About Hamlett

Who am I?

I'm Richard Hamlett, and I make and play transverse style ocarinas. My goal is to provide a professional concert quality ocarina at an affordable price.

I first started playing ocarinas a few years ago and have tried several different kinds. I quickly became a little disappointed at the inconsistent and marginal quality of many of these instruments that were being sold at prices higher than what I thought they were worth. I set out to make my own ocarina with the goal of surpassing the quality of many of the higher priced instruments available. It's taken a while, but I believe that my ocarinas rival instruments that cost many times what mine do.

What is an ocarina anyway?

An ocarina is a type of vessel flute, usually made from ceramic, stoneware or porcelain. The modern ocarina originated in Italy in 1800's, but has become quite popular in Asian cultures within the last twenty years. Asian style transverse ocarinas differ slightly from their Italian counterparts in both tuning and form, usually having a slighlty extended range and generally lower breath requirements.  Hamlett ocarinas follow the Asian style and are accurately tuned to concert pitch.

I currently offer ocarinas in the Alto C, Alto D and Alto G range, but I hope to expand soon to offer other ranges as well as multi-chamber ocarinas.

More questions?

If you have any questions that you'd like to ask me that aren't answered somewhere on this site, or if you would like to provide any comments or feedback about this site or its content, feel free to send me an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or you can also send an email from the web site by clicking the Contact Hamlett menu option on the right side of the page.