Ocarina of Time Songs: All 13 Notes and Where to Learn

Ocarina of Time has 13 songs. Six are everyday songs you learn from people around Hyrule, six are warp songs Sheik teaches adult Link, and the last is the Scarecrow’s Song, which you make up yourself. The table below gives the notes for all of them on Nintendo 64 and 3DS, plus who teaches each one.

What are the notes for every song in Ocarina of Time?

On Nintendo 64 the ocarina uses five buttons: the four C Buttons and A. In this table ▲ ▼ ◀ ▶ are C-Up, C-Down, C-Left and C-Right, and A is the A Button. The 3DS column uses that version’s button names.

The everyday songs are all one three-note phrase played twice. The warp songs are five to eight notes with no repeat, so they are the ones worth keeping this page open for.

Which button plays each note on N64, 3DS and Switch 2?

Every version uses the same five notes. Only the buttons change.

The Switch 2 column comes from Nintendo’s official screenshot of the remake (it is on our version comparison), where Zelda’s Lullaby reads Y, X, A, Y, X, A. That fixes three of the five buttons. The other two have not appeared in official material; they are said to stay on R and L as on 3DS, and we will confirm that at launch.

Where do you learn the six everyday songs?

You need an ocarina first. Saria hands you the Fairy Ocarina on the bridge as you leave Kokiri Forest after the Deku Tree. You do not learn a song from her there; that comes later in the Sacred Forest Meadow.

1. Zelda’s Lullaby. Sneak past the guards into the Hyrule Castle courtyard and talk to Zelda. Impa teaches the song straight afterwards, so you cannot miss it. Play it wherever you see a Triforce mark: at Darunia’s door in Goron City, at the waterfall in front of Zora’s Domain, in every Great Fairy Fountain and at the water-level plaques in the Water Temple.
2. Epona’s Song. First wake Talon outside Hyrule Castle so he goes home. Then visit Lon Lon Ranch in the daytime as a child, talk to Malon in the corral and take out the ocarina. As an adult the song calls Epona once you have won her (see how to get Epona). Played beside a cow, it fills an empty bottle with Lon Lon Milk.
3. Saria’s Song. After you have met Zelda, go through the Lost Woods to the Sacred Forest Meadow and talk to Saria on her stump. The song cheers up Darunia, who gives you the Goron’s Bracelet, and as an adult it gets you past Mido in the Lost Woods. It also earns a Piece of Heart from the Skull Kid.
4. Sun’s Song. Stand on the Triforce mark in front of the big tomb at the back of Kakariko Graveyard and play Zelda’s Lullaby. Go down into the Royal Family’s Tomb and read the wall at the far end. The song switches day and night where time passes, and it freezes ReDeads and Gibdos in the room for a few seconds.
5. Song of Time. Collect all three Spiritual Stones and walk up to the Castle Town drawbridge. After the scene, pick the Ocarina of Time out of the moat, and Zelda teaches the song in a vision. It opens the Door of Time and moves the blue Time Blocks in dungeons.
6. Song of Storms. As an adult, enter the windmill in Kakariko Village and take out the ocarina in front of the man with the music box. Go back as a child and play it in the same room to drain the well, which opens the Bottom of the Well. Outdoors it brings rain and opens some hidden grottos.

Three of these are needed to finish the game no matter what: Zelda’s Lullaby, Saria’s Song and the Song of Time. The Song of Storms is needed for the Lens of Truth, which the Shadow Temple leans on heavily.

Where does Sheik teach the six warp songs?

Sheik teaches all six to adult Link. Each one drops you on the stone platform with the Triforce mark near a temple, and after you know them they work for child Link too.

The Nocturne of Shadow is the only warp song adult Link cannot do without, because nothing else reaches the ledge with the Shadow Temple door. The Requiem of Spirit is the only way to bring child Link to the Desert Colossus. The Prelude of Light is the quickest way back to the Temple of Time whenever you want to change age.

How does the Scarecrow’s Song work?

The Scarecrow’s Song has no fixed notes. You write it.

1. As a child, go to Lake Hylia. Two scarecrows stand in a fenced plot of soil by the lake. Talk to the lower one, Bonooru, and take out the ocarina.
2. Play any eight notes. Bonooru memorises them. Pick something you will remember, because you have to play it back seven years later.
3. Come back as an adult and play the same eight notes to Bonooru. Now the song is yours, and the other scarecrow, Pierre, has left to wander Hyrule.
4. Play it where Navi flies off and turns green in mid-air. Pierre pops up at that spot and works as a Hookshot target.

Pierre is never required, but he opens shortcuts and a few collectibles. He gets you onto the lakeside laboratory roof for a Piece of Heart and up to the chest on the highest roof of Gerudo’s Fortress, and he stands in for the Magic Bean plant at Lake Hylia.

What else can the songs do?

• Call fairies. In a few spots where Navi turns green over bare ground, the Sun’s Song brings out a fairy that refills your magic. Playing in front of a Gossip Stone can also bring out a fairy.
• Please the frogs. On the log in Zora’s River, the frogs want Zelda’s Lullaby, Epona’s Song, Saria’s Song, the Sun’s Song and the Song of Time, and each gives a Purple Rupee. The Song of Storms there gives a Piece of Heart.
• Wake a Magic Bean. Play the Song of Storms as a child next to a planted bean and fairies fly out of the sprout.
• Skip the night. Gold Skulltulas marked “night” on the Gold Skulltulas checklist appear as soon as you play the Sun’s Song outdoors.
• Talk to Saria. Saria’s Song lets you ask her for a hint about where to go next.

What changes for the ocarina in the Switch 2 remake?

These are the changes Nintendo has announced for the remake:

• Buttons still work. Nintendo’s description says you “play the right notes using button controls”. The official screenshot shows the notes on a parchment staff with Switch 2 button names.
• You can hum. Songs can also be played by humming into the Nintendo Switch 2 microphone, and Nintendo says a real instrument works too. The microphone is optional.
• Zelda Notes has an ocarina. The Zelda Notes phone service adds Play Ocarina, a virtual ocarina. See the Zelda Notes guide.

Nintendo has not said that any song’s notes, teacher or order has changed. More detail on each announcement is in every confirmed new feature.

What should you read next?

• Ocarina of Time walkthrough hub: where each song fits in the dungeon order
• Items and upgrades: the Fairy Ocarina, the Ocarina of Time and everything else you carry
• Bottles: what Epona’s Song and the cows are good for
• Magic Beans: the soil patches that need warp songs
• All 36 Pieces of Heart: the pieces that need a song
• Beginner tips: child and adult Link, and where new players get stuck