Pianuvo

Ode to Joy

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

Beethoven put this tune in the last part of his Ninth Symphony, first performed in 1824. By then he could hardly hear at all.

Play it in Pianuvo Free in your browser. Watch the notes fall, then play along on a piano, a MIDI keyboard or the screen.

About this easy piano piece

Composer
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Level
Easy · Stage 2: Both Hands
Difficulty
2.2 on Pianuvo’s scale (1 is your first notes, about 9 is Debussy)
Length
about 40 seconds, 16 bars
Hands
Both hands
Time and tempo
4/4 at about 100 BPM
Range
G2 to G4

Background

The words come from "An die Freude" ("To Joy"), a poem the German writer Friedrich Schiller wrote in 1785. Beethoven had wanted to set it to music since he was a young man, and he finally did so in the last movement of his Ninth Symphony, which was first performed in Vienna on 7 May 1824. Bringing a choir and four solo singers into a symphony was a startling idea at the time. Beethoven was almost completely deaf by then.

The tune moves almost entirely by step, like a hymn anyone could sing, and the orchestra introduces it quietly in the low strings before the voices take it up.

Today it belongs to more than one country. The Council of Europe adopted Beethoven's melody as its anthem in 1972, and the European Union took it up in 1985. The official anthem is instrumental, with no words, so that it does not favour any one language.

How to practise it

This arrangement is sixteen bars in C major, in four lines of four bars. Lines one, two and four begin the same way; only the endings differ. Line three is the contrast.

Learn the right hand first, in C position with the thumb on middle C; the fingering then takes care of itself.

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Bars 3 and 4: the dotted rhythm at the end of line one

The end of line one has a dotted quarter note E and an eighth note D. Count "1, & 2 &" and play the D on the "and" of 2. Line two ends with the same rhythm on D and C, which closes the tune instead of leaving it hanging. Practise the two endings back to back so you feel the difference: line one stops on D (a question), line two on C (an answer).

Line three has two quick pairs of eighth notes (E, F) and then drops to the G below middle C in bar 12. Move your hand down for that G, then use the two beats it lasts to slide back into C position for line four.

The left hand plays two-note chords: C with G above it, and G with D above it, each held with fingers 5 and 1. To change from one to the other, keep the same shape and move the whole hand down or up.

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Left-hand fifths: C with G above it, and G with D above it

In lines one, two and four the chord changes once per bar. In line three it changes every two beats, so practise that line hands together first, slowly.

A tempo ladder: right hand alone at 70, hands together at 60, then 76, 88 and the full 100 beats a minute.

Listen for a smooth, joined-up melody, with the left hand quieter than the tune.

The dotted rhythm here is one of the main topics of the ties, dotted rhythms and upbeats unit.

Quick tips

  1. The tune moves mostly by steps. Learn the right hand first, then add the left-hand chords, which change only a few times.
  2. It stretches from G2 to G4, so look ahead for the moves across the keyboard. Both hands play: learn each hand on its own first, then put them together slowly. At 16 bars it is easiest to learn in small pieces of four bars.
  3. Written at about 100 BPM, but start near 90 BPM (90% speed) and speed up only when two clean plays in a row feel easy. Count 1-2-3-4, leaning a little on beats 1 and 3.

In the Academy

Taught in the Academy after Unit 6 (Ties, dotted rhythms, upbeats and phrasing). The Academy teaches the reading, rhythm and technique this piece needs, step by step.

More songs to try

Arrangement. Pianuvo (original arrangement). Original arrangement of a public-domain tune (CC0); free to reuse.