That explains the Joey's ocarina in the movie Stalag 17 .
An old favorite. "How stupid can you get, animal?"
The US Army Issued Ocarinas to Soldiers in World War II
31–40 of 89 posts
Re: The US Army Issued Ocarinas to Soldiers in World War II
#32Interesting that they don't seem to have had much cultural impact. I've never heard of these, never seen them in war films. You don't hear songs wistfully using a wartime ocarina or referring to them.
Same. I was just able to order an original kit on eBay for $40, so demand isn’t high.
Re: The US Army Issued Ocarinas to Soldiers in World War II
#33The US military thought a lot about how to entertain its soldiers because there was a lot of downtime during a war and most of them were draftees who didn't necessarily want to be there, Another thing they did was publish pocket paperback editions of books back when paperbacks were less common. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Services_Editions
My favorite WW2 morale detail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_cream_barge
Re: The US Army Issued Ocarinas to Soldiers in World War II
#34Carter? "Yes sir?" What is it, Carter? "An ocarina, sir" Bring it up here! I've had a really nice, small "English four-hole" unglazed terracotta pendant ocarina since I was a kid. They are actually really fun to play and very visceral, in a sense; the way you can get a chromatic scale from only four hole sizes combinatorially is intellectually satisfying and weirdly easy to learn. It came with some sheet music that s…
I did recorder in primary school. One of the things I dimly remember along with certain games and rhymes. (I think in Irish schools they do the tin whistle.)
I gather a lot of schools are adopting ukuleles now. Ukes have a bad name, unfairly I think. (Listen to Eddie Vedder's "Ukulele Songs" album, very underrated). The ukulele is more forgiving than the recorder in my opinion.
Re: The US Army Issued Ocarinas to Soldiers in World War II
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
In peacetimes, yes, but if it's defensive war I don't see many arguments against a draft, it can't be generalized though.
If there's anything worth defending, people will volunteer to defend it.
What if people do but not in enough numbers? Farewell, sweet country!
Re: The US Army Issued Ocarinas to Soldiers in World War II
#36The US military thought a lot about how to entertain its soldiers because there was a lot of downtime during a war and most of them were draftees who didn't necessarily want to be there, Another thing they did was publish pocket paperback editions of books back when paperbacks were less common. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Services_Editions
My favorite WW2 morale detail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_cream_barge
The British did better
Put beer into drop tanks on Spitfires
https://planehistoria.com/flying-pubs-spitfires-flew-beer-to...
Re: The US Army Issued Ocarinas to Soldiers in World War II
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean, to be fair, so is slavery. I think it's important to acknowledge that conscription is a violation of human rights, and absolutely a violation of human autonomy and dignity. The reason it exists is because historically, the primary source of military power has been the number of armed humans you can put on the battlefield. That's much less true now, but even in WWII the technology wasn't yet up to that point.…
You have the option to emigrate as opposed to fight, which is fundamentally what differentiates conscription from slavery (and human rights violations). You're not legally obligated to stay in your country.
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Re: The US Army Issued Ocarinas to Soldiers in World War II
#38Re: The US Army Issued Ocarinas to Soldiers in World War II
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just because something is forced, doesn’t make it slavery. I’m forced to pay taxes; that doesn’t make me a slave. Nor was a tenant farmer in the Middle Ages when required to provide corvée. I think the primary objection in this thread is to the use of the word slavery, which is simply not the same thing.
I agree with your account, the problem is how many perceive slavery. Here in the south (USA) many still think the slaves before the Civil War were "happy". They obviously weren't slaves. Until ALL mankind looks slavery fully in the eye for understanding, we will continue to undervalue those other then ourselves.
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Re: The US Army Issued Ocarinas to Soldiers in World War II
#40Carter? "Yes sir?" What is it, Carter? "An ocarina, sir" Bring it up here! I've had a really nice, small "English four-hole" unglazed terracotta pendant ocarina since I was a kid. They are actually really fun to play and very visceral, in a sense; the way you can get a chromatic scale from only four hole sizes combinatorially is intellectually satisfying and weirdly easy to learn. It came with some sheet music that s…
I did recorder in primary school. One of the things I dimly remember along with certain games and rhymes. (I think in Irish schools they do the tin whistle.) I gather a lot of schools are adopting ukuleles now. Ukes have a bad name, unfairly I think. (Listen to Eddie Vedder's "Ukulele Songs" album, very underrated). The ukulele is more forgiving than the recorder in my opinion.
Music shops sell a lot of ukuleles. Huge numbers at Christmas, it's a very popular gift.
It's a fabulous instrument, nuanced and subtle, and you can buy beautiful instruments these days for really not much money at all.
But AFAIK its popularity in school as a teaching instrument has as much to do with Spongebob as it does its capability :-)