Ocarina Out of Tune? Fix Flat, Sharp and Squeaky Notes

An ocarina has no keys, strings or valves to hold a note in place. Its pitch comes from two things: which holes are open, and how hard you blow. So when a note comes out flat, sharp, airy or as a squeak, the cause is nearly always one of four things: breath pressure, a leaking hole, the two small sub-holes, or, less often, the instrument itself. Work through them in that order.

01 Breath pressure sets the pitch

On an ocarina, more air raises the pitch and less air lowers it. The fingering chooses the note and your breath fine-tunes it, so the same fingering can easily be pushed sharp or pulled flat. Try it: finger C, the home note with all eight finger holes and both thumb holes covered, and hold it against a chromatic tuner. Blow a little softer and the needle falls flat; blow a little harder and it climbs sharp. Somewhere in between is the breath where the note sits in tune.

That centre is different for every note. Low notes want a gentle, slow breath, and each step higher wants a little more support. Beginners tend to blow every note the same, so their low notes come out sharp and their high notes flat. Think of an even rise in air as you climb the scale, and ease off as you come back down.

02 Sharp notes: too much air, or a small leak

If a note reads sharp, blow softer first. This is the most common cause, especially on the lower notes. If it is still sharp at a comfortable breath, check your fingers. A hole that is only partly covered adds open area, and more open area means a higher note. Seal with the flat pad of the finger rather than the fingertip, and keep the hand relaxed: a tense grip tends to pull fingers off the holes.

03 Flat notes: too little air, or a shading finger

A flat note usually needs more breath support, which is why the upper register tends to sag for beginners. Firm up the air from your body rather than puffing your cheeks. Then look at the fingers you have lifted: a finger hovering just above an open hole still shades it, and that pulls the pitch down. Lift fingers cleanly clear. A cold ocarina can also start a little flat, so play for a minute or two before you judge the tuning.

04 Squeaks and airy notes: find the leak

A squeak, a hiss or a note that will not speak is almost always a leak. The usual suspects are the holes you cannot see or barely feel: the two thumb holes underneath, the small sub-holes, and the right-hand pinky hole. To test, play the lowest note, with every hole covered including both sub-holes, using a very gentle breath. If it will not sound cleanly, something is open. Press each finger down firmly in turn while you blow; when the tone suddenly clears, you have found the leaking hole. Pressing a finger into its hole for a moment and then looking at the pad helps too: a good seal leaves a complete ring.

Too much air causes squeaks as well, especially on low notes, because the tone breaks up when it is overblown. And if the sound turns gurgly or fuzzy partway through practice, condensation has collected in the windway. Cover the sound hole, the opening with the sharp edge next to the mouthpiece, and blow one short, firm puff to clear it. Warming the ocarina in your hands before you play makes this happen less often.

05 The two sub-holes

A 12-hole ocarina has two small sub-holes that extend its range downward. With both sub-holes open and everything else covered, you play C, the home note. Cover the B sub-hole and you get B; cover the A sub-hole as well and you reach the lowest note, A. Because they are small and sit off to the side of the main holes, they leak more easily than any other hole. Cover each one by rolling or sliding the neighbouring finger forward so a single pad seals both the main hole and its sub-hole, and use the gentlest breath of all on these notes. Sub-hole placement varies between makers, so match the instructions to the physical holes on your instrument. Our 12-hole finger chart shows the whole sequence from A4 to F6.

06 Warm up with long tones

Long tones are the most direct way to learn each note's breath. Open a chromatic tuner, then:

1. Play a comfortable middle note, such as G (the whole right hand lifted), and hold it for a slow count of four to eight.
2. Watch the needle and adjust your breath until it sits in the centre and stays there.
3. Bend the note on purpose: a little softer until it reads flat, a little firmer until it reads sharp, then back to the centre. This teaches you what in tune feels like.
4. Move one note down, then one note up, and repeat. Lower notes get less air, higher notes more.
5. Finish with a slow scale, holding each note until the needle settles.

A few minutes at the start of each session is enough. The aim is to make the breath curve automatic, so that you centre notes by ear and use the tuner only to check.

07 When it really is the instrument

If one note cannot be centred at any reasonable breath while its neighbours can, and there is no leak, check the fingering before blaming the instrument. Sharps and flats use cross-fingerings, and makers tune them differently, so compare with the chart that came with your ocarina. If a natural note is still badly out, the ocarina may simply be poorly voiced; decorative ocarinas are the usual culprits. The first-ocarina buying guide lists the checks to run when a new instrument arrives.

08 Checking your notes with Ocarina Studio

Ocarina Studio's free chromatic tuner shows the note it hears and how far sharp or flat you are, and it waits when the room is louder than your instrument instead of showing noise as a note. The free 12-hole C and G fingering charts cover A4 to F6 with both sub-holes. In lessons and songs, the pitch difference for the current note stays on screen while you play, so you can see a drifting breath as it happens.

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