PlaysoloistWinds & FlutesOcarinaSongsLondonderry Air Motif

ocarina song · Winds & Flutes

Londonderry Air Motif Ocarina Fingerings

Composer
Traditional
Year
—
Key
D
Time
4/4
Tempo
68 BPM
Difficulty
Advanced · ★★★★
First note
D5

Londonderry Air Motif on ocarina

An excerpt of the melody, not the full-length tune, rendered as 12-hole ocarina fingering you can read on screen or print for the stand, free.

Traditional Irish air, 19th century; public domain. The Londonderry Air melody only; the later ‘Danny Boy’ lyric is not part of this lesson.

How to practise this on ocarina

Each diagram is your ocarina seen from the front — a filled hole is covered, the two small marks on the left are the subholes, and the dashed pair are the thumb holes on the back. Londonderry Air Motif starts on D5. Because an ocarina's pitch comes from the total open hole area, your breath pressure is your tuning: push harder and the note sharpens, ease off and it flattens.

Climb the fingerings in the order shown instead of hunting for holes, and keep your air steady so the pitch sits still — a chromatic tuner shows the moment a note drifts. Take it at around 68 BPM to begin, walking slowly through the phrase, and only lift the tempo once two takes in a row come back clean. By the numbers, this setting runs 12 notes across 4 bars, from D5 up to D6 in 4/4 time.

Keep exploring

Free on the App Store

Play Danny Boy (Londonderry Air) in Ocarina Studio — graded note by note.

Ocarina Studio's song library has its own version of Danny Boy (Londonderry Air), included with Ocarina Studio Pro. Play along with the 12-hole fingering on screen and get an on-device verdict on every note of your take. No ads, no account.

Get Ocarina on the App Store