About As the Deer#
Martin Nystrom wrote this worship chorus in 1984, setting words drawn from the opening of Psalm 42, where the psalmist compares his longing for God to a deer thirsting for water. It spread quickly through churches in the 1980s and 1990s and is now a standard in many congregations.
The melody spans about an octave, from D up to the D above, and leans on F sharp and C sharp. Those two sharps are the notes to get cleanly in tune on a 6-hole ocarina. Once they are steady, the gentle, flowing line is easy to hold, which makes this a calm piece for working on smooth phrasing.
As the Deer Ocarina Tab#
| F#As | Athe | Adeer | F#pan | E-teth | Dfor | Ethe | Gwa | F#-ter |
| ESo | Dmy | Bsoul | Blong | B-eth | Aaf | G-ter | Athee | |
| F#You | Aare | Aall | F#that | Emy | Dheart | Ede | G-si | F#-re |
| F#And | EI | Dlong | F#to | Ewor | D-ship | Dyou | ||
| DYou | Da | D-lone | Dmy | C#strength | Bmy | Bshi | A-eld | |
| DTo | Byou | Ba | B-lone | Bthat | Amy | Gspi | G-rit | F#yield |
| F#You | Aa | A-lone | F#that | Emy | Dheart | Ede | G-si | F#-re |
| EAnd | DI | Dlong | F#to | Ewor | D-ship | Dyou |