incas all played a similar instrument. Its introduction to Western civilization dates from the late 19th Century, when an Italian named Donati made a turnip-shaped flute of baked clay with eight finger holes. He subsequently killed himself by falling off a balcony. Perfected by a German wagon maker named Heinrich Fiehn, Donati's invention became the rage of Vienna...