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Asounds A4 · 0 of 12 holes open
SongsSilent Night
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13 more songs need notes this instrument does not have. Changing the size or key brings some of them into reach.

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  1. 5
  2. 6
  3. 5
  4. 3
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 5
  8. 3
  9. 2'
  10. 2'
  11. 7
  12. 1'
  13. 1'
  14. 5
  15. 6
  16. 6
  17. 1'
  18. 7
  19. 6
  20. 5
  21. 6
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  23. 3
  24. 6
  25. 6
  26. 1'
  27. 7
  28. 6
  29. 5
  30. 6
  31. 5
  32. 3
  33. 2'
  34. 2'
  35. 4'
  36. 2'
  37. 7
  38. 1'
  39. 3'
  40. 1'
  41. 5
  42. 3
  43. 5
  44. 4
  45. 2
  46. 1

Franz Xaver Gruber, 1818. Public domain.

21 notes · A4–F6 sounding · 21 notes · written an octave lower · The standard modern ocarina: ten finger holes, two thumb holes and two subholes that reach the A and B below the C.

Tap a note, or slide along them to slur from note to note without a new breath. On a keyboard the letters on the notes are the ones to press — they run up the ocarina a semitone at a time from the low A.

OcarinaFree · printable · plays in your browser

Silent Night — Ocarina Notes

Silent Night, written out for the ocarina as letter notes with the fingering drawn under each one. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the ocarina waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes46, 11 pitches
  • RangeC4–F5
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo150 bpm · about 29 s
  • LevelIntermediate

Can a ocarina play Silent Night?

✓ Plays as written Every note of it is on the ocarina, in C major from C4 to F5. The check is made note by note against what the instrument can actually sound.

Silent Night: ocarina notes

The large line is the note, and the drawing is its fingering — a filled hole or key is one that is down. A dash holds the note another beat, an underline is half a beat, and a dot beside a note makes it half as long again. Each line is one phrase.

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Silent Night — ocarina notes · tonalics.com

The 11 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 11 and you can play the whole tune.

  • CC4×1
  • DD4×1
  • EE4×5
  • FF4×1
  • GG4×11
  • AA4×10
  • BB4×4
  • CC5×6
  • DD5×5
  • EE5×1
  • FF5×1

What to expect on a ocarina

  • It runs from C4 to F5, an octave and a fourth, using 11 different notes. Its top note is the highest this instrument has.
  • 53% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a minor seventh, E4 to D5, at note 9.
  • Its lowest note covers 10 of the 12 holes and its highest 0; the biggest change between two neighbouring notes moves 6 fingers at once.

About the tune

Franz Xaver Gruber, a schoolteacher and organist, wrote the melody on Christmas Eve 1818 for a poem by the young priest Joseph Mohr, and the two sang it that night in the church of St Nicholas in Oberndorf with Mohr accompanying on guitar. It spread through travelling Tyrolean singers and has since been translated into several hundred languages.

Franz Xaver Gruber, 1818. Public domain. The notes follow Wikipedia, “Silent Night” (engraved score), cross-checked against 2 other transcriptions. More about Silent Night →

Silent Night on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation. It is not offered for the guzheng or handpan, which do not have the notes.

More songs for the ocarina

All 24 ocarina songs · Christmas songs for ocarina · The online ocarina on its own

Playing it on a real ocarina?

If it sounds wrong, check the instrument before the notes. The ocarina tuner listens through your microphone and names what each note is actually sounding.

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