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 runthrough, 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.
2nd Performance (Coming Soon):
Week 10 (Coming Soon):
3rd Performance (Coming Soon):
Conclusion & Afterthoughts
Of course this isn’t the end. The great thing about church is that you have an opportunity to play new songs each week. Having another musician who is also fairly new and being encouraged by everyone has been really nice. When I started playing guitar, I just felt like there was so much competition, and people will notice and laugh if you make booboos, but church is a lot less judgemental in comparison. If anything, they really are just happy to have more musicians, more singers, and more people serving. If I was doing bad, that’s one thing, but they can see I’m willing and trying.
While the ocarina is certainly an easier instrument to pick up and play compared to the guitar, it is a bit more nerve wrecking since I’m only playing single notes. For guitar, I was usually playing chords, so I was holding them longer and one wrong note within that chord may not be as audible. I also got to play alongside more showy instruments like lead guitar, drums, or the singer, so I could correct my mistakes more secretly. Whereas for melodic instruments, if you make a mistake, it’s very obvious, so attention to detail is key. At least I’m playing alongside someone doing the exact same thing….I kinda miss band (orchestra) class now ;_____;
I know there’s a lot more to learn on this instrument, such as vibrato, tonguing techniques, and being able to play faster, but I know to take things one step at a time. Learning to read and to play without mistakes always comes first. I also need to learn how to hold notes longer with the pressure the ocarina requires. Hymns don’t have as much space to breathe since it was made for the congregation to sing as opposed to allowing instruments a place to shine. Thus, the violin can hold and sustain a note, but if I don’t cut off, the note will go flat.
All in all, that has been my 10 week journey playing the Ocarina. Perhaps I’ll give an update here and there, like a 3 month and 6 month check in, but this article is quite long enough. This blog is mean tto inspire other rookie musicians to put themselves out there, so I wanted to share this new experience. If you want to share your own first time experiences, feel free to leave a comment below!
Ciao!!~