Play Ocarina

The Stars and Stripes Forever on the ocarina

On a 12-hole it starts G, F, E, E. Medium, 33 notes, in C major.

Don't have an ocarina yet?

The Stars and Stripes Forever

Bar 1 of 16

G
Ready when you areTap the timeline to start somewhere else.

What are the notes for The Stars and Stripes Forever?

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

  1. GFE
    Tricky spot:ED♯E
    E
    (hold)D♯E
  2. ED♯E
    GEG
    F
    DD
  3. DC♯D
    DC♯D
    F
    (hold)ED
  4. EG
    AA
    D
    (hold)G

The Stars and Stripes Forever is a long march, so this page teaches its main theme: the broad tune of the trio, the first 16 bars of it, in C major from C sharp up to high A. It starts on a high G, steps down to E and holds that E for a bar and a half. The page follows the right hand of the 1897 piano edition; the piccolo part people also remember is not on it.

The Stars and Stripes Forever ocarina tabs for a 12-hole ocarina: the fingering for each note, then the letter notes bar by bar
The Stars and Stripes Forever as one picture, with the tabs for a 12-hole, to save to your phone. Open the picture

What is the tricky spot in The Stars and Stripes Forever?

The little wobble E, D sharp, E that comes three times in the first half, a half step away from the held E. On a 12-hole, The Stars and Stripes Forever goes from D♯ to E: you lift the right sub-hole. On a 6-hole or 4-hole, you keep the same fingering.

D sharp is outside the plain C major scale, so the quick step back to E asks for tidy fingers: play the three notes slowly on their own and tongue each one lightly, as a band would. The longest note comes first, a tied E of six beats, so take a breath before the first note and another after it.

Where do you breathe in The Stars and Stripes Forever?

On the long notes of the whole-note bars, the third, seventh, eleventh and fifteenth. Each gives you a free beat or two before the tune goes on.

Which ocarina can play The Stars and Stripes Forever?

Any 12-hole, 6-hole or 4-hole ocarina in C plays The Stars and Stripes Forever 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 7 notes here, on a 12-holeHoles in words, with a picture
NoteHoles to coverPicture
GCover every main hole but the right index, right middle, right ring and right pinky
FCover every main hole but the right middle, right ring and right pinky
ECover every main hole but the right ring and right pinky
D♯Cover every main hole but the right ring and right pinky, plus the right sub-hole
DCover every main hole but the right pinky
C♯Cover every main hole but the right pinky, plus the right sub-hole
ACover the left pinky, left middle, left index, left thumb and right thumb

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

How did Sousa write The Stars and Stripes Forever?

Sousa wrote the march on Christmas Day 1896 aboard a ship bound home from Europe, after hearing that the manager of his band had died, and it was first played in Philadelphia on 14 May 1897. He said the three tunes of the last section stand for three regions: the broad melody for the North, the piccolo for the South and the trombones for the West. Congress made it the national march of the United States in 1987. Our tabs follow the 1897 piano edition printed in Cincinnati. We show the melody only. Music: John Philip Sousa (1854-1932), the trio tune of his march, 1897.

What to play next