Learn ocarina – Subholes

What are subholes? They are additional tiny holes on the tone holes line of the ocarina.
Depending on the ocarina's maker and the complexity of the ocarina itself, you can find the subholes in different positions.
The most common for the transverse ocarina are 3:

Behind the finger hole (tone hole), on the same side or on opposite sides.
In the past you could mention them as
the Japanese subholes type or TypeⅠ - タイプⅠ (holes on the same side like on the green Bon ocarina)
the Taiwanese subholes type or TypeⅡ - タイプⅡ (holes on the opposite sides like on the black Anon ocarina) and
the Korean subholes or TypeⅢ - タイプⅢ (holes on the same side but one in front of the tone hole and one behind the tone hole like in the yellow Sakura ocarina on top right).

Due to the fancy of the ocarina, every maker position them differently because they want to achieve specific sounds and breath circulations since yet there isn't a real "standard" in ocarina making. Some makers say that if the subhole is as your left middle finger as for the Taiwanese subhole type (Type â… ), it may cause a loss in the quality because it is often in the same line with the voicing and the air circulation will be cut badly, producing a decrease of quality. The same goes for some ocarina types that have the left index subhole in the same line with the voicing.

Don't confuse the position of the subholes with the number of them.
Look carefully at the following photo because for example all of these are 13 holes ocarine instead of 12 holes. They all have 3 subholes instead of 2.

(ocarine photos curtesy of C.C. - J.C. - J.O.K. - ).
If you look well you will find these 3 tiny holes (highlighted with the light blue circle) .

Another difference is in the position of the subhole itself.
This additional subhole may be positioned at the index, the middle or even the ring finger both on the left or the right hand  side of tone holes lines.

Now that you know how many subholes have your ocarina, we should look at how to play musical notes with it. You can continue the tutorial by going at the Learn ocarina – fingerings for an almost complete list of fingerings that will help you play any ocarina in less than 10 seconds.

You can also use the Learn ocarina – guide list to travel to through the whole ocarina tutorial.
If you think you should take a step forward and start learning sheet music, you can do it by viewing the Learn sheet music –  guide list and start reading from the third article (the first and second article explain you the range of the ocarina. You'll not particularly need to read them since you'll have already learned it during your studies on the learn ocarina tutorial).

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