How hard should you blow an ocarina?

Updated 2026-10-27

Gently for the low notes, and progressively firmer as you go up. Every note on an ocarina is in tune at one breath pressure only: the lowest notes need the least air, the high notes far more. On many 12-hole ocarinas the top three notes need a sharp jump, while others ease off again near the very top. Too little air makes a note flat and airy; too much makes it sharp, then it screeches. Learning that curve on your own ocarina is most of what breath control means.

Learners say nobody teaches it. Under a breathing lesson by ocarina YouTuber Gina Luciani, a comment with 266 likes reads: "I've seen video series on how to play ocarina, and never does anyone ever talk about how to breathe when playing the instrument." By our count, 630 r/Ocarina posts and comments in the last three years mention breath pressure, support or control.

What is an ocarina's breath curve?

The breath curve is how the pressure you need changes from note to note. Pure Ocarinas: "Each note will sound in tune at only one pressure; the lowest notes need the least, and the highest the most." It differs between instruments: "Breath curves vary enormously from maker to maker, so there is no single definition of what an 'in tune' ocarina is." Not every curve climbs all the way: ocarina reviewer Andy Cormier describes the Night by Noble's as flattening near the top, "where the high F may require less air than the high E". So each new ocarina means learning its curve again, with a tuner as the judge.

Pure Ocarinas measured one ocarina's curve with a pressure gauge. Low C played in tune at 36 units and high F at 83. Pushing high F from in tune to 20 cents sharp took 38 more units; doing the same on low C took 3. That is why the high notes feel so different from the low ones.

Should I blow like blowing out a candle or fogging a window?

STL Ocarina's 12-hole booklet asks for "a fast, cool air stream (similar to how you would blow out a candle) as opposed to a wide, warm air stream (like when you use your breath to fog up a window)". Whatever image helps you keep the stream steady, let a tuner judge the result. Two things matter for tone whatever you picture: keep "the rear of your tongue at the base of the mouth at all times", as Pure Ocarinas puts it, and keep your throat open.

How do I practise breath control on the ocarina?

1. Find each note's pressure. Finger a note, play it for a whole breath, and vary your pressure until a tuner reads in tune. Songbird's advice for climbing the scale: "blow softly, giving a little more air with each lifted finger".
2. Step between neighbours. Pure Ocarinas suggests a long tone on low C, then on D, "noticing the pressure difference between C and D", then both in one breath, "making the pressure change needed so that the D begins in tune". Carry on up the scale.
3. Hold long tones. Keep one note steady for several seconds against the tuner; the reading should stay put, not drift or wobble.
4. Practise leaps. Once scales are steady, play from low C to high C and back, "aiming to eliminate pitch errors caused by the pressure changing too slowly".
5. Train the breath away from the ocarina. Pure Ocarinas suggests breathing in fully and then breathing out as slowly as you can through a wide-open mouth, timing it, and trying to beat your time.

Does playing softly put an ocarina out of tune?

Yes. Because pitch follows breath, blowing softer to be quiet makes every note flat. One player on r/Ocarina hit exactly this: "I can't play inside when she's sleeping because playing it too softly affects the tune." Muting attachments exist for this; Andy Cormier recommends one that "can reduce the volume of single-chamber ocarinas by up to 90%".

Can a tuner or an app teach breath control?

A tuner can show you the result of your breath, which is what you need to learn the curve: the pitch of each note, and whether a held note stays steady. A microphone hears pitch very precisely, but it cannot see your hands, your mouth or the angle you hold the ocarina at. It cannot see whether you breathe from the belly or how your tongue sits. Our tuner is being built for this kind of practice; until it is live, any chromatic tuner app with a numeric cents display works. If your high notes are the problem, see why high notes go airy or flat; for starting each note cleanly, see how to tongue notes.