Contribution Ocarina Signatures (12-Hole)

It would be nice to have an easy way of writing tabs and finger charts. This would be a good plug-in.

That being said, there are a lot of different kinds of ocarinas. (I have a nine-hole that I made myself, this weekend actually, then there's four-holes, six-holes, eight-holes, etc. Plus alternate turnings like minor scale ocarinas) And using tabs is a bad habit (if you only use tabs, you'll never learn to read music. And tabs don't say anything about rhythm. I am almost dependent on guitar tabs because I started the bad habit of only using tabs. Learning to read music with guitar has been challenging because I know I can just tab it out. Anyways it's hard to find ocarina tabs, especially with so many different kinds of ocarinas out there! But sheet music is easy to find.) so I don't think the developers are going to add it :/. It would make a great plug-in, though.

I've been learning to play my new Ocarina, and what I do is think in solfege (Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do, I'm a singer)- if the key signature is F, then F is Do. "Do" on my Ocarina is when 8 holes are fully covered, "re" is seven covered, etc., so I can play any scale by knowing what scale degrees are what (Bb in F major is Fa, which means cover five holes) and just playing them in my Ocarina's key instead of the written key. If you plan on playing with other instruments, your best bet is to get REALLY good at fingering and memorizing note-names, or just get Ocarinas in several different keys. It helps to know basic music theory (key signatures, major and minor chords, reading sheet music, etc.) and there are plenty of websites out there that can help with that. I use Musictheory.net.

Oh and here's a secret- the fingering charts are just a suggestion. It doesn't actually matter where the holes are, it only matters how big they are (I know because I made one. And I read about it a lot, too. The physics of the sound rely on surface area- the size of the hole). So if it's easier for you to half cover a certain hole instead of fully uncovering a hole, or something like that, do it. If you come to a point in a song where you know you have to sharp or flat a note, just partially cover or uncover a hole instead of searching for the "correct" fingering. As long as you have good ear for pitch and breathe correctly you'll stay in tune no matter what those tabs say.

That's generous of you to make tab images and donate them like that. I hope you can find a good solution. And I hope my advice is helpful and not discouraging. Playing instruments is fun, especially when you can take them with you. And it's hard work! But it's worth it.