Ode to Joy (theme, arranged for beginners)

Learn this piece

Composer

Ludwig van Beethoven

Arrangement

Musicanyya practice material

Level

Beginner

Key

C major

Metre

4/4

Tempo

100 BPM

Length

8 bars, about 1 minute

Hands

both

Trains

A simple stepwise melody with steady quarter notes over static left-hand chords - an easy introduction to playing both hands together.

How to practise it

• The right hand moves step by step and never leaves the five notes from C to G, while the left hand holds one chord a bar (two in bar 8). Try each hand alone in Practice, then together at 60 BPM.
• Bars 4 and 8 have the dotted rhythm: a long note, a short one, then a half note. Count it out loud and loop bar 4 until the short note is not rushed.
• The left hand changes most at the end: an F chord in bar 7, then G and C chords in bar 8. Loop bars 7-8 so each chord is ready in time.

Where this score came from

Arrangement for this app (CC0)

The first two 4-bar phrases only, ending on the tonic; not the complete theme. Bars 4 and 8 keep Beethoven's dotted figure (dotted quarter, eighth, half).

Changes from the source: Bars 1-8 only (the first two phrases); the theme's middle phrase and return (its bars 9-16) are left out. Key: C major (Beethoven's theme is in D major; the hymn setting it was checked against is in G major). Left hand: our own block chords, one per bar (C, G, F in bar 7) and two in bar 8 (G, then C).

Other versions

• Song - Ode to Joy Beginner

More at this level

• Amazing Grace (arranged for beginners) Traditional (American hymn tune "New Britain")
• Lullaby (arranged for beginners) Johannes Brahms (Wiegenlied, Op. 49 No. 4)
• Waltz, Op. 39 No. 15 (theme, arranged for beginners) Johannes Brahms (Waltz in A-flat major, Op. 39 No. 15)
• Greensleeves (arranged for beginners) Traditional (English, 16th century)
• In the Hall of the Mountain King (theme, arranged for beginners) Edvard Grieg (Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46 No. 4)