Over There on the ocarina

What are the notes for Over There?

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

1. 1
   AC ·F

   (hold)restAC

   F

   (hold)restAC
2. 2
   FAC

   FAC

   F

   (hold)restGA
3. 3
   B♭A

   Ghigh CB♭

   AG

   FAF
4. 4
   EG

   FEFD

   G

   (hold)restAC
5. 5
   F

   (hold)restAC

   F

   (hold)restAC
6. 6
   FAC

   FAC

   F

   (hold)restAG
7. 7
   F

   CAGF

   G

   CDE
8. 8
   FF

   FFF

   FEDE

   F

Over There is a brisk song in 2/4 whose chorus keeps coming back to one figure: A, a drop to low C, then a long F. Here is the chorus in F major, its two-note pickup and 32 bars from low C to high C, so a 4-hole pendant plays it as well as a 6-hole or 12-hole.

What is the tricky spot in Over There?

The drop from A to low C that leads into almost every phrase: two quick notes, A then low C, then F, which is usually held across the bar line. The chorus makes that drop 10 times, the first in the two pickup notes that open it. On a 12-hole, Over There goes from A to C: you cover the left ring, right index, right middle, right ring and right pinky. On a 6-hole or 4-hole, you cover the left middle, right middle and right index.

Low C is every hole covered, so the drop moves the whole hand at once while the breath eases off for the low note. Practise A, low C, F slowly until the C sounds clean, then bring it up to speed. B-flat, the one cross-fingered note, comes in the line that climbs to high C, so check its fingering on the chart before you start.

Where do you breathe in Over There?

At the rests after the long notes: after the second long F, the F that ends the first line, the G held before the third line, and each of the three long Fs after it; then, with no rest, after the quarter-note low C four bars from the end. The last four bars play through to the final F.

Which ocarina can play Over There?

Any 12-hole, 6-hole or 4-hole ocarina in C plays Over There 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.

Who wrote Over There?

George M. Cohan wrote both the words and the music of Over There, a song from 1917. Our tabs follow a 1917 printing by Leo Feist of New York, from the University of North Carolina sheet music collection, whose catalogue files it under World War, 1914-1918 and gives Cohan's dates as 1878-1942. It prints the song for voice and piano in B-flat major, 2/4, marked Allegro Moderato: eight bars of piano, a 32-bar verse with two sets of words, then a 32-bar chorus with a repeat sign and two endings. We give the chorus once, from its pickup to the second ending, moved up a fifth to F major for the ocarina. We show the melody only. Music: George M. Cohan (1878-1942), words and music.

What to play next

• Next song

  Carolina in the MorningAnother 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.