Ocarina of Time Songs Guide: All 12 Melodies and Notes
Twelve melodies, plus one you compose yourself. Half of them are convenience, half of them are locked doors. Here is every Ocarina of Time song with its exact note sequence on N64 and 3DS, where you learn it, and what it actually opens.
Every note in the Song of Storms is a joke the game is telling on itself. Adult Link learns it from a man losing his mind next to a windmill, who explains that a kid with an ocarina once cranked his windmill to a ruinous speed. You then travel back seven years, play the song you just learned to that same windmill, and cause the exact event he described. The game hands you a closed time loop and never mentions it again.
That is the tone of the whole songbook. Twelve melodies, plus one you write yourself. Six are utility, six are warps, and the number of them that are strictly required to finish the game is smaller than most people assume.
How the ocarina actually works
You get the Fairy Ocarina from Saria when you first leave Kokiri Forest, and the Ocarina of Time from the castle moat after Zelda throws it there. Functionally they are the same instrument — the Ocarina of Time is a story upgrade, and any song you learned on the Fairy Ocarina still plays.
On N64 you play with five buttons: A, and the four yellow C-buttons. Every song is a sequence of those five inputs, which is why the note charts below use directions instead of musical notation. You learn a song by standing in the right place and listening to someone play it, then repeating it back.
A useful habit: when Navi turns green and hovers in place, that is the game telling you a song does something here. Green Navi usually means Song of Storms (a hidden fairy or grotto) or the Scarecrow's Song (a Hookshot perch).
The six utility songs
These are the everyday melodies. Five of them do real puzzle work; one exists so you can ride a horse.
Zelda's Lullaby
- N64 notes: C-Left, C-Up, C-Right, C-Left, C-Up, C-Right
- 3DS notes: X, A, Y, X, A, Y
- Learned from: Impa, in Princess Zelda's courtyard at Hyrule Castle
The single most useful song in the game. It is the Royal Family's melody, and it functions as a password — any Triforce emblem carved into a wall or floor responds to it. That includes opening the Royal Family's Tomb in the Kakariko graveyard, opening the gate to Zora's Domain behind the waterfall, draining the water pools at the Bottom of the Well, summoning Great Fairies at their fountains, and — the big one — raising and lowering the water in the Water Temple.
Saria's Song
- N64 notes: C-Down, C-Right, C-Left, C-Down, C-Right, C-Left
- 3DS notes: R, Y, X, R, Y, X
- Learned from: Saria, in the Sacred Forest Meadow
Nominally a hint line — play it anywhere and Saria tells you where to go next, which makes it the game's built-in walkthrough. It also does three concrete things: it cheers up Darunia in Goron City, who dances and hands over the Goron Bracelet; it earns a Piece of Heart from the lone Skull Kid in the Lost Woods; and adult Link has to play it to Mido to be allowed back into the Sacred Forest Meadow before the Forest Temple.
Epona's Song
- N64 notes: C-Up, C-Left, C-Right, C-Up, C-Left, C-Right
- 3DS notes: A, X, Y, A, X, Y
- Learned from: Malon, at Lon Lon Ranch
Composed by Malon's mother. As a child it tames Epona so she will approach you; as an adult, after you beat Ingo in the ranch race and win her, it calls her from anywhere with open ground. It also makes cows produce milk, including the cow in Link's own house.
Sun's Song
- N64 notes: C-Right, C-Down, C-Up, C-Right, C-Down, C-Up
- 3DS notes: Y, R, A, Y, R, A
- Learned from: The engraving at the back of the Royal Family's Tomb, Kakariko graveyard
You need Zelda's Lullaby on the Triforce slab out front to get in at all. Once learned, the Sun's Song flips night to day and day to night instantly, which matters more than it sounds — Hyrule Field and Kakariko change entirely between the two states, and several Heart Pieces and shop windows are time-locked.
Its combat use is the reason to keep it assigned: playing it paralyzes ReDeads and Gibdos, the shrieking undead that lock you in place. The Shadow Temple and the Bottom of the Well are much calmer with this song on a face button.
Song of Time
- N64 notes: C-Right, A, C-Down, C-Right, A, C-Down
- 3DS notes: Y, L, R, Y, L, R
- Learned from: Zelda, telepathically, the moment you fish the Ocarina of Time out of the castle moat
The plot key. Play it at the altar in the Temple of Time with all three Spiritual Stones and the Door of Time opens onto the Master Sword — the break point that splits the dungeon route into child and adult halves. Afterward it keeps working as a puzzle tool: blue Time Blocks marked with the Symbol of Time appear and disappear when you play it, which is how you reach several Heart Pieces and clear obstacles in Dodongo's Cavern and the Spirit Temple.
Song of Storms
- N64 notes: A, C-Down, C-Up, A, C-Down, C-Up
- 3DS notes: L, R, A, L, R, A
- Learned from: The Phonogram Man inside the Kakariko Windmill, as an adult
Summons rain. That sounds cosmetic and is not. The Song of Storms reveals hidden grottoes all over Hyrule, waters Magic Bean sprouts so they grow into ride-able platforms, and calls a healing fairy wherever Navi turns green. Play it to the Fabulous Five Froggish Tenors at Zora's River for a Piece of Heart.
Most importantly: play it inside the windmill as a child and the windmill spins up hard enough to drain the Kakariko well, opening the Bottom of the Well and the Lens of Truth. That is the time loop, and it is also the gateway to a dungeon the game never tells you exists.
The six warp songs
Sheik teaches all six, one per region, and each one drops you at the doorstep of a temple. They are 5 to 8 notes instead of 6, which is the tell that they are a different class of song.
| Song | N64 notes | 3DS notes | Learned at | Warps to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minuet of Forest | A, C-Up, C-Left, C-Right, C-Left, C-Right | L, A, X, Y, X, Y | Sacred Forest Meadow | Sacred Forest Meadow (Forest Temple) |
| Bolero of Fire | C-Down, A, C-Down, A, C-Right, C-Down, C-Right, C-Down | R, L, R, L, Y, R, Y, R | Death Mountain Crater | Death Mountain Crater (Fire Temple) |
| Serenade of Water | A, C-Down, C-Right, C-Right, C-Left | L, R, Y, Y, X | Ice Cavern | Lake Hylia (Water Temple) |
| Nocturne of Shadow | C-Left, C-Right, C-Right, A, C-Left, C-Right, C-Down | X, Y, Y, L, X, Y, R | Kakariko Village | Kakariko graveyard (Shadow Temple) |
| Requiem of Spirit | A, C-Down, A, C-Right, C-Down, A | L, R, L, Y, R, L | Desert Colossus | Desert Colossus (Spirit Temple) |
| Prelude of Light | C-Up, C-Right, C-Up, C-Right, C-Left, C-Up | A, Y, A, Y, X, A | Temple of Time | Inside the Temple of Time |
Two of these are more than shortcuts. The Nocturne of Shadow, taught after you clear both the Fire Temple and the Water Temple, is the only way to reach the Shadow Temple at all — there is no walking route to the back of the graveyard. The Requiem of Spirit is what lets child Link reach the Desert Colossus, which is mandatory because the western half of the Spirit Temple is child-only.
The Prelude of Light is the quiet workhorse. Warping into the Temple of Time puts you two steps from the Pedestal of Time, which is how you swap ages on demand. Learn it right after the Forest Temple and the rest of the game gets noticeably less walking.
One original-release quirk worth knowing: on N64 the confirmation prompt for the Minuet of Forest asks whether you want to warp to the Lost Woods, even though it actually deposits you in the Sacred Forest Meadow. Ocarina of Time 3D corrected the text.
The Scarecrow's Song
This one is yours. As a child, go to Lake Hylia, show your ocarina to Bonooru the scarecrow, and play any eight-note melody you invent. Return as an adult, play the same eight notes back to him, and he lends you Pierre, a second scarecrow who will pop out of the ground wherever you play the song near a valid spot.
Pierre is a portable Hookshot target. He is the answer to several otherwise unreachable ledges, including a Piece of Heart at Lake Hylia and the shortcut to the eastern wing of the Fire Temple. Two warnings: write your eight notes down, because the game will not remind you, and do this before you pull the Master Sword if you want it available early.
N64 vs 3DS button mapping
The melodies are identical across every version; only the controller changed. Ocarina of Time 3D remaps the four C-buttons onto the 3DS face and shoulder buttons like this:
| N64 input | 3DS input |
|---|---|
| A | L |
| C-Up | A |
| C-Down | R |
| C-Left | X |
| C-Right | Y |
If you learned the songs on N64 and your fingers still remember the C-button shapes, that table converts them cleanly. The Nintendo Switch Online N64 release keeps the original mapping, so any old note chart works there unmodified.
The songs that gate progress
Strip away the convenience and the actually-mandatory list is short:
- Zelda's Lullaby — Zora's Domain, the Royal Family's Tomb, and every water level in the Water Temple.
- Saria's Song — Darunia's Goron Bracelet, and getting past Mido as an adult.
- Song of Time — the Door of Time. No sword without it.
- Song of Storms — draining the Kakariko well for the Lens of Truth, which the Shadow Temple effectively requires.
- Nocturne of Shadow — the only entrance to the Shadow Temple.
- Requiem of Spirit — the only way child Link reaches the Spirit Temple.
Everything else is quality of life, and quality of life in a game this old is worth a lot. Pair this with our Ocarina of Time dungeon order guide to see exactly where each song lands in the route, and the Water Temple guide for the one dungeon built entirely around a single melody.
Quick Action Checklist
- Learn Zelda's Lullaby from Impa in the castle courtyard and keep it assigned all game.
- Play Zelda's Lullaby on the Triforce slab outside the Royal Family's Tomb to unlock the Sun's Song.
- Use the Sun's Song to freeze ReDeads and Gibdos, not just to change the time of day.
- Play Saria's Song at Darunia for the Goron Bracelet and at the Lost Woods Skull Kid for a Piece of Heart.
- As a child, invent and write down your eight-note Scarecrow's Song at Lake Hylia before you pull the Master Sword.
- Learn the Song of Storms from the Phonogram Man as an adult, then return as a child and play it in the windmill to drain the well.
- Grab the Prelude of Light immediately after the Forest Temple — it is the fastest age-swap in the game.
- Watch for Navi turning green: that is a Song of Storms fairy or a Scarecrow's Song perch.
- On 3DS, remember A becomes L and C-Up becomes A when converting old note charts.
Frequently Asked Questions
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