I have been listening to the songs I plan on learning for more than a week now, and I have also re-transcribed them with Numbered Musical Notation, I am very familiar with the pieces so I decided to give it a try on my Xun. And here's me playing The River Runs Red (滿江紅) for the first time.
And here's me playing The Red Bean Poem (紅豆詞)
I am still a bit rusty on my fingerings, but I think it is a pretty good start!! Also, I was in the Music Building when I did this recording, so forgive me for the amazing drum set and marimba sounds in the background.
Although the title of my blog says Xun is the ancestor of all ocarinas, it is played in a slightly different way. For an ocarina, the performer's mouth covers the air hole directly and you blow air into it directly, very straight forward (literally!). For the Xun, the performer has to blow air into the air hole at a very specific angle in order to give that full, warm timber it is supposed to produce. For flute players it should be easier to grasp the technique as the angle is similar to that of the angle that you guys do with the flute; as for non-flute players, the easiest way to explain the angle which you blow air over the Xun would be the angle you blow air over a bottle to make the warm humming sound. The way I figure out the angle is open up the entire Xun, and tilt the Xun at different angle while blowing air into it, when it creates a full, round sound, that means I've got the angle right.
From various videos I found online, they all mention one very important thing, relax your body while playing the Xun, no tension in the shoulder, back, or neck; and don't press the Xun towards your lower lips.
There isn't many good fingering charts on the internet, and different Xun maker may tune their Xun slightly different than others, so I have to use the one given to me by the manufacturer. It is originally in Chinese, so I put translations on the charts.
