Ocarina for beginners: a plan for your first week

Updated 2026-10-28

In your first week on the ocarina, aim for one clean note, then the C major scale, then two short songs. Spend day 1 on holding it and blowing a single note, days 2 to 4 on breath, the scale and tonguing, days 5 and 6 on Mary Had a Little Lamb and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, and day 7 on checking your ocarina with a tuner. Each day below links to the page that goes deeper on that step, and everything here is free and works on a 12-hole, a 6-hole or a 4-hole ocarina.

Before you start, find somewhere you can play without worrying who hears. An ocarina is loud and can't play quietly in tune: blowing softer makes every note flat, and Pure Ocarinas warns that playing timidly builds bad habits.

Day 1: hold it and play one note

Learn the grip first, from our page on how to hold an ocarina: pads of the fingers on the holes, thumbs underneath, a loose hold. Then rest the mouthpiece against your lips without putting it in your mouth; Pure Ocarinas suggests lips shaped "as if you were saying the word 'boo'", and the mouthpiece never touching your teeth. Blow gently and steadily. Start on G rather than on C: fewer holes are covered, so there are fewer to leak. The fingering charts show G on a 12-hole, a 6-hole and a 4-hole.

Day 2: find where each note sounds right

Finger G, start blowing very softly and slowly blow harder. The note goes from weak, to clear, to a screech; Pure Ocarinas uses this sweep to find where a note sits. Watch it on a tuner, such as our free tuner: somewhere in the middle it reads G, and above or below that it reads a different note. Every note has its own in-tune breath, low notes softer and high notes harder, and finding them is most of what breath control means. Our guide to breath control explains why, with exercises.

Day 3: the C major scale

Play C, D, E, F, G, A, B and high C, one long note per breath, and back down. Give each note a little more air than the one below it (a few ocarinas ease off again at the very top), and stop on any note that squeaks or sounds airy until it is clean. Our page on ocarina notes and the scale has the scale as pictures for 12-hole, 6-hole and 4-hole ocarinas.

Day 4: start each note with your tongue

Instead of puffing each note, release it with the tip of your tongue, as if saying "tu", and keep the breath steady behind it. Play the scale again with four "tu" notes on each step. Our guide to tonguing walks through it; it is what keeps repeated notes in a song separate and in tune.

Day 5: your first song, Mary Had a Little Lamb

Mary Had a Little Lamb uses only 4 notes, C, D, E and G, and needs no high notes. Play it slowly from the tabs, a fingering picture for each note, and listen to it on the page first if you don't know the tune.

Day 6: a second song, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star uses 6 notes, C, D, E, F, G and A, and starts with a leap from C up to G, so it practises moving your breath as well as your fingers. Warm up first with a few long notes, holding each one steady against the tuner.

Day 7: check your ocarina, and yourself

Run the note-by-note test on our tuner. It asks you for each note of your ocarina's scale in turn, and you can skip any you haven't learned yet; it ends with a report. A note that stands out may be your breath or may be the instrument; our guide Is my ocarina out of tune, or is it me? tells the two apart. That matters most while the ocarina is new and you may still be able to return it.

What if something goes wrong in the first week?

• A squeak or a weak, breathy sound. On a playable ocarina, Pure Ocarinas says, "you are either blowing far too hard, or far too softly". Go back to day 2.
• Airy or flat high notes. They need much more breath than the low ones, and every finger sealed; see why high notes go airy or flat.
• Sore hands. Pure Ocarinas says some ache is normal while you are new to the instrument and goes away after a few weeks. Beyond that, check that you aren't gripping too hard or looking down at the ocarina, both covered in how to hold an ocarina.

What should you learn after the first week?

More songs from our easy ocarina songs, the high notes up to the top of your ocarina, and longer, steadier notes.