Is my ocarina out of tune, or is it me?

Updated 2026-10-27

Most of the time it is breath, because an ocarina's pitch moves with how hard you blow. But cheap ocarinas are often badly tuned, so it really can be the instrument. A simple test with a tuner tells you which: hold one note in tune, lift the next finger without changing your breath, and see how far the new note drops. Repeat up the scale. On a well-tuned ocarina the drops follow a regular pattern; a step that jumps out of it, every time you repeat the test, points at the ocarina.

It is the oldest worry on r/Ocarina. A regular there wrote that "the question 'is it me or ocarina' is as old as ocarinas have been around", and in our random sample of 100 r/Ocarina question posts by beginners from the last three years, 19 were about tuning. One player described what not knowing costs: "I didn't know if it was me or the ocarina that sounded bad. I really nearly did give up."

How much does breath change an ocarina's pitch?

A lot. Pure Ocarinas: "Better quality instruments will overblow above the named pitch of any fingered note at least a semitone without screeching." A semitone is 100 cents. In Pure Ocarinas' own measurements on one ocarina, every note could be played anywhere from 40 cents flat to 20 cents sharp by breath alone. So a beginner who blows a little hard can make a well-tuned ocarina read 30 cents sharp, and a careful player can make a poor one read fine.

How do I test whether it is me or the ocarina?

1. Warm the ocarina by playing for a minute. A cold ocarina reads flat.
2. Set a tuner to A4 = 440 Hz, with a numeric cents display.
3. Play your lowest note softly and steadily, and adjust your breath until it reads in tune. Notice how that breath feels.
4. Without changing your breath, lift the finger for the next note up, and write down how many cents flat it reads at the moment you lift. Do not tongue the change.
5. Now bring that new note into tune, and repeat the lift for the note above it. Work up the whole scale this way, one pair of notes at a time. On a well-tuned ocarina the steps are regular, or change only gradually from one end of the scale to the other: Pure Ocarinas' example is "C: 20, D: 21, E: 19, F: 20, G: 20, A: 21, B: 18, C: 20".
6. Repeat it two or three times and average. A step that jumps out of the pattern, as in Pure Ocarinas' bad example "C: 20, D: 0, E: 40, F: 60", is the ocarina, not you, once you have checked that every covering finger seals and every lifted finger is well clear of its hole. The top two or three notes are the exception: on many 12-hole ocarinas they need a sharp jump in breath, and on some, like the Night by Noble, the very top note needs a little less, so judge the pattern on the notes below them.

Holding your breath steady takes practice, and it is the whole point of the test. Pure Ocarinas explains why you cannot simply play the scale normally and judge by feel: "the human body cannot control blowing pressure deterministically". If your readings jump around between tries, practise long tones for a few days with our guide to breath control and test again.

How many cents out of tune is too much on an ocarina?

Pure Ocarinas gives two marks: "5 to 10 cents is not normally noticeable", and "30 or more will be difficult to compensate for when playing at a moderate tempo." In the step test, the number that counts is how far one step differs from the regular pattern of the others, so a step of 40 among steps of 20 is 20 cents out. A single casual reading includes your breath too, so it can be 30 cents off on a perfect ocarina.

• Up to 10 cents out is fine.
• Between 10 and 30 cents, our rule of thumb is a note to watch: you can usually bring it in with breath once you know it is there.
• 30 cents or more is a problem.
• If your ocarina's maker says it is tuned to A4 = 442 Hz, a standard Pure Ocarinas calls "relatively common in Asia", every note will read about 8 cents sharp on a tuner set to 440. That is a different standard, not a fault: set your tuner to 442 for the test.

What are the signs of a badly tuned ocarina?

• All the finger holes are the same size. Pure Ocarinas: "The clearest tell that an ocarina is not tuned correctly is if all of the finger holes are identically sized".
• One step jumps out of the pattern in the step test above, every time you repeat it.
• A high note screeches before it reaches pitch, even in a warm room.
• Buyer reviews mention tuning. Amazon's summary of reviews for the best-selling Zelda-style replica in October 2026 said "only 2-3 notes are actually in tune"; our buying guide has the details.

What should I do if my ocarina is out of tune?

If it is new, send it back while you can, and see our buying guide for ocarinas players trust. Pure Ocarinas: "In case you do find that your ocarina is not tuned properly I'd strongly recommend getting a better instrument." If you keep it, you can still learn on it: play the notes that are in tune, and treat the bad ones as the instrument's, not yours. If the test pointed at breath, practise against a tuner with our guide to breath control.

What can a microphone tell about my ocarina, and what can't it?

• A microphone can measure which note you are playing, how many cents off it is, how steady a held note is, and whether the pitch rises as you blow harder.
• A microphone can point at a cause from a pattern: high notes sagging together points at breath; one note off on its own points at a leaking hole, a covered sub-hole or the instrument.
• A microphone hears pitch very precisely, but it cannot see your hands, your mouth or the angle you hold the ocarina at. Use a mirror for those.
• One reading cannot separate you from the ocarina. A single reading is your ocarina plus your breath today, which is why a fair test looks at the pattern across notes and repeats.

Our tuning test treats every reading as provisional: a note outside the band first reads as one to check again with a steady breath, firmer for the high notes, not as a fault in your ocarina. The step test above will be in it as an advanced mode. We are building it now.