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Sweet Hour of Prayer on the ocarina

On a 12-hole it starts C, E, F, G. Easy, 67 notes, in C major.

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Sweet Hour of Prayer

Bar 1 of 32

C
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What are the notes for Sweet Hour of Prayer?

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

  1. C EF
    GG
    AB
    high CA
  2. GE
    EDC
    DE
    DC
  3. EF
    GG
    AB
    high CA
  4. GE
    EDC
    ED
    Tricky spot:CG
  5. high CB
    high CA
    GE
    GG
  6. high CB
    high CA
    GE
    DC
  7. EF
    GG
    AB
    high CA
  8. GE
    EDC
    ED
    C

Sweet Hour of Prayer is a slow hymn in 3/8 that climbs from low C to high C in its first four bars: C, E, F, G, G, A, B, high C. Here is the whole verse in C major, 32 bars with no sharps or flats, so a 4-hole pendant plays it as well as a 6-hole or 12-hole.

Sweet Hour of Prayer ocarina tabs for a 12-hole ocarina: the fingering for each note, then the letter notes bar by bar
Sweet Hour of Prayer as one picture, with the tabs for a 12-hole, to save to your phone. Open the picture

What is the tricky spot in Sweet Hour of Prayer?

The leap from G up to high C that opens the middle section: the second line ends on low C, then the tune goes G, high C, B, high C, A. Halfway through the section the same leap from G to high C comes again. On a 12-hole, Sweet Hour of Prayer goes from G to high C: you lift the left ring, left middle and left index. On a 6-hole or 4-hole, you lift the left index and right index.

Low C to G is the widest jump in the hymn, so let the C go a moment early, breathe, and have the G ready. High C needs a little more air than the G before it: firm up the breath as you lift your fingers, then ease off as the line falls back to A, G and E. Almost every bar is a long note and a short one, two counts and one: give the long note its full length and keep the short one light, so the hymn sways instead of limping. The one bar of three even short notes, E, D, C, comes near the end of every line outside the middle section; play them evenly, not rushed.

Where do you breathe in Sweet Hour of Prayer?

After the D that ends the first line and the low C that ends the second, then twice in the middle section: after the G halfway through and the D that ends it. The last line plays through to the final C.

Which ocarina can play Sweet Hour of Prayer?

Any 12-hole, 6-hole or 4-hole ocarina in C plays Sweet Hour of Prayer 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.

The 8 notes here, on a 12-holeHoles in words, with a picture
NoteHoles to coverPicture
CCover every main hole
ECover every main hole but the right ring and right pinky
FCover every main hole but the right middle, right ring and right pinky
GCover every main hole but the right index, right middle, right ring and right pinky
ACover the left pinky, left middle, left index, left thumb and right thumb
BCover the left pinky, left index, left thumb and right thumb
high CCover the left pinky, left thumb and right thumb
DCover every main hole but the right pinky

Drawn as you see it while playing: mouthpiece towards you, left hand on the left.

Who wrote Sweet Hour of Prayer?

The tune is by William B. Bradbury, an American musician and hymn writer best known for his melodies to Jesus Loves Me, Just as I Am and Sweet Hour of Prayer, who died in 1868. Our tabs follow Heart Songs (Boston, 1909), page 204, which credits the words to W. W. Walford and the music to W. B. Bradbury and prints the hymn in D major. It sets the verse as a first half sung twice with two endings, a middle section, and a da capo back to the first half; we write all of it out, 32 bars, one step lower in C major for the ocarina. We show the melody only. Music: William B. Bradbury (1816-1868), the tune; words credited to William W. Walford.

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