The Ocarina Player

Epona's Song

2010-01-28T03:53:00.000-08:00

Lon Long Ranch...the smell of hay...the sound of cows mooing...but above all that, you hear a girl singing in the distance...singing a special song...

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Here is our first published song, The Epona Song!

The way I'm going to post songs on this blog is a little different from the way notes are represented in sheet music.

First of all, I won't use any notation to denote how long to play a note (i.e., tapping the button or holding the button down) or in what time the song is playing (the beat of the song, fast or slow). I'll assume that you will know how the song goes so that you can play it without having to know these things.

What I do have, however, is notation for a brief pause, which is indicated by an underscore (_). This is not only to aid you in playing the song but also to attempt to separate and organize the notes, so that it's not a messy jumble of buttons.

If you are having trouble playing the song, soon I will have Youtube videos of me playing each song on my television, which should help with any confusion. But if you have some concerns now or if you're confused, please feel free to comment about your problem!

The Notes

2010-01-15T11:19:00.000-08:00

After experimenting with the Ocarina and getting some help from my dad (he's a music theory expert), I finally have the list of all notes you can play on the Ocarina!

The chart is in order from lowest note to highest note (please click to enlarge.)

There are 19 notes in all, covering one and a half octaves. There are 45 button combinations total since some notes can be achieved with more than one button combination. When you see more than one button combination (separated by a comma) for one note on the chart, it doesn't matter which combination you chose; do whichever is most comfortable.

If you can read sheet music, you're in luck! You can take any song that covers a range of one and half octaves, and you can play it on the Ocarina by following this chart! If your song covers more than one and a half octaves (such as Zelda's Lullaby!) there is another way you can play that song (more on that later).

What if you can't read sheet music? That's OK, too! A goal of this site is to post step-by-step the directions on playing the full versions of every Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time song. Even if you don't have the slighest idea where to start with music theory (kinda like me...that's where my dad helps out!) you can just follow the directions to be posted on this site.

Next time I'm going to post step-by-step how to play our first song: the full version of The Epona Song!

The Buttons

2010-01-14T21:23:00.000-08:00

I'm back! And today I'm going to talk about what buttons to press in order to play the notes on the Ocarina. I've included the controls used for all three different versions of the game: for the Nintendo 64 (N64), the Game Cube, and the Wii.

If you are playing the original version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the N64, here are the Nintendo 64 controller buttons used to play the Ocarina:

Note that the Z button cannot be seen here because it is located in the back of the controller. Here is a picture of the back of the controller so you can see the Z button:

If you are playing either The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time/Master Quest for the Game Cube or The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition (also for the Game Cube), here are the Nintendo Game Cube controller buttons used to play the Ocarina:

If you are playing Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the Wii Virtual Console, here are the Wii Classic controller buttons used to play the Ocarina (note that you may also use the Game Cube buttons described above to play this version of the game):

Throughout this site I will use Nintendo 64 controller buttons as the standard when describing how to play a note or a song. To translate between other controllers, follow the chart below (please click to enlarge):

To play the "basic notes" of the Ocarina, press one of the following buttons (remember that I am using N64 buttons to describe the buttons, but it works for any of the controllers as long as you follow the above chart):

By "basic notes," I mean the five notes that are used to play other in-game songs. By "special notes," I mean notes that can be played on the Ocarina but are not required to play the game (as described in my first post.) In order to play these "special notes," execute one of the following button combinations while pressing one of the buttons that plays a "basic note":

That is it for the buttons! Next time we will look at what each button combination sounds like.

I Have Not Forgotten

2009-09-30T13:09:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody! I just wanted to stop by and say that I have not abadoned this project whatsoever! The reason why I haven't updated within a month is becasue I've been just so busy lately! You know how life can be! :3
Anyway, I want to take this time to thank all of the web directories and listings you see in the right-hand panel. They have listed this site and are helping to get this project off the ground! Why not visit these directories sometime? They list a variety of sites, so you never know what cool site you might find! :)

How To Play The Ocarina

2009-08-13T07:41:00.001-07:00

Well, a good place to start is to answer the question "How do I play the Ocarina?" The checklist below is for those who are new to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but even if you are a pro, please read the part that begins with "I highly recommend..."

To play the Ocarina:

You must have aquired the Fairy Ocarina or the Ocarina of Time in the game (it doesn't matter which: they both play notes in exactly the same way).

Press the start button to have the menu appear. Go to your items inventory and equip the Ocarina to one of the C buttons.

Press the start button again to exit the menu. Press the C button you chose in step 2. Your screen should now look something like this (Link can be in adult or child form, it doesn't matter):

Now you are ready to play! Press either the A, C-up, C-down, C-left or C-right button to play "basic" notes, and either press the R or Z buttons or move the joystick up or down while playing a "basic" note to change the note played. (If you are confused about how to play the notes, there will be more on that in a later post).

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you start a new file and play the game up until you first get the Fairy Ocarina from Saria (be careful: if you want to delete a game save to make room for a new file, once a save is deleted it cannot be retrieved.) Why do I recommend this, you ask? Because it is at this point in the game that you have the Ocarina but you don't "know" any songs. See, when Link "learns" a song, such as The Song of Storms, you can play the beginning of the song and then the rest of the song is automatically played for you. This is not the goal of The Ocarina Player. The goal of this site is so you, the player, can input the entire Song of Stroms (or any song) using the buttons of your controller. Therefore, it is best to be at a place in the game where Link has the Ocarina but does not "know" any songs.

This is what it looks like when, sometime after Link "learned" the Song of Storms, the first six notes of the song are played and the rest of the song is played automatically.

If you need help getting from the beginning of the game to when Link receives the Fairy Ocarina, read this page and up to the end of this page, both from the website StrategyWiki*. Use these pages to get to the optimum part of the game to play your Ocarina songs.

The next post will be a comprehensive guide on the buttons used to play the Ocarina.

*Please note that The Ocarina Player has no affiliation with StrategyWiki.

Introduction to The Ocarina Player

2008-12-17T10:25:00.000-08:00

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. To gamers everywhere, this is music to one's ears. This Nintendo64 video game has won multiple awards, was a best-seller in 1999, and is often quoted as the best game ever. You got your 3D graphics, your puzzles, your action, adventure, side-quests...

And, of course, the Ocarina of Time.

In the game, the protagonist, Link, must travel back and forth through time by playing on this Ocarina. During gameplay, you don't just push a button to play the ocarina, but you must push multiple buttons, playing multiple notes--like playing a real instrument! Once you play a certain sequence correctly, different things can happen in the game (like Link going back in time, for example).

This is not the only ocarina Link uses. Before he discovers the Ocarina of Time, he uses the Fairy Ocarina, which was a gift given to him by his best friend Saria. It is used in exactly the same way the Ocarina of Time is used, and it sounds the same, but it doesn't have the time traveling capabilites. Once Link aquires the Ocarina of Time, he throws the Fairy Ocarina away (what a way to cherish a gift!) Their images are displayed below:

The Ocarina of Time

The Fairy Ocarina

So one day, you may be playing this legendary game, and you may be clueless on how to get past the Water Temple (a common situation for many gamers) so you decide to mess around with the Ocarina. You push the buttons--A, C-up, C-down, C-left and C-right--in random orders. You wonder if you could play Jingle Bells or Mary Had a Little Lamb on Link's Ocarina. You may accidently bump the joystick while you're doing so...

...did you just hear another note?

My friend, if this is you, you have come upon a revelation.

In order to play The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, you only need to use the A and C buttons while playing the Ocarina. But why is it when I press A and press the joystick up at the same time, I hear a different tone? How about pressing C-down along with the Z button? One does not need to know about these other notes in order to play the game properly. However, the game designers put them there, so we might as well play around with them!

This is exactly what I'm doing.

On this site you will find experiments I have done using Link's Ocarina, as well as step-by-step guides on how to play, say, Jingle Bells ("Zelda's Lullaby" gets boring after a while, doesn't it?) This site will explain which real musical notes the Ocarina buttons corresond to, and will encourage your own experimentation. If you feel you've come upon an "Eurika!" moment as an Ocarina Player, feel free to leave a comment describing your accomplishment.

(You may also leave a comment to ask any question, or just to say hi as well!)