Hello! Nostalgia here! If you’re new to this blog, welcome! I started this blog when I was still learning guitar and had dreams of playing on stage with a band. I made that dream a reality in 2022 and have played quite a bit since, at conventions, at a festival, and then playing weekly at a church in the city over.
But since joining a closer, more traditional church, there wasn’t much space for guitar, and definitely not an electric one. I bought an ocarina a decade ago and figured this would be a great opportunity to learn and play it. Thus, I’m back in the beginner seat, and here was my approach learning the instrument and preparing to perform once again!
My Musical History
I took music through school, but I didn’t play any instruments proficiently, couldn’t read and play easily, couldn’t create or improvise, and I didn’t play any band instruments. Regardless, I had to make the dream happen. I’ve been a fan of Japanese music since middle school, so I knew I wanted to make an anime cover band.
In 2021, I got a band together, and by 2022, we fulfilled our band goal of playing in a convention, and in 2023, I got to play as part of a duet at the biggest Japanese festivals here in Canada. While I would still consider my guitar skills mediocre, I could play through any piece if I had the tabs or chords, and enough time to really master it before I had to take the stage.
I was challenged further when I pursued my Christian faith more seriously and had to play for a spontaneous church every weekend for 9 months. The songs were easier, but I still had to learn to transpose keys pretty quickly and to listen to the singers or other musicians to know what part of the song we’re going to, and when to slow down/speed up or stop. But now I’m starting over with the ocarina!
Why The Ocarina?
Around 2013-2015, when I was still interested in mastering some kind of instrument and was exploring a few like the harmonica, violin, and bass guitar, I purchased an ocarina. I knew about the instrument thanks to Pokemon, but I was also aware of the hype in Zelda. Due to fear of competition, I was always more attracted to unique or less popular instruments, though I still wanted to play the songs I liked.
I only recalled trying to play the ocarina a couple times back then. I was quite insecure of playing badly around my family, especially because they’re the kind to tease, especially my brother who was a bully to me growing up. But I lived in a 2 bedroom apartment with 4 or 5 people at a time…you do the math. If someone was home, I didn’t feel I was in a position to play such a loud instrument, and if people were gone, there were other things I’d rather do. While I picked up the guitar later when living there, an unplugged electric guitar is quiet enough to not wake anyone up, so it was easier to be consistent with it.
Along with the other temporary instruments, I did try to sell my ocarina a few times. When you’re broke or just trying to make up space, selling things was always a solution for me. While people bought my harmonica, violin, mini drum set, and other guitars, for some reason, I had no takers for my ocarina.
And with moving and then having other priorities, I neglected the instrument. By the time I came back to it, it was in the bottom of a miscellaneous bucket collecting dust. Thankfully it’s plastic, so as long as it isn’t damaged, it just needed a good wash.
Finding A Reason To Play
In late January, I visited a new local church. The pastor and wife was evangelising, as they do every Saturday, and they knocked on my door. After asking them some theological questions and praying about it, I decided to check them out the next day and it was what I was looking for.
I wasn’t planning on telling anyone about my music history as I didn’t want to get burnt out or used like I was in the previous church, nor am I the type to show off, but during my first visit, another member and the pastor’s wife started chatting with me and they asked if I could sing. I said I’m better at guitar, but I could hit a note and do backup or harmonize.
The pastor’s wife told me if I wanted to serve, just tell the pastor. I wanted to wait, settle in, ensure it’s the right place for me (considering I started serving the other church from day 1), but I did share my interest with him a few weeks in, and we both agreed that I should settle in first. Since the were giving me rides, I would still serve in other ways by helping them set up and clean up afterwards.
This church is more old fashioned, so instead of a full band and CCM songs, they stick to hymns for corporate worship. They don’t have a keyboardist/pianist at the moment, so they would play piano recordings of the hymns. The only musician as far as I know is the pastor’s wife who would play violin on top to highlight the vocal line. She really wanted me to join in some way, so as I was considering what I was willing to do and how I could fit in with this style of church, I considered my ocarina.
So after a few weeks, on February 6, 2025 to be exact, I sent her a text letting her know my capabilities and interest. I shared that I have an ocarina, but I would need some time to not only learn to play it, but also learn to read sheet music. But if her and her husband are open to including it, I will start learning seriously. She replied the following day letting me know where to find hymns to practice with.
I know what the notes are on a staff, but back when I was playing the recorder and clarinet in school, we would only do easy songs and usually in the same key, so I really didn’t feel confident about reading in various keys….but I was up for a challenge, I was up for learning something new. She said it sounded like a great idea, so I started practicing.
So here’s my approach and timeline from actually picking it up to my first time playing it in public 8 weeks later. I didn’t intend or plan an article article until closer to when I said I was ready, so I sadly didn’t photograph or record anything during my true rookie days. But I do plan to record my first few weeks performing so you can hear my improvement and confidence as I keep practicing and pushing myself out of my comfort zone. ^_^
Learning The Ocarina
Week 1:
As mentioned in my bio, I have a bit of an advantage as I played the recorder and clarinet ages ago. I was also in choir, so having breath control and a steady flow isn’t a new to me, but a new instrument is still a new instrument.
The first thing that took a little getting used to is holding the ocarina and pressing the holes properly. It felt a little weird and it was easy to leave a little gap, but I was able to hear when something wasn’t right and adjust accordingly.
I didn’t play a whole lot this week as I had other things to do, but I was hoping to at least be able to play a scale. I was tempted to do the usual school method where you play just 3 notes first and do some easy songs, then add more notes as you go along….but ain’t nobody got time for that. I’m not a toddler. There’s very little difference between playing an A and a G, it just comes to memory, and I wanted to cover more flow faster.
After learning guitar, I noticed that I do have a good eye at seeing patterns. I don’t like to learn blindly, I want to understand and create little cheat sheets in my head so I could feel more confident. The C to C scale is pretty simple, just remove one finger. The only one that stays is the left pinky as you need that to balance and hold it well.
Weeks 2-3:
After learning the basic notes, I started looking for some easy hymns to play, aka mostly the key of C, but also a few in the key of G, as I need to start learning sharps and flats anyways.
As I was learning my first few hymns, I started to feel a bit of confidence reading music. Not that I was doing it fluently, but notes became familiar and I felt my hands moving faster. I then tried to find a track to play with, like I did with guitar, to ensure I’m playing on time and so I understand my part in the song.
At this point, I noticed that some of my notes, while I was definitely using the right fingering, was sounding a little flat. After ensuring the accompaniment is in the right key, I did a bit of research and learned that the ocarina is meant to be blown hard and that there is a pitch curve (Source: PureOcarinas.com). Lower notes need less air pressure, higher notes need more. All that to say, playing quietly to not annoy my neighbours is not a possibility.
After that, I pulled out a tuner app to at least ensure the ocarina was capable of hitting the right notes, just in case. Perhaps it was damaged in storage for example, but no, if I blow right, it can hit the right notes. I developed a cold around this time, so I didn’t focus too much on my airflow strength just yet. I still had to work a lot on reading and moving my fingers accordingly.
Weeks 4-5:
At this point, I felt more encouraged to try out songs in various keys and really get comfortable with sharps and flats.
Once again, I noticed a pattern. For the majority of sharps and flats, all I had to do was add the ring finger on my right hand to make the note a 1/2 step lower. So Bb is B with that ring finger. C# would be D with the ring finger. Only the lowest notes require using the mini holes, but the majority of hymns stayed above low D so I didn’t have to worry too much about it.
At this point, I also told the pastor that I would like to play, so I was set up for the following to week to do a duet with the pastor’s wife, she would sing and I would play guitar for the special song. And as I came to practice that song, another lady who spoke to me the first week was also there as they were preparing another song…and somehow, I ended up in a singing trio with them. I haven’t ‘just’ sang since high school choir, but it was a nice change of pace. I’m not the best singer, I’m also an alto, but I can hit a note and stay on tune. This isn’t a show-offy kinda church with many Beyonce singers, so my average voice was good enough for them.
Anyways, on my way home from one of the rehearsals, I played something for the wife as she drove me home, just so she had an idea of my progress and what the instrument sounded like. I recently practice “Away in a Manger” at home, so pretty on the instrument, so I pulled out the sheets on my phone and played through it, with a little hiccups cause I couldn’t see or forgot a flat, but she liked it and said I’m on my way.
Around the end of February, I also ordered a second ocarina, a ceramic one. I feel like if you’re going to take anything seriously, you do need to be somewhat prepared, an for lot of instruments, that means having a backup or the materials needed to repair and maintain it. Thankfully, the ocarina is mostly a hobby instrument, so the majority of them are under $50, though there are a lot of low quality ones that are made more as a souvenir instead of a playable instrument so beware.
After going through a few listings and reading reviews, I decided to get this beautiful Starry blue and purple one from DHwebWLP. I tried it out once just to ensure it was quality but I was still a little sick, and it’s not really washable being ceramic. I don’t plan to play this one much until I really get a grasp on the instrument….figuratively and literally, as this one can break if I drop it.
Week 6:
The same service I sang for church, the pastor’s wife told me to bring my ocarina so we can try playing together after service.
I would say, over the last 4 years, this was probably the first time I was really put on the spot. The last church definitely had their last minute moments, but at least I either knew the song or had other musicians that could play over me if I was lost or made a mistake. I’m definitely someone who likes to be prepared and always do my best, but here I was not knowing what could happen.
Usually people leave pretty quickly after church, some may stay and chat for 10-15 minutes, but people were not leaving today, which was fine, I didn’t mind the company if people are minding their business, but I’m definitely not as scared or insecure as I was when I first performed guitar and felt I had to prove myself, that this may be my only chance on stage and everything has to be perfect.
That day, the church had “I Surrender All” on their list, but we didn’t to sing it as the sermon went long, so I said we could try that one first, at least I’m familiar with the song. The pastor’s wife has a huge hymnal for herself, it has no lyrics and has an octave high melody line for herself as she finds it easier to read. I’ve only been referencing the regular hymnal, so it was a little confusing and hard to see, but it was okay.
As I was prepping to play with the track and her, I quietly did the fingers and pattern to myself, which obviously doesn’t sound good, but I said to play it and just went full out. Messed up a bit due to sharps and flats, I definitely second guess a lot when I don’t have much time to think, but I mostly got through it.
She then asked about the track beside it, never seen or heard it before, but at least I can read music now. It really is a confidence booster when you’ve relied on taking your time learning and memorizing everything you’ve ever played. Once again, a bit of confusing with sharps and flats, but I replayed it a few times til it was more consistent. I find sometimes you get so used to Bb and F#s that when you’re in a key that doesn’t have them, you find yourself reaching for them out of habit, but then you hear yourself and try to switch in a millisecond but it’s already the next note XD
We did a few others, a couple I was kinda familiar with and another new one, same idea. Regardless, it was fun playing with her and just pushing myself to try and get a hold of it by the last stanza.
She was quite happy and impressed with my progress. Obviously, there’s that part of yourself that’s like, if I had a chance to review and practice beforehand, I’d obviously sound great right now, but we’re just practicing regardless. She’s only been playing violin for 3-4 years as well, so I know she’s not looking down on me or disappointed. I’m decent for a newbie who’s only been playing for a few weeks, and I’m sure it gives her confidence that I could handle these songs if assigned to me.
Week 7:
So earlier on in my journey, I opened tabs to many hymns that I knew and could find, spanning various keys. I finally got through them all, so I felt confident that no matter what song I’m asked to play, I can handle it. Like guitar, even if I could play a certain chord or lead line, if I can’t play it at full speed confidently, I wouldn’t take on that role. I know my limits and I play within it.
So on Monday, I told the pastor’s wife that I would like to join her for corporate worship next Sunday. They already told me they’ll pick the songs and give me lots of time to practice, so I knew I wouldn’t have to wait long. She gave me the 4 hymns by evening: “Dwelling in Buellah Land”, “O! Say But I’m Glad”, “Jesus Saves” and “Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned”. I only heard one of them at church previously so I quickly found the hymns online along with a Youtube track of the songs so I can listen to them.
For me, time is of the essence, so after hearing just one run of the song, I like to try to step in and play along. I would usually slow down the song to 75% and separate the verse from the chorus. I would like to take on both, but a lot of the hymns were more than 3 lines long, even 2 pages, so it wouldn’t fit on my screen anyways.
The first day, they were all kinda shaky due to just so many new tracks and feeling a lil overwhelmed. I had 5 days anyways, so I just took a break after checking them out. But by the second day, parts of the songs were already in my head, and my fingers were getting comfortable with the flow of the song, so I started memorizing some without really trying.
While I like challenging myself to read, if I could memorize them all by then, I would definitely feel more confident cause I wouldn’t second guess or fall behind. Either way, I had to read them just to learn, but I will always feel the most ready when the muscle memory kicks in.
On Wednesday at our midweek bible study, I told the pastors wife that maybe we can run through a couple just to see how it goes. It’s nice hearing the piano track as well. I was feeling pretty good about a couple that I had memorized already, but managed to get through the other two through reading. I was also genuinely impressed by the pastor’s wife’s ability to read. Mind you, she played a different 4 hymns at the bible study, and I didn’t tell her I was bringing my ocarina, so it’s not like she had a chance to prepare before we ran through them together, but she’s really good!
On the way home, I asked the pastor if he played anything. He said he took a keyboard class in high school, and then went on to work through a couple books, so he was decent, but just haven’t really played since. I nudged and said we could all be a lil band then, but he was silent, not wanting to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ XD
As the week was coming to an end, I started getting more worried about the longest track on the list, “Dwelling in Beullah Land”. Most hymns can fit on one page, but this one is two full pages, and each line is different, different melody, different starting notes. While I attempted to memorize it, I would always mess up a few notes or forget how a line went.
When I practice, I will feel pretty confident if I can play though a piece 3 times without mistakes. That doesn’t mean I’ll never make a mistake after that, but it means I know it well enough and the mistake is the fluke. And when it comes to hymns, you will be playing the song through usually 3 or 4 times anyways, so it really is the goal, but if I couldn’t play it through once without mistakes, I just knew I would mess up every round.
On Saturday, the day before, the pastor’s wife asked if I could do alto for a song she wanted to do for the special song. I just woke up when I saw the text, so I told her to give me an hour to respond, as I wanted to hear it, see if it was in my range, and try to find the alto line. I don’t like to agree to anything I don’t think I can handle, especially with such short notice, but the song/hymn was simple and I found a keyboard part that helped me see my part more clearly. She also said we could practice a bit later, so I was open to that. Of course, this cut out of my last minute ocarina time, but I’m still trying to challenge myself.
At the rehearsal though, I did ask if there was a way to leave my least confident song as the 3rd or 4th song. For service, they would play 2 songs back to back at the very beginning, and then one before the sermon, and one at the very end. So as long as it wasn’t the first two, I was thinking I could sit out if I really didn’t feel capable. She said the pastor picks the songs randomly, based on how he’s feeling, and encouraged me to still join them, saying that people will hear their voices or the piano more anyways. I mean for me, while I hear the others, I definitely hear her violin part quite a bit, including her little oopsies, so I didn’t want to be distracting, but I appreciated that she believed in me.
In the evening, I spent some time with my cousin/roommate, and still had to shower and prep for church, especially as there was a birthday party being hosted right after for a family and their now 3 year old, so there was a lot on my mind. I did a more quiet rehearsal before bed. As mentioned above, you can’t really practice the ocarina quietly as all the notes will be flat, but using the sheets as a guide, I at least ran through the fingering and mentalized the flow of the tracks. There’s not much more I can do here, but rest does help things to sink in just a bit more.
1st Performance:
It’s the day! After helping to set up, the pastor’s wife did some tuning. She had some of the hymns playing as background music and I went through a few hymns in her giant book (it’s a bit different than the hymns everyone else sees as it doesn’t have words on the page, and also has an octave higher of the melody which she finds easier to see), just to adjust my eyes. I don’t have the greatest eyesight, and it’s easy to get lost on the page, so just a bit more mental exercises cause I didn’t want to be too loud.
As we were setting up, the birthday boy and his family came a bit early. The wife finished tuning so I was doing some mental exercises so not to disturb them. While they were in the back, I could overhear the conversation just a bit and knew they were talking about music and how she could play something. I chimed in asking what she does, she said clarinet. And her father also replied that she was asking what instrument I had, so I shared ocarina. She shared how she can’t read well, I said I can’t either, I’m pretty new to this myself haha.
Then the service started……..and of course, my most feared and weakest song, “Dwelling in Beullah Land” was first. I legit was like ‘damn it’ in my head, but we’re here. My hands were definitely shaking, but after the first couple mistakes, I just accepted the reality and moved forward. Some were less obvious in my head cause I played quietly or the non-flat note I accidently played was close enough, but ughhh. As I said, it’s a very long song too.
But the good thing is, once you get past your most feared track, or you’re already a little embarrassed, at least I know I can relax a bit after. It would actually probably be worse for me if this song was last as I would be trying to run it in my head during the sermon. My favourite song was 3rd and the easiest was last, so there’s a lot of booboos in the recording as I only recorded the first two.
After church, the majority of us went to the 3 year old’s birthday party. Got quite a few compliments on my playing and interest in the instrument. I also asked others if they play anything or want to, and most said guitar. A few have picked it up but got frustrated and gave up. One guy was really interested in the banjo, and I encouraged him to try it out, why not? I exposed to the others that the pastor can play keyboard, and he shared his experience with them.
Later in the party as I was grabbing some food for my cousin, I spoke to the parents separately. They only come once or twice a month, and they sit at the back so I never really had a chance to interact with them. The mother and I shared our church backgrounds and her shortened marriage story. The father said he was interested in guitar and pointed his own in the background. The guitar is 31 years old, and like the others, he tried it but just couldn’t stick to it.
I’ll admit, it’s a little comforting to hear this, not because I don’t want them to succeed or cause I an play guitar. Rather, it’s the concept that, even though I’m still sucky on the ocarina, I know they can’t or won’t judge me harshly because they’re aware that instruments take a lot of work to learn. Additionally, considering the wife was the only musician up until now, seeing someone else on stage and doing there best may inspire others to sing or play something if they desire to.
I didn’t actually listen to the recording until a couple days after. Now I really know how my band’s singer feels. While I was more eager to hear my guitar recordings as I also wanted to share and upload them, it’s a lot scarier reviewing something when you know you didn’t do as well as you hoped and don’t want to relive the embarrassment.
I also really had no idea how loud I would sound with everyone else, so I was worried my mistakes were really loud and noticeable, but thankfully, it blended in pretty well and I was able to play off some of the mistakes. Seems violin made a few booboos too, but I didn’t notice at all in the moment. It really is so different from when I played guitar and I really had the songs down before ever playing with the others so I was able to listen and advise as the leader.
Week 8:
I was planning to end this article with my first performance and was going to skip a week to breathe and regroup as this week would be quite busy, singing rehearsal on Thursday and we’re all visiting another church on Saturday, but I woke up Tuesday morning to the pastor’s wife sending me the sheets for next week. At least that means they like it (and me) enough haha. So, I’ll document and record my first 3 performances to see how much I learn and improve.
This time, there’s 3 songs I never heard before. The 4th is luckily one I grew up with and thus went through it a few times on the ocarina when rehearsing on my own. Like guitar, once you already started learning something, it tends to come back more naturally even if it’s been a while. As always, the first thing I do is find the sheets and listen to the tracks so I know what I’m getting into.
This time, I definitely want to focus more on reading than memorizing. Of course, I still feel it’s more ideal for me to memorize, especially if/when I lose myself on the page, but I think the main thing is flow. I love that feeling when you play a piece enough times that your fingers already have some idea of the next note, aka muscle memory. Even if you have a brain fart, your hands can continue on it’s own.
The first song I attempted was “Verily Verily”, such a cute piece. It’s in the key of G, only one sharp so it’s easy to read and play. I also love that it’s a lot of scales, as in a lot of the lines are just a sequence of notes, so I wasn’t worried about that one at all.
Then I looked at “Does Jesus Care?” It has 5 flats, but it’s on the slower side thankfully. It was a little trippy as I haven’t really played any songs with Gb in it. Of course I’ve played a lot with F#, but playing wise, it’s something kinda knew….but not a bad addition as it means I only have to move one button instead of two when moving from Ab to Gb (if it was a G, I would add a left hand finger and remove the right hand finger that would make the note flat). The song also has Db in it, I’ve played that a few times in the higher octave, but never in the lower octave, which requires one of the smaller holes. There’s also a couple accidentals, so I already knew this would be the hardest song of the week.
The last song “Never Alone” was tripping me out a bit as I started listening to the song before checking out the hymn as the wife only sent me half and I couldn’t find a full version online. I started listening to it as I made breakfast, and the congregation would add a half note in some lines which sounded cool, but I thought it was their own spin on it…nope, that’s how the song goes. It got stuck in my head very quickly though, because not only does the refrain/chorus pretty much match the whole verse, but the verse uses also repeats two melody lines, so in one run-through, you’re hearing the same melody 4 times. I ain’t complaining though. After playing it through, I thought I would have a lot of fun with this piece as well.
All in all, after taking a peak and playing them through, while I’ll definitely be busier and a bit more stressed this week, I actually really like these pics and I think I’ll have an easier or more relaxing time than I did last week.
I’ll definitely practice more often than I did before, like 2-3 times each day. I definitely like having time to let things sink in instead of getting frustrated, but when you’re still weak at your instrument, more practice definitely helps. As I mentioned above, I’ll also focus more on reading instead of spending a lot of time trying to memorize the pieces.
Wednesday ended up being a lot busier for work and then I still went out for bible study, but I still tried to slip in some quiet practice at the end of the day. I somewhat memorized a couple of them without really attempting to, mostly because I was focusing on the flow of the notes and running it through a few times to make sure I feel confident.
Thursday morning, I tried to read through the hardest song and it didn’t seem too bad actually. I think just focusing on reading instead of trying to dig into my mind for the next note and then losing where I am helps a lot. Though, you really have to focus for this track. There’s so many flats, and I’m really not used to Gb or low Db, but additionally, they both have an accidental natural thrown in during the piece so it makes my hands want to resort to what I’m used to when I see those notes.
Regardless, it’s really nice and cool to be able to read and play it through. I really don’t think I’d have the time or energy to memorize that piece. It’s not as long as “Dwelling in Buellah Land”, but it also has no lines that repeat. I’m someone who does best when there are patterns for me to analyze and breakdown so I can recall them better, thus “Never Alone” which pretty much repeats the same two melody lines gets absorbed better, but a song like this would be pure forced memorization, which can be more stress and strain when my week is already kinda busy.
By Friday night, I had a good grasp reading and playing 3 of the songs. Of course “Does Jesus Care?” was a hit or miss, usually a miss, even at a slower speed, because I would forget to flatten or unflatten note. There were also a lot of big jumps that required me to move 2 or 3 fingers at the same time.
I had to really break it down section by section, note by note at times to get a good flow, and I wanted to be able to play it at full speed by tonight as I’ll be gone half the day to visit another church for a rally with the rest of them. I don’t want to be stressing out the night before like I was last time. I’m sure my neighbours hate me, I’m practicing and writing this at 10:30pm. I’m hoping it’s not actually that loud but if I can hear them, I’m sure they can hear me XD
So we were out for another church’s Soul Winning (evangelism) rally from 9am to 4pm. I went through all the songs a bit after getting home, having a pretty good grasp on the last song…still a few oopsies but the flow is better. Then around 8:30pm, the wife told me they were switching songs, my weakest to this very simple song in the key of C called “A Passion For Souls”. Luckyyy!! They may use the other song next week or another time, but I’m thankful to have had a chance to review that one ahead of time.
2nd Performance:
Since I didn’t get a chance to listen to the backing tracks during a rehearsal, I took a moment to listen and play through a run before service. The wife also kinda forgot that “Does Jesus Care” has 5 flats and knew she would need more time to rehearse it cause, like me, that Gb that is like….never used pops up, and I also mentioned that naturals which makes it really trippy. Even though she’s probably played it a lot in the past and can sight read pretty well, it really is a song that needs time and immense focus.
“Leaning On The Everlasting Arms” was definitely my best song today, and it was nice starting off strong. “Verily Verily” was a lot faster than I anticipated, so the fast B-C-D and A-B-C parts got me stressing, but the flow was good for the most part. At some points, I hesitated during the jumps, and then I think they did 5 verses instead of 4 which is written, so I got a little tripped up when they continued singing.
“Never Alone” was good for the most part. My only issue was that my right pinky has been kinda cranky since Friday, so it’s been weird using and moving it to play. Usually, I would keep it on the Ocarina at all times as an anchor to keep it in place (as I rarely play lower than low D where it’s used, but I regularly lift my right thumb for high C#, D and E), but this song uses a low C every other line. You wouldn’t really hear any mistakes because I was putting a lot of effort into getting it in the right position at the right time.
At the end, I didn’t record the swapped song, “A Passion For Christ”, but as it said, very simple song, nice and slow as well. The only part that we all kinda trip up on is the chorus because it doesn’t maintain a beat. It’ll like stop after a line and you don’t really know exactly when the next line will start, then the pace slows down, and then there’s a fermata in the middle of the last line. I got to try it a couple times during the practice but that’s not enough time to get familiar with the flow.
75% of the time, during the last song, the congregation will sing a couple lines, then they’re dismissed, and the musicians would keep playing til the track is over. It was a bit funny when me and her were trying to get the timing right, we both laughed at the end after waiting and hesitating and trying to predict when those last few notes would play.
All in all, definitely more confident. The song choices were a little easier and the stage freight died down a bit. Hands still a little shaky, but not sweaty, which really helps when holding a plastic instrument. My hands always have a tendency to get sweaty either due to nerves, room temperature, or me putting on cream cause you know…I’m black, my hands can get ashy too haha.
I made the mistake of putting on cream right before playing when I played guitar a month back. I thought I had more time between sitting down after the first hymns and the special song, but the only thing between the two was offering ^^” And I’m already a lot more nervous because the acoustic guitar is a lot fatter and thicker than the electric guitars I’ve been playing from the beginning, and it kept sliding off me, but thankfully that went better than expected~
So yeah, that was week 8. I’m very thankful I focused more on reading this time around. I had more things going on and less time in general, but the songs were easier to learn. I was also a lot less nervous. I definitely add a lot more pressure when I choose to record myself, especially when I’m not that confident in myself yet. Sometimes you want to just move on and forget about it, but I have to review and share it, so I want to do well. Regardless, I’ll only get more confident and comfortable being seen or recorded by doing it more often.
Week 9:
Sunday evening, I asked the wife if she could send me the sheets of their regular songs, or even all their hymns if she had the time. The more time I have to listen and start learning songs before I get to them, the better. My job tends to get busier in the summer too, so the more I can learn and review ahead of time, the less stressed I’ll have later as I may already know a song or two that week.
She sent me about 22 songs. I was quite occupied cleaning up on Monday, also had Elections Training and prepping for my roommates birthday on Tuesday, so I didn’t really touch any of the songs anyways. I would prefer to look at them after learning what is needed for the following service, when I’m taking a break or just want to try something new (I prefer to learn multiple songs at once so I don’t get bored).
Tuesday evening, I asked about the song list for the next service and got 4 songs that I had yet to see from them. Thankfully, I recognize 2 from my childhood, “Praise Him Praise Him!” and “We Have An Anchor”. The new ones are “Yield Not To Temptation” and “Faith Is The Victory!”.
Two songs have 1 flat, one has 2, and the one I’m most familiar with has 4, so I don’t think I should have much trouble learning this batch key wise. However, a lot of them have very long and random melodies, so again, I’m definitely going to focus a lot more on reading than anything.
While I usually like to try them out first thing, it’s 11pm here so I don’t want to disturb my neighbours, and my eyes are burning as I didn’t get much sleep last night, had to be up early, so I don’t want to stare at this screen for too long. Less time to learn but I’m feeling more confident in my ability to learn these songs~
Wednesday morning, I started going through the songs. A lot of them have a lot of jumping around, so I need to pay more attention, but thankfully, as said above, they don’t have many sharps/flats.
This is also the first song I’ve had that actually uses a high F (no holes covered, thus the highest note possible on my ocarina). I like that the order I’m getting these songs are naturally progressive. Last week, I had to play with the low end, a Db, which used one of the small holes of the ocarina, and a low C, and now I have more songs on the high end.
So after going through all of them….I’m not too worried about being able to play them, but I definitely need to focus a lot when reading. A couple of the songs, like Praise Him! also tend to be on the faster side, so that’s what I’m most concerned about, my fingers keeping up and not getting lost or frazzled.
I didn’t have a chance to go through them again Wednesday, but when I went through the first 3 songs on Thursday morning, I surprisingly got through them pretty well, a couple booboos, but the reading and flow was there.
Since I didn’t fully go through Praise Him! the day before, I still had to work out the notes/fingerings and practice it a little longer. For this song, I have to change my breath pressure pretty quickly since I’m going from really high to really low in the span of a bar, but if I’m still blowing too hard, the lower notes will sound a bit sharp. Add to that the 4 flats and the speed. I’m only doing 80% speed right now, but it is still quite fast, so I’ll definitely have to work on this song quite a bit.
For the future of my playing at this church, I would aim to be able to get through the songs more confidently by Thursday, Wednesday preferably, but definitely by Thursday. Fridays can be busy and I really don’t like cramming the day before because my nerves will be higher the day of if I barely feel confident. I am a firm believer in the 3x rule: you’re not really ready until you can play a piece 3x without mistakes. At least then, when you do make mistakes, it’s more of a fluke or booboo vs the standard.
I’m also aware that I play better when I have a chance to rest. If I’m struggling with a song, I tend to do worse when I keep pushing and retrying it cause I’m annoyed…and I’m also aware my neighbours or roommate is hearing all this. On the other hand, when I take a break, whether it’s hours or overnight, and come back to it, things are a lot smoother cause my mind and hands had a chance to digest and reset. Last week, I had a song changed on Saturday evening, but that was still time to listen, read, practice, and rest before performing it.
Friday morning, first two songs were sounding good. Still struggling a bit with “Faith is the Victory” due to the jumps. Another things to consider in my case is that I don’t have the best eyesight, and I can only zoom in so much on the sheets if I want to see the whole score, so sometimes I just misread and thus misplay. Versus when I’m playing and we have big physical sheets, better lighting, and my glasses on, I can definitely read better and thus play better, but those jumps can be hard if I can’t really see if the note is a G or F.
Friday evening, I was very occupied preparing my evangelism bible as I wanted to go out with the group Saturday, and before I knew it, it was 12am. I did some fingering practice of the hardest bit of Praise Him, as it goes like “Bb-C-Bb-G-Eb, Db-C-Bb-C-Db-C-Bb”. The jump from low Eb to high Db is tricky as you’re lifting up 4 fingers, but keeping the flat note (right ring finger) down. And then the next line, you’re switching from flat notes to non-flat notes very quickly. Db doesn’t have the bottom left thumb hole, C has that but no flat, and B has both, so it’s easy to move the wrong finger in that sequence.
Saturday morning, instead of leaving the hardest song for last, I started with Praise Him, and surprisingly got through it more confidently, especially the hard bit mentioned above. Sometimes I’m so surprised I get through it the first round that I start second guessing or misreading the next few times, but definitely coming along well. I just hope it doesn’t end up being a fast song tomorrow.
Saturday night, did my last run through. First time trying some at full speed. Surprisingly survived Faith Is The Victory and Praise Him with minimal booboos. I think playing faster leaves less time for my mind to second guess, that or the muscle memory has kicked in a bit from playing these songs quite a few times over the week.
While I’m not as confident or as comfortable as I was with last weeks songs, I’m just quite exhausted after this week. Had elections training Tuesday, birthday and bible study Wednesday, renovating my room and singing rehearsal Thursday, cleaning the rest of my home and washing my hair Friday, and walked around for 3 hours evangelizing Saturday afternoon, been going to bed after 3 most nights but waking up naturally around 9 anyways…so I’m exhausted. Hoping to turn in by 1 tonight and get a full nights rest before church. Will do a quick run through before service, but that’s all I have the strength for~
3rd Performance:
Sunday morning, during my ride there, the pastor asked if I had a hard time learning the songs. I would assume that meant the wife also had some trouble. I shared that the key and the jumps definitely make a song harder, as is the case with Praise Him. But this week especially, speed is an added difficulty. I shared how last week, I worked all week on “Does Jesus Care” ** which had 5 flats, but when the wife said we’re changing it the evening before, I learned the new song in 10 minutes. And the wife shared with him how the Gb needed more work because of how rarely she plays it.
After she tuned, we attempted Praise Him and we were both messing up a lot. I was laughing a lot cause I was thinking “I’m screwed”, but managed to do a good run. She had to practice her vocal piece, and then I only had a chance to run through “We Have An Anchor” and “Yield Not To Temptation” before it was 10:58am and we had to get started.
We started with “Praise Him” and “Faith Is The Victory”. Somehow, I did much better than expected. I was warmed up and pretty focused. I think doing them back to back allowed me to keep up with the faster pace. The last couple weeks, I definitely noticed my fingers shaking quite a bit due to nerves, but the songs were too fast for my mind or fingers to even think about those things haha.
After the break, we did “We Have An Anchor” and I think I was just a bit out of it, distracted. I’m rewatching Haikyuu (slice of life volleyball anime) with my cousin, and we were discussing how it’s better to stay standing instead of sitting when ‘on the bench’. I think that’s the best way to put how I felt getting up again to play that piece. The ending got me quite a bit as well. I probably didn’t work on that bit as much as I should have because the majority of the song isn’t too bad, and I was more worried bout the other two. The easiest song was left for last which I didn’t record again, but it was almost flawless.
But yeah, that was my first 3 weeks performing with the Ocarina. I still got a lot of work to do, but practice definitely makes improvement. If I were given this bunch of songs in my first week….I think I would have cried to be very honest with you XD Like “What did I sign up for? ;_____; I’m not ready yet!” It would have been a very embarrassing first week, but it’s thankfully been progressive.
Bonus: Start of Week 11
I didn’t bother recording Easter weekend as there was a lot going on. I had my usual 4 songs while also singing in a trio, and we had communion and a potluck afterwards, so I just wanted to relax and be in the moment.
But on Tuesday morning of the following week, I thought about some Japanese Christian songs that may sound good on the ocarina, and thought of this track called 花も (Hanamo – Flowers). The song originally came out in 2003, and has been covered by many since. I first heard the bilingual Japanese and Korean version by Jworship as it’s their most popular song on Spotify. I found this backing track from the Praise for Change Youtube channel, learned it by ear, and recorded it an hour later.
I was surprised I nailed my very first take on camera, but it was quite harsh audibly as I used a lot of power….and my wardrobe wasn’t fully ready yet. I still had a pimple sticker on my nose that I forgot about for example, and had yet to tie my belt. I made mistakes in other takes, or ran out of breath when I should have held a note, maybe the jumps weren’t as nice, but I was satisfied with my last take.
I don’t like to work on songs for too long before recording, especially if I don’t have a real reason to learn it. I knew I would get my hymns for the week later in the day, so I would want to focus on those; however, I think I would like to build a playlist of pretty songs that I know very well, just for fun, but also if there ever comes an opportunity to play <3
Afterthoughts & Conclusion
While I’m only a couple months into this instrument, I actually really like it! Some songs are difficult and can make practice a bit more dreadful, but getting to play together with the pastor’s wife and serve this small church makes it all worth it.
As for the ocarina itself, I really like that it’s cheap and accessible, but still sounds very pretty and mellow. Some instruments can sound quite horrible if you’re new but the ocarina has a nice tone. I like that it is very portable and doesn’t require other tools (because packing and carrying a guitar along with cables, pedals, tuners, and spare strings is sooo much fun *sarcasm*). I also like the curiosity and shock factor people have when they see or hear it.
While a 12 hole ocarina sounds like it would be a limited instrument, it can play 21 notes, and so far, every hymn has managed to stay in that range. But I also like that it has a limited amount of notes because it gives me more drive and confidence to try to master the little instrument. If I could learn to play all the notes within 2-3 months, then I have the rest of my life to master things like tone, vibrato, speed and even create my own sound.
Compare that to the guitar has over 120 notes, 6 strings with 20+ frets each, and then you can play single notes, dyads, or chords, and there’s multiple ways to play any chord, along with countless techniques (slides, bends, hammer-ons, pull-offs, harmonics, vibrato) and styles, so no one could ever truly learn and master everything on there (fingerpicking, blues improv, jazz, metal, math rock, classical). So even though I’ve been playing and performing with the guitar for 4 years now, I still feel like a rookie, I still feel inadequate and I really have to practice a lot to get a piece down without mistakes.
While I’m comparing the two, I was drawn to rhythm guitar because I really love how beautiful chords are, especially when combined with Japanese chord progressions. It doesn’t need riffs and licks to draw emotions…..but it still needs some kind of accompaniment, like a band or a singer, if not another guitarist. If I went to a party, pulled out a guitar, and just started playing chords, people wouldn’t even know what I’m playing to really connect with it.
But it’s nice getting to playing melodies on the ocarina. While it definitely takes a bit more effort to learn or even memorize songs, at least it has more appeal to the listening ear. Additionally, I have the option to go solo as I could always pull out a backing track to play along with. If I ever try to bring Japanese Christian music to an anime con or Japanese event (since I haven’t had much luck finding bandmates for that idea), this is certainly an option for me should I choose to go solo.
Unlike other influencers who’ll pick up something for a month just to make a video, I do intend to keep playing this ocarina indefinitely, especially since I have a place to practice and perform for regularly. I may still share updates every quarter, but I think this article has achieved what it was meant to do, which is share my journey learning a new instrument, along with my first few attempts playing publicly.
Hopefully, I’ve inspired someone out there to pick up this lovely instrument, or to pick up any instrument and put themselves out there. You can find lots of useful articles on my blog if you’re looking for advice or tips for getting gigs, finding bandmates, and performing on stage. If you want to share your own first time experiences, feel free to leave a comment below!
Ciao!!~