Play Ocarina

Can-can on the ocarina

Updated 2026-10-29

The can-can opens on a long C, then dashes D, F, E, D up to two G's: the tune of the high-kick dance. In C major it needs no sharps or flats and stays between C and high C, so any C ocarina plays it, a 4-hole pendant included. These sixteen bars are the theme once through.

What are the notes for Can-can on the ocarina?

Can-can, played here in C major, 2/4 time, bar by bar: C | D, F, E, D | G, G | G, A, E, F | D, D | D, F, E, D | C, high C, B, A | G, F, E, D | C | D, F, E, D | G, G | G, A, E, F | D, D | D, F, E, D | C, G, D, E | C. Pick your ocarina, then press Play to hear the tune.

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  1. C
  2. D
  3. F
  4. E
  5. D
  6. G
  7. G
  8. G
  9. A
  10. E
  11. F
  12. D
  13. D
  14. D
  15. F
  16. E
  17. D
  18. C
  19. high C
  20. B
  21. A
  22. G
  23. F
  24. E
  25. D
  26. C
  27. D
  28. F
  29. E
  30. D
  31. G
  32. G
  33. G
  34. A
  35. E
  36. F
  37. D
  38. D
  39. D
  40. F
  41. E
  42. D
  43. C
  44. G
  45. D
  46. E
  47. C

How do you keep up with the can-can?

Start slowly: the hardest bar is the seventh, where a quick C jumps a whole octave to high C and the run tumbles straight back down, B, A, G, F, E, D. On a 12-hole, Can-can goes from C to high C: you lift the left ring, left middle, left index, right index, right middle, right ring and right pinky.

Learn the tune at half speed first, so that every run is four even notes, then raise the tempo a little at a time. The runs move between neighbouring notes, so keep the fingers close to the holes and let them roll from one note to the next. The repeated G's and D's are tongued, not fingered: a crisp "tu tu" with the fingers still. Take your breaths just before the long C that starts each half, never in the middle of a run. Offenbach marks the galop Allegretto moderato, moderately lively, so it does not need to race to sound right.

Which ocarina can play Can-can?

Any 12-hole, 6-hole or 4-hole ocarina in C plays Can-can in this key. On an ocarina in G or F, use the same fingerings: the tune sounds in a different key, which is fine when you play alone. Each linked chart has every fingering for its ocarina, and you can check your notes with a tuner such as our free ocarina tuner.

Did Offenbach write the can-can?

Offenbach wrote the tune, not the dance. It is the "Galop infernal" from Offenbach's comic opera Orpheus in the Underworld, first staged in Paris on 21 October 1858, where the gods break into it at a party on the banks of the Styx after a minuet that bores everyone. In the 1890s, years after Offenbach's death, the Moulin Rouge and the Folies Bergère took the galop for their can-can, and the tune has belonged to the dance ever since. Our tabs follow the vocal score of Offenbach's 1874 revised version (Paris, Heugel), where the chorus sings the theme to "la la la"; we take the orchestra's line from the piano part, move it from D major to C and end on its final C, leaving out the short note that leads back to the repeat. Offenbach died in 1880, so the music is public domain. We show the melody only. Music: Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880), the Galop infernal from his opera Orpheus in the Underworld.

More ocarina songs

Next medium song: The Irish Washerwoman. More: songs for a 4-hole ocarina and all the songs.