Happy Birthday on the ocarina
Updated 2026-10-29
Happy Birthday on the ocarina starts D, D, E, D, G, F sharp. Here it is in G major, from D up to high D. Three of its four phrases open with the same two quick D's, so once you can play the first phrase you have the start of the next two.
What are the notes for Happy Birthday on the ocarina?
Happy Birthday in G major, 3/4 time, bar by bar: D, D | E, D, G | F♯, D, D | E, D, A | G, D, D | high D, B, G | F♯, E, high C, high C | B, G, A | G. Pick your ocarina, then press Play to hear the tune.
- D
- D
- E
- D
- G
- F♯
- D
- D
- E
- D
- A
- G
- D
- D
- high D
- B
- G
- F♯
- E
- high C
- high C
- B
- G
- A
- G
- D
- D
- E
- D
- G
- F♯
- D
- D
- E
- D
- A
- G
- D
- D
- high D
- B
- G
- F♯
- E
- high C
- high C
- B
- G
- A
- G
What is the tricky spot in Happy Birthday?
The third pair of quick D's, where the tune leaps a whole octave straight up to high D. On a 12-hole, Happy Birthday goes from D to high D: you lift the left ring, left middle, left index, right index, right middle, right ring and left thumb.
Get the high D ready while you play the two D's: they share one fingering, so your fingers are free to think ahead. High D needs a faster, firmer breath than the D an octave below; ease off again as the line comes down through B, G, F sharp and E. F sharp is the one sharp in the song, and it takes a cross-fingering on a 12-hole and a 6-hole alike, so practise it on its own, from G down to F sharp and back.
Which ocarina can play Happy Birthday?
A 4-hole ocarina cannot reach high D, so play Happy Birthday 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.
Where does the Happy Birthday tune come from?
From a classroom greeting. The tune is "Good Morning to All", printed in Song Stories for the Kindergarten by the sisters Mildred and Patty Hill, a book whose preface is dated June 1893. In its 1896 edition each line starts on a single note, because "Good" has one syllable; when the words became "Happy birthday", that note split in two. The Everyday Song Book of 1922 prints the birthday words on the same tune, and our tabs follow it. That the sisters wrote the tune is traditional, though Wikipedia notes the claim is disputed. In 2015 a US federal judge ruled that Warner/Chappell had not shown it owned the birthday words; the melody was already out of copyright in the US. In the UK and EU the song's copyright ran out at the end of 2016, seventy years after Patty Hill died, so it is now public domain in the US, the UK and the EU. We show the melody only. Music: the tune of "Good Morning to All", credited to Mildred J. Hill (1859-1916), whose sister Patty S. Hill (1868-1946) wrote its first words.
More ocarina songs
Next medium song: Brahms' Lullaby. More: all the songs.