O Little Town of Bethlehem on the ocarina
On a 12-hole it starts B, B, B, A♯. Medium, 57 notes, in G major.
Goes up to high E, so it does not fit a 4-hole.
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Bar 1 of 16
What are the notes for O Little Town of Bethlehem?
On a 12-hole. Read left to right, a line at a time.
- B BBA♯Bhigh Dhigh CEAGF♯GADBB
- BBhigh Ehigh Dhigh Dhigh CEAGF♯GBAGB
- BBAGF♯F♯F♯EF♯GABB
- BBA♯BTricky spot:high Dhigh CEhigh Ehigh DGBAG
O Little Town of Bethlehem on the ocarina opens with four B's around one A sharp, then jumps up to D and C before dropping to a low E. Redner's tune moves in steady quarter notes, and every four bars it settles on a held note for three beats. In G major it runs from D up to high E, which a 12-hole or a 6-hole ocarina in C can play.
Where is the big jump in O Little Town of Bethlehem?
In the last line, where the low E at the end of "of all the years" leaps a full octave to high E at "Are met in thee". On a 12-hole, O Little Town of Bethlehem goes from E to high E: you lift the left ring, left middle, left index, right index, right middle, left thumb and right thumb. On a 6-hole, you lift the left middle, right middle, left index, left thumb and right thumb.
Hear the high E in your head before you play it, then give it a firmer, faster breath than the low E (why high notes go airy or flat). It is the top note of the carol, and it falls straight back to D and then to G, so keep the airstream steady through the drop. The other spot to practise is the A sharp in the first bar and again in bar 13: it is only a passing note between two B's, so finger it lightly and do not let it pull the B's flat. The second line has a smaller version of the climb, B up to high E on "deep".
Where do you breathe in O Little Town of Bethlehem?
Breathe on the three-beat note that closes each four-bar phrase, the long B or G, before the quarter-note B that starts the next one. Each phrase is short, so a quick top-up there is enough; save a deeper breath for the last phrase, which holds the octave leap.
Which ocarina can play O Little Town of Bethlehem?
A 4-hole ocarina cannot reach high D and high E, so play O Little Town of Bethlehem 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 10 notes here, on a 12-holeHoles in words, with a picture
| Note | Holes to cover | Picture |
|---|---|---|
| B | Cover the left pinky, left index, left thumb and right thumb | |
| A♯ | Cover the left pinky, left index, right ring, left thumb and right thumb | |
| high D | Cover the left pinky and right thumb | |
| high C | Cover the left pinky, left thumb and right thumb | |
| E | Cover every main hole but the right ring and right pinky | |
| A | Cover the left pinky, left middle, left index, left thumb and right thumb | |
| G | Cover every main hole but the right index, right middle, right ring and right pinky | |
| F♯ | Cover every main hole but the right index, right middle and right pinky | |
| D | Cover every main hole but the right pinky | |
| high E | Cover the left pinky |
Drawn as you see it while playing: mouthpiece towards you, left hand on the left.
| Note | Holes to cover | Picture |
|---|---|---|
| B | Cover the right middle, left thumb and right thumb | |
| A♯ | Cover the right index, left thumb and right thumb | |
| high D | Cover the left thumb | |
| high C | Cover the left thumb and right thumb | |
| E | Cover every hole but the right index | |
| A | Cover the left index, left thumb and right thumb | |
| G | Cover every hole but the left middle and right middle | |
| F♯ | Cover every hole but the left middle | |
| D | Cover every hole but the right middle | |
| high E | All holes open |
Drawn as you see it while playing: mouthpiece towards you, left hand on the left.
Who wrote the tune of O Little Town of Bethlehem?
Lewis Redner, the organist of a Philadelphia church whose rector was Phillips Brooks. Brooks wrote the words for a Sunday school service at Christmas 1868, three years after visiting Bethlehem, and Redner said the tune came to him in the night just before the first practice. In the United States the carol is still sung to Redner's tune, called St. Louis; in Britain it usually goes to Forest Green, a folk tune that Vaughan Williams arranged. Our tabs follow St. Louis as an 1894 Boston hymnal prints it, as the second of two tunes for the words. Brooks died in 1893 and Redner in 1908. We show the melody only. Music: the tune "St. Louis" by Lewis H. Redner (1831-1908); words by Phillips Brooks (1835-1893).