How do you tongue notes on the ocarina?

Updated 2026-10-27

You start each note by releasing the air with the tip of your tongue, as if saying "tu" or "du", while your breath keeps pushing steadily behind it. Pure Ocarinas compares the tongue to a tap: the pressure is always there, and the tongue lets it out and stops it. Tonguing gives each note a clean start at the right pitch, and it is how you play the same note twice in a row without the two blurring into one.

Why shouldn't I just puff each note on the ocarina?

Because an ocarina's pitch follows your breath, a puff is also a pitch slide. Pure Ocarinas: "Often, the most intuitive way to separate notes on a wind instrument is to 'puff' like blowing out a candle. It can be a valuable technique for effects, but it is generally poor because it causes the volume and pitch to ramp up, then roll off." Ending notes matters too. STL Ocarina's booklet: "If the air stream tapers the pitch will sag".

How do I tongue on the ocarina, step by step?

1. Without the ocarina, breathe out steadily through your mouth, then raise the back of your tongue until the air stops. Keep pushing: you will feel the pressure waiting behind your tongue. Lower it and the air flows at once.
2. Now use the tip instead. Put the tip of your tongue on the ridge just behind your top front teeth, as when you say "tu", with the sides sealed so no air escapes.
3. Finger a note, build the pressure behind your tongue, and drop the tip to start the note. To end it, put the tongue back. STL Ocarina's booklet: "To stop a note seal off the roof of your mouth with your tongue."
4. Play four notes on one breath: "tu, tu, tu, tu". Each should start at the same pitch, with no swoop.
5. If air leaks around your tongue, Pure Ocarinas says the tip is probably too far forward in your mouth, or the middle of your tongue too low.

Should I tongue with "tu" or "du"?

Both, for different jobs. Pure Ocarinas: "'T', with the tip of the tongue closer to the front of the mouth, produces a harder articulation with a distinct starting pulse of air", while "'D', similar to above, with the tongue farther back, creates a softer articulation." STL Ocarina's booklet uses "du" for smooth, connected playing. Since an ocarina can barely play louder or softer, a harder start is how you give a note emphasis.

What is double tonguing on the ocarina?

Double tonguing is for fast passages: you alternate the tip and the middle of the tongue, "similar to 'tu - ku - tu - ku ...'", in Pure Ocarinas' words. Start slowly, at about 100 beats per minute, and make both syllables equal. Pure Ocarinas warns against shrinking the movement as you speed up: "There is a tendency to make the movements really small, which can restrict the airflow enough to make your high notes flat."

Can a tuner check my tonguing?

A tuner can show the symptom. Play four tongued notes into a tuner: each should land on the same reading straight away. If the reading swoops up at the start of every note and sags at the end, you are puffing rather than tonguing. 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 your tongue, so the fix is still yours to find. Our tuner is being built now; any chromatic tuner app works until then. For the breath behind the tongue, see breath control.