Tunes for D 10-hole ocarinas

Tunes for D 10-hole ocarinas

31-Mar-2026 01:29 PM

I'm intending to post a bunch of tunes that work with no transposition on both G and D 10-hole ocarinas, taken from the sources used by the instruments they were composed for. I've got a good grip on the G repertoire - the D is a lot less obvious, but there are tunes "in the wild" that fit the low D to high G range; I'm hoping that patterns will emerge once there are enough of them.

This one is for clarinet, in a YouTube score video. The low E flat is missing, which makes it easier than most tunes in this mode. Mostly fast scales, a useful source of cheap tricks.

Edited 08-Jul-2026 03:31 PM by Robert.

RE: Tunes for D 10-hole ocarinas

02-Apr-2026 03:48 PM

Inisheer is a very well known modern Irish waltz.

X:1
T:Inisheer
C:Thomas Walsh
M:3/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=120
K:G
B AG|B3A Bd|B3A Bd|E3B AB |D3
B AG|B3A Bd|B3A Bd|G3B A/G/F |G3:|
A Bd|e3f ed|B3A Bd|e3d B/c/d |e3
A Bd|e3f ed|B3A Bd|G3B A/G/F |G3
A Bd|e3f ed|B3A Bd|gf ed B/c/d|e3
A Bd|e3f ed|B3A Bd|G3B A/G/F |G6|]

Edited 07-Jul-2026 03:47 PM by Robert.

RE: Tunes for D 10-hole ocarinas

06-Apr-2026 04:07 PM

Another Latin American one. Limited range but really tricky rhythm - listen to performances to get it. (The one time I've played it in public, it was in a community theatre group and I ended up just doing a deep bass B on a gong to end it)

Edited 07-Jul-2026 03:47 PM by Robert.

RE: Tunes for D 10-hole ocarinas

07-Apr-2026 10:10 PM

One of the most played dance tunes in 19th century Europe and North America. The original is a complicated piano salon piece, this is a stripped down village fiddler's version. Taken from John Offord's "Greenwich Traditional Musicians' Tunebook"

Edited 07-Jul-2026 03:47 PM by Robert.

RE: Tunes for D 10-hole ocarinas

08-Apr-2026 09:56 AM

Celia, a Bolivian "tinku" dance tune. I've played this on the sax with a saxes/brass/drums group trying to get Bolivian dance music going in Edinburgh. It involves spectacular costumes.

Edited 07-Jul-2026 03:47 PM by Robert.

RE: Tunes for D 10-hole ocarinas

16-Apr-2026 08:19 PM

This is an out-there, pushing-the-envelope one, but it does fit a D 10-hole. It's from the repertoire of an Iraqi Jewish family, the al-Kuwaitis, who had this Lami mode as their personal property and recorded several tunes using it. It's kinda Locrian but the tonal centre feels like an afterthought. I tried to learn one of their Lami tunes (manically fast 11/8 dance) in a workshop with Yair Dalal but it didn't stick. This one is in a saner "samai" 10/8 metre (3+2)+(2+3), but faster than the way Turkish players use it for the spinning dervish dance. There is one microtonal note, an A half-flat. The groove gets to you.

Yair Dalal playing it:

Edited 07-Jul-2026 03:47 PM by Robert.

RE: Tunes for D 10-hole ocarinas

22-Apr-2026 09:50 PM

This is a Shetland fiddle tune, more often played there in A, but I found it in G in the Northumbrian Pipers' Tune Book after hearing a Northumbrian player do it that way. (Shetland and Northumbrian music are often linked).

Which partly answers the main question I had in putting this bunch of tunes together. I was looking for a subgenre of tunes that would naturally match the D 10-hole range - and they're hiding inside the Northumbrian pipe repertoire. There's a historical reason for that. The original keyless Northumbrian pipe had a range of an octave from G - this is what the Peacock tune book I recently uploaded uses. But later in the 19th century, keywork extended the range both upwards and downwards, to match the D to b range of the tin whistle (or Robert's DAD ocarina). And the process seems to have been uneven, as if partially extended chanters coexisted with simple ones and the most developed versions. Hurlock's Reel fits a phase in the evolution where the extension only went downwards. Look through Northumbrian pipe tune books and you will find a lot more like this (as well as tunes which only extend the G octave range upwards). So this gives you a place to look where you will have a better than random chance of finding something playable straight off the page.

Style: Northumbrian pipes play staccato. You do NOT link melody notes with Irish-style gracenotes.

Edited 07-Jul-2026 03:47 PM by Jack Campin.

RE: Tunes for D 10-hole ocarinas

23-Apr-2026 07:32 PM

Another Northumbrian one. Will Atkinson was a harmonica player, but his tunes are standards with Northumbrian pipers. All the versions I can find on YouTube are on melodeons though.

This is meant as a test of the forum's ABC handling as well.

X:387
T:Will Atkinsons Schottische
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:G
D>G|B2 B2 B<d-dB |c>Bc>d e2 f>e|d>gf>e d>cB>A|G>AB>G D2
G>A|B2 B2 B<d-dB |c>Bc>d e2 f>e|d>gf>e d>cB>A|G2 G2 G2:|
d>B|c<A F2 F2 e>c|d<B G2 G2 g2 |f2 A>B c2 e 2|d>BG>A B2
d>B|c<A F2 F2 e>c|d<B G2 G2 g2 |f2 A>B c>de>f|g2 g2 g2:|
D>G|B2 B2 B2 A>G|F>EF>G A2 A>B|c2 c2 c2 B>A|G>FG>A B>G
D>G|B2 B2 B2 A>G|F>EF>G A2 A>B|c2 c2 c2 B>A|G2 G2 G2:|

Edited 07-Jul-2026 03:47 PM by Robert.

RE: Tunes for D 10-hole ocarinas

24-Apr-2026 07:12 PM

X:1
T:Sir Sidney Smith's March
C:James Hook
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:G
Bc|d2d2 d2d2|e2d2 c2B2|dcBc A2dc |BcAB G2
dc|BdBd AdAd|GdGd FdFd|Bcde d2^c2|d6 :|
AG|FDFA dABc|B6 dc|BGBd gde=f|e6
gf|egeg dgdg|cgcg BgBg|\
egeg dgdg|cgcg BgBg|
e2d2c2B2|e2d2c2B2|\
e2d2c2B2|B2A2A2
Bc|d2d2d2d2|e2d2c2B2|\
dcBc A2dc|BcAB G2
dc|BdBd AdAd|GdGd FdFd|\
EdEd FdFd|GdGd AdAd|
EdEd FdFd|GdGd AdAd|\
cedc BAGF|G6|]

RE: Tunes for D 10-hole ocarinas

25-Apr-2026 10:12 AM

Slow, simple Northumbrian song tune from the 18th century. Distinctive mode - the F is natural in the upper octave, sharp in the lower one.

X:1
T:I Hae Seen the Roses Blaw
L:1/8
M:6/8
Q:3/8=72
S:Northumbrian Pipers Tune Book
K:G
D|G2G B>AB| c2A F2D|G>AG B2c|d2g d2c|
B2c d2e |=f2d B2G|d>ed cBA|G3 G2||
d|g2d B2G | c2A F2D|g2d B2c|d2g d2c|
B2c d2e |=f2d B2G|d>ed cBA|G3 G2|]

Edited 07-Jul-2026 03:47 PM by Jack Campin.

RE: Tunes for D 10-hole ocarinas

22-Jun-2026 05:48 PM

From jack on discord: Maybe useful collection. I went to a workshop with Belezhkov a few years ago - he was teaching from the D kaval. Everything he did fitted the Pure alto D perfectly. 10 holes only needed.

https://izvormusic.com/books/bulgarian/dva-kavala.html

Edited 07-Jul-2026 03:47 PM by Robert.