Good Christian Men, Rejoice on the ocarina
On a 12-hole it starts F, F, F, A. Medium, 58 notes, in F major.
Goes up to high D, so it does not fit a 4-hole.
Good Christian Men, Rejoice
Bar 1 of 17
What are the notes for Good Christian Men, Rejoice?
On a 12-hole. Read left to right, a line at a time.
- F FFAB♭high Chigh Dhigh Chigh CFFAB♭high Chigh Dhigh Crest
- high Chigh Dhigh CB♭AGFFrestFrestGGAG
- FGAresthigh Chigh Dhigh CB♭AGFFGGAG
- FGArestDDEETricky spot:Fhigh CAAGG
- Frest
Good Christian Men, Rejoice is the English carol sung to the German tune In dulci jubilo, in a rocking 6/8, and it opens with a lead-in F, then two more F's, A, B flat, C, D. Here it is in F major, from D up to high D, which a 12-hole or a 6-hole ocarina in C can play: the whole verse as a Boston carol book printed it in 1916.
What is the tricky spot in Good Christian Men, Rejoice?
Bars 14 and 15, where the tune climbs from its two lowest notes, D and E, to F and then leaps a fifth up to a long high C with a pause over it. On a 12-hole, Good Christian Men, Rejoice goes from F to high C: you lift the left ring, left middle, left index and right index. On a 6-hole, you lift the left middle and left index.
Play D, D, E, E, F, high C slowly until the C speaks cleanly: it needs firmer air than the low notes before it. Hold the C a little longer than its count, as the pause asks, take a breath, and come back down to A for the last line. B flat is cross-fingered on a 12-hole and turns up in four bars, always between A and C, so practise A, B flat, C on its own first. Most bars move long-short, long-short, a quarter then an eighth: keep the short notes light. In bar 7 the two F's are short, each followed by a gap, so stop each one cleanly rather than holding it.
Where do you breathe in Good Christian Men, Rejoice?
Take a full breath before the lead-in: the first line runs four bars to the rest after the C in bar 4. Then breathe after the long F that ends bar 6, in the rest after the second short F in bar 7, in the rests after the A in bars 9 and 13, with a quick catch between the two F's in bar 11, and after the held high C in bar 15.
Which ocarina can play Good Christian Men, Rejoice?
A 4-hole ocarina cannot reach high D, so play Good Christian Men, Rejoice 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
| Note | Holes to cover | Picture |
|---|---|---|
| F | Cover every main hole but the right middle, right ring and right pinky | |
| A | Cover the left pinky, left middle, left index, left thumb and right thumb | |
| B♭ | Cover the left pinky, left index, right ring, left thumb and right thumb | |
| high C | Cover the left pinky, left thumb and right thumb | |
| high D | Cover the left pinky and right thumb | |
| G | Cover every main hole but the right index, right middle, right ring and right pinky | |
| D | Cover every main hole but the right pinky | |
| E | Cover every main hole but the right ring and right pinky |
Drawn as you see it while playing: mouthpiece towards you, left hand on the left.
| Note | Holes to cover | Picture |
|---|---|---|
| F | Cover every hole but the right middle and right index | |
| A | Cover the left index, left thumb and right thumb | |
| B♭ | Cover the right index, left thumb and right thumb | |
| high C | Cover the left thumb and right thumb | |
| high D | Cover the left thumb | |
| G | Cover every hole but the left middle and right middle | |
| D | Cover every hole but the right middle | |
| E | Cover every hole but the right index |
Drawn as you see it while playing: mouthpiece towards you, left hand on the left.
Where does Good Christian Men, Rejoice come from?
It is the medieval German carol In dulci jubilo, which Wikipedia says is thought to have been written by the mystic Heinrich Seuse around 1328; the tune was printed in a Lutheran hymnal of 1533, and John Mason Neale wrote the looser English version, Good Christian Men, Rejoice, in 1853. The repeated one-word shout in the middle of the verse goes back to a mistake Thomas Helmore made when he transcribed the tune from the 1582 songbook Piae Cantiones. Our tabs follow Carol 342 in Carols Old and Carols New, a carol book published in Boston in 1916, which credits the tune to the Trier Gesangbuch and sets it in 6/8; we play it an octave higher than printed so it sits in the ocarina's range. We show the melody only. Music: the old German carol tune "In dulci jubilo"; English words by John Mason Neale, 1853.