I Vow to Thee, My Country on the ocarina

What are the notes for I Vow to Thee, My Country?

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

1. 1
   EG ·Ahigh CBG

   high Chigh Dhigh CB

   ABAG

   EEG
2. 2
   Ahigh CBG

   Tricky spot:high Chigh Dhigh Ehigh E

   high Ehigh Dhigh Chigh D

   high CGE
3. 3
   DDCE

   DGGE

   DDEG

   AAB
4. 4
   high Chigh CBA

   Ghigh CE

   DCDE

   GEG
5. 5
   Ahigh CBG

   high Chigh Dhigh CB

   ABAG

   EEG
6. 6
   Ahigh CBG

   high Chigh Dhigh Ehigh E

   high Ehigh Dhigh Chigh D

   high C

I Vow to Thee, My Country is sung to Thaxted, the broad tune Holst lifted from the Jupiter movement of The Planets. It starts with two quick notes, E and G, before the first bar, then A, high C, B, G. Here is the whole verse in C major, 24 bars of slow 3/4, from low C to high E. It fits a 12-hole and a 6-hole ocarina in C.

What is the hardest note in I Vow to Thee, My Country?

High E, the top of the tune, which comes after a quick high C and D in the sixth bar and again in the last line. On a 12-hole, I Vow to Thee, My Country goes from high D to high E: you lift the right thumb. On a 6-hole, you lift the left thumb.

High E sits one step above high D, so it needs faster air than anything else in the piece; blow firmer as you step up from D and keep it there for the two E's that follow (more on high notes). The other trap is rhythm. Most phrases open with a long A, then C, then a dotted B with a very short G after it: count the B as most of a beat and let the G be a quick pick-up into the next bar, not an even pair. The middle eight bars drop to the bottom of the ocarina, around low C and D, so ease the air right off there or those notes go sharp.

Where do you breathe in I Vow to Thee, My Country?

Each phrase ends on a two-beat note followed by two quick notes that start the next one. Breathe at the end of the long note, cutting it a little short, so the two quick notes come in on time. Five of the verse's six phrases end this way; the last one ends on a long high C.

Which ocarina can play I Vow to Thee, My Country?

A 4-hole ocarina cannot reach high D and high E, so play I Vow to Thee, My Country 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 tune of I Vow to Thee, My Country come from?

From Holst's own orchestral suite. It is the broad middle theme of Jupiter, the fourth movement of The Planets, and in 1921 Holst fitted it to a poem by Cecil Spring Rice, who, as a footnote in Curwen's 1921 printing says, wrote the words while he was British Ambassador in Washington in 1918. Our tabs follow that printing, a unison song for voice and piano, which also carries Holst's own note that the melody is taken from Jupiter. The tune is named Thaxted after the village where Holst lived, and under that name it is hymn 188 in the 1925 Songs of Praise. In the tenth bar the 1921 page gives singers a choice of a low G or the G an octave higher; we take the higher one, as the 1925 hymnal does, which keeps the tune on a 6-hole. Holst died in 1934 and Spring Rice in 1918. We show the melody only. Music: Gustav Holst (1874-1934), the tune Thaxted from Jupiter in his suite The Planets; words by Cecil Spring Rice (1859-1918).

What to play next

• Next song

  Will the Circle Be UnbrokenAnother medium song.

• Fingering chart

  Every note on the 12-holeWith a printable PDF.

• Tuner

  Sounds off? Check your notesSee if it's you or the ocarina, in 2 minutes.