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Row, Row, Row Your Boat on the ocarina

Updated 2026-10-29

Row, Row, Row Your Boat opens on three C's and climbs step by step, through D, E and F, to a long G. In C major it runs from C up to high C with no sharps or flats, the exact range of a 4-hole pendant. It is in 6/8: count each bar as two slow beats, each split into three.

What are the notes for Row, Row, Row Your Boat on the ocarina?

Row, Row, Row Your Boat, played here in C major, 6/8 time, bar by bar: C, C | C, D, E | E, E, E, F | G | high C, high C, high C, G, G, G | E, E, E, C, C, C | G, F, E, D | C. Pick your ocarina, then press Play to hear the tune.

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  1. C
  2. C
  3. C
  4. D
  5. E
  6. E
  7. E
  8. E
  9. F
  10. G
  11. high C
  12. high C
  13. high C
  14. G
  15. G
  16. G
  17. E
  18. E
  19. E
  20. C
  21. C
  22. C
  23. G
  24. F
  25. E
  26. D
  27. C

What is the tricky spot in Row, Row, Row Your Boat?

The end of the quick part, where twelve short notes fall in four groups from high C to C and the tune then leaps straight back up to G. On a 12-hole, Row, Row, Row Your Boat goes from C to G: you lift the right index, right middle, right ring and right pinky.

The twelve quick notes are four groups of three on one pitch each: high C, G, E, C. You need only four fingerings, and the tongue does the rest with an even "tu-tu-tu". Take a breath before that high C, because from there to the end is one phrase. The first two bars are the opposite, long notes: hold each of the first two C's for one whole slow beat before the third one moves on.

Which ocarina can play Row, Row, Row Your Boat?

Any 12-hole, 6-hole or 4-hole ocarina in C plays Row, Row, Row Your Boat 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 Row, Row, Row Your Boat?

The tune sung today first appears with these words in 1881, signed by Eliphalet Oram Lyte; the words are older, and they were printed in 1852 to a very different tune, and two years later to another. The tune appears in the Franklin Square Song Collection (New York, 1881), headed "Row Your Boat" and "(Round.)" and signed "E. O. Lyte", with the numbers 1 to 4 over the staff where each new voice of the round comes in. The book does not say whether Lyte wrote the tune or arranged it. Our tabs follow that page, which sets "gently" on two E's; a 1919 songbook has E then D there instead. Lyte died in 1913, so the tune is public domain. We show the melody only. Music: the tune credited to Eliphalet Oram Lyte (1842-1913) in 1881; words printed earlier, to other tunes.

More ocarina songs

Next easy song: Ode to Joy. More: easy ocarina songs, songs for a 4-hole ocarina and all the songs.