Leave Her, Johnny on the ocarina
On a 12-hole it starts C, A, A, A. Medium, 32 notes, in F major.
Goes up to high D, so it does not fit a 4-hole.
Leave Her, Johnny
Bar 1 of 8
What are the notes for Leave Her, Johnny?
On a 12-hole. Read left to right, a line at a time.
- C AAAFGAAGFGGGFAhigh Chigh C
- high Dhigh Dhigh C(hold)B♭AAGFhigh CAFAGGF
Leave Her, Johnny starts on one low C, leaps up to A, plays it three times and then dips to F and G. The tabs are in F major, from low C to high D, with one flat: a quick B♭ in the fifth bar. Here is one verse, a solo line and the crew's answer, twice over.
What is the tricky spot in Leave Her, Johnny?
The first two notes: a lone low C, then a leap of a sixth up to A, played three times in a row. On a 12-hole, Leave Her, Johnny goes from C to A: you lift the left ring, right index, right middle, right ring and right pinky. On a 6-hole, you lift the left middle, right middle and right index.
Give the low C its full beat, then blow a little faster for the A instead of pushing hard, and keep your fingers still while you tongue the repeated A's with a light "tu". The only other spot to practise is the end of the fifth bar, where high C drops to B♭ and then A in quick notes: play C, B♭, A slowly a few times until the B♭ fingering comes without a pause.
Where do you breathe in Leave Her, Johnny?
Breathe where the solo hands over to the crew and back: after the long F at the end of the second bar, between the long high C of the fourth bar and the high C that follows it, and after the F in the sixth bar, before the high C that ends it.
Which ocarina can play Leave Her, Johnny?
A 4-hole ocarina cannot reach high D, so play Leave Her, Johnny 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 7 notes here, on a 12-holeHoles in words, with a picture
| Note | Holes to cover | Picture |
|---|---|---|
| C | Cover every main hole | |
| A | Cover the left pinky, left middle, left index, left thumb and right thumb | |
| F | Cover every main hole but the right middle, right ring and right pinky | |
| G | Cover every main hole but the right index, right middle, right ring and right pinky | |
| high C | Cover the left pinky, left thumb and right thumb | |
| high D | Cover the left pinky and right thumb | |
| B♭ | Cover the left pinky, left index, right ring, left thumb and right thumb |
Drawn as you see it while playing: mouthpiece towards you, left hand on the left.
| Note | Holes to cover | Picture |
|---|---|---|
| C | Cover every hole | |
| A | Cover the left index, left thumb and right thumb | |
| F | Cover every hole but the right middle and right index | |
| G | Cover every hole but the left middle and right middle | |
| high C | Cover the left thumb and right thumb | |
| high D | Cover the left thumb | |
| B♭ | Cover the right index, left thumb and right thumb |
Drawn as you see it while playing: mouthpiece towards you, left hand on the left.
Why did sailors sing Leave Her, Johnny at the end of a voyage?
It was their goodbye to the ship. Wikipedia's article on sea shanties says it was usually sung during the last round of pumping the ship dry once she was tied up in port, just before the crew left her. R. R. Terry, who printed it in The Shanty Book, Part II (London, 1926) as "Time for us to leave her", wrote that it "was used for ventilating grievances when nearing a home port" and that "the tune was known to every sailor". He filed it under halliards, and Wikipedia describes halyard shanties as songs for hauling up the sails, so it was not kept for the pumps alone. Frank Bullen had printed nearly the same tune in 1914, in F and marked "Slow, and with expression". Our tabs follow Terry's notes, moved from his E flat up to Bullen's key of F, an octave and a whole step higher, with one verse played once. The tune is anonymous, and we show the melody only. Music: traditional sea shanty, anonymous.