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Go Down Moses on the ocarina

On a 12-hole it starts E, high C, high C, B. Medium, 50 notes, in A minor.

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Goes up to high E, so it does not fit a 4-hole.

Go Down Moses

Bar 1 of 16

E
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What are the notes for Go Down Moses?

On a 12-hole. Read left to right, a line at a time.

  1. E high Chigh CBB
    high Chigh CA
    Tricky spot:EEG♯G♯
    AEE
  2. high Chigh CBB
    high Chigh CA
    EEG♯G♯
    A
  3. AA
    high Dhigh D
    high Ehigh Ehigh D
    high Ehigh Ehigh Dhigh C
  4. high CAA
    high CAAG
    EEG♯G♯
    A

Go Down Moses starts on a low E and jumps up to high C, C, B, B, then C, C and a long A: that is the line about Israel in Egypt's land. In A minor the whole song runs from E up to high E, so it fits a 12-hole or a 6-hole ocarina in C. Each verse line is answered by Let my people go, which climbs E, E, G sharp, G sharp and settles on A. The refrain starts on A, jumps to D and climbs to high E.

Go Down Moses ocarina tabs for a 12-hole ocarina: the fingering for each note, then the letter notes bar by bar
Go Down Moses as one picture, with the tabs for a 12-hole, to save to your phone. Open the picture

What is the tricky spot in Go Down Moses?

The G sharp in each Let my people go, the only sharp in the song, which then rises a half step to A. On a 12-hole, Go Down Moses goes from G♯ to A: you lift the right ring. On a 6-hole, you lift the right middle.

G sharp is a cross-fingering on a 12-hole: practise E, G sharp, A slowly until the G sharp sits in tune, then put the two quarter notes back in. The answer comes four times, so it is worth getting right. The refrain sits higher, around D and high E: blow a little more there and less on the low E's.

Where do you breathe in Go Down Moses?

Breathe after each long A that ends a line, and in the refrain after the held D on Moses, before the climb to high E.

Which ocarina can play Go Down Moses?

A 4-hole ocarina cannot reach high D and high E, so play Go Down Moses in this key on a 12-hole or 6-hole ocarina in C. 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.

The 8 notes here, on a 12-holeHoles in words, with a picture
NoteHoles to coverPicture
ECover every main hole but the right ring and right pinky
high CCover the left pinky, left thumb and right thumb
BCover the left pinky, left index, left thumb and right thumb
ACover the left pinky, left middle, left index, left thumb and right thumb
G♯Cover every main hole but the left ring, right index, right middle and right pinky
high DCover the left pinky and right thumb
high ECover the left pinky
GCover every main hole but the right index, right middle, right ring and right pinky

Drawn as you see it while playing: mouthpiece towards you, left hand on the left.

Where does Go Down Moses come from?

The song was sung by people who had escaped slavery. Its earliest written record is as a rallying song of the Contrabands at Fort Monroe, Virginia, written down by the chaplain Lewis Lockwood and printed as sheet music in 1862; Sarah Bradford's 1869 life of Harriet Tubman says she used it as a code song. Our tabs follow Jubilee Songs, printed in New York in 1872 for the Fisk Jubilee Singers, where the music was "reduced to writing by Theo. F. Seward", who died in 1902. On that page, in F minor, the upper voices sing each verse line alone and the full choir answers Let my people go in four parts. We moved it up to A minor, take the top line only and show the melody only. Music: African American spiritual; first printed with its music in 1862, and in 1872 as sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers, written down by Theodore F. Seward.

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