Zelda Main Theme on a real ocarina

What are the notes for the Zelda main theme?

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

1. 1
   DrestDDDD

   DrestCDrestDDDD

   DrestCDrestDDDD

   Tricky spot:Dlow Alow Alow Alow Alow Alow Alow Alow Alow Alow A
2. 2
   Drestlow ArestDDEF♯G

   ArestAAA♯high C

   high Dresthigh Dhigh Dhigh Dhigh CA♯

   high CrestA♯AA
3. 3
   GGAA♯AG

   FFGAGF

   EEF♯G♯B

   Alow Alow Alow Alow Alow Alow Alow Alow Alow Alow A
4. 4
   Drestlow ArestDDEF♯G

   ArestAAA♯high C

   high Dhigh F

   high Eresthigh C♯restA
5. 5
   A♯resthigh D

   high C♯restArestA

   A♯resthigh D

   high C♯restAF♯
6. 6
   GrestA♯

   ArestFD

   EEF♯G♯B

   Alow Alow Alow Alow Alow Alow Alow Alow Alow Alow A

The whole main theme of the first Zelda game, the overworld theme: the melody line of one fan MIDI file for the NES, Jeffrey M Colletti's, a plain one-line version. It is our only source for these notes, so we could not check them against a second file. The rhythm is the file's: its triplets, the groups of three notes in the time of two, are written as triplets here and on the staff. The file plays each short note shorter than its beat; we wrote every note to run up to the next one, with a rest where the file leaves a gap of about a sixteenth or more, or where a note's length cannot be written as one note on the staff. We slowed the tune from 148 to 100 beats a minute because of the fast runs, and wrote it once through, as the file plays it. The file sits too low for a 12-hole ocarina, so we moved the whole tune up a major third, to D major, which fits a 12-hole exactly, from A to high F.

What is the tricky spot in the Zelda main theme?

The jump from the low A up to D, a fourth, which comes again and again in the fast opening bars. The low A is the bottom of the ocarina, so it takes a steady breath, and the D after it comes quickly. On a 12-hole, the Zelda main theme goes from low A to D: you lift the right pinky, left sub-hole and right sub-hole.

How do you hold and breathe for the Zelda main theme?

Play the groups of triplets in one breath each and breathe in the rests and after the long notes: the held D at the very start, the long notes that end each of the rising runs. Keep the air even and light through the sixteenth notes, with no push on each one. To check your breath, hold each note of the Zelda main theme in turn and watch it on a tuner such as our free ocarina tuner.

Which ocarina can play the Zelda main theme?

The Zelda main theme goes from low A up to high F. A 6-hole ocarina cannot reach low A and high F, and a 4-hole ocarina cannot reach low A, high C♯, high D, high E and high F, so play it on a 12-hole ocarina in C.

Is the Zelda main theme the same as the Legend of Zelda overworld theme?

Yes. Our page is the NES game's overworld theme, the tune Wikipedia says Koji Kondo arranged in a day. Zelda's Lullaby is a different song, and has its own page.

Where does the Zelda main theme play in The Legend of Zelda?

It is the overworld theme of the first game. Wikipedia says Koji Kondo, credited as Konchan, was forced in November 1985, late in the game's development, to drop Ravel's Boléro, which he had planned to use as the title theme, and so wrote a new arrangement of the overworld theme within one day, which "has become an iconic motif echoing throughout continued entries of the series". Wikipedia credits the music of the 1986 The Legend of Zelda to Koji Kondo.

What to play next

• Next song

  Gerudo ValleyMusic from Ocarina of Time.

• 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.