Good King Wenceslas on the ocarina

Updated 2026-10-29

Good King Wenceslas walks: steady quarter and half notes with no quick ones anywhere, starting F, F, F, G, F, F and a long C. Its opening four bars come twice before the tune moves on. In F major the carol runs from C to high C, so it fits a 12-hole, a 6-hole and a 4-hole ocarina in C.

What are the notes for Good King Wenceslas on the ocarina?

Good King Wenceslas, played here in F major, 4/4 time, bar by bar: F, F, F, G | F, F, C | D, C, D, E | F, F | F, F, F, G | F, F, C | D, C, D, E | F, F | high C, B♭, A, G | A, G, F | D, C, D, E | F, F | C, C, D, E | F, F, G | high C, B♭, A, G | F, B♭ | F. Pick your ocarina, then press Play to hear the tune.

What is the tricky spot in Good King Wenceslas?

The second-to-last bar, where the tune holds F and then rises to B flat before it settles back on F to end. On a 12-hole, Good King Wenceslas goes from F to B♭: you lift the left ring, left middle and right index and cover the right ring.

B flat is the one note that is not a natural, a cross-fingering on a 12-hole, and it also comes early in the second half, which starts high C, B flat, A, G, at "Brightly shone the moon". Learn its fingering on its own, then play A, B flat, A until it sits in tune. The leap from the long F up to that high C is the widest in the carol: breathe on the long F, then give the high C a firmer, quicker breath (more on breath). Everything else is repeated notes and steps, so tongue the three F's at the start, and again four bars later, evenly, like footsteps in the snow.

Which ocarina can play Good King Wenceslas?

Any 12-hole, 6-hole or 4-hole ocarina in C plays Good King Wenceslas 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.

Is Good King Wenceslas a spring song?

The tune is. "Tempus adest floridum", "the blooming time is here", is a spring carol first printed in the Finnish songbook Piae Cantiones in 1582. In 1853 John Mason Neale and his music editor Thomas Helmore put Neale's new words about the Bohemian duke Wenceslas to it, set on the Feast of Stephen, the day after Christmas. Our tabs follow Christmas Carols, New and Old, the carol book Henry Ramsden Bramley and John Stainer published in London in the 1870s. Neale died in 1866, Helmore in 1890 and Stainer, whose harmony we leave out, in 1901, and the tune is centuries older, so it is public domain. We show the melody only. Music: the spring carol "Tempus adest floridum", printed in Piae Cantiones (1582); words by John Mason Neale (1818-1866).

More ocarina songs

Next medium song: O Christmas Tree. More: songs for a 4-hole ocarina and all the songs.