Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) 1824 C major 4/4 Beginner 0:38 Both hands
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Ode to Joy is the tune many piano teachers reach for first, and for good reason: the right hand moves almost entirely by step, inside the five notes from C to G, so you can play most of it without moving your hand. This easy version puts Beethoven's melody in C major (the symphony is in D) and gives the left hand one or two long notes per bar, to build coordination without overload. The tune is four phrases of four bars, and three of them are nearly identical: learn one and you know most of the piece. Turn on note names in the bar above the score, practise the right hand first, and add the left hand when the melody flows.
Put the thumb on middle C and one finger on each white key up to G. The first, second and fourth phrases never leave that position. The only move is in bar 12, where the tune drops to the G below middle C: take that G with the thumb, then return to C for the last phrase.
The left hand plays long notes, C or G below middle C, mostly one per bar. Hold each one for its full length: the point is to keep the left hand still while the right hand moves.
The dotted rhythm at the end of the first two phrases (E... D D and D... C C): the first note lasts a beat and a half, the second only half a beat. Count "1, 2-and" out loud the first few times. The third phrase has two quick notes, E-F, on the second beat of bars 10 and 11.
Right hand, first phrase: 3-3-4-5 | 5-4-3-2 | 1-1-2-3 | 3-2-2. The other phrases use the same fingers on the same keys.
The right-hand melody of this version, bar by bar, in letter names and in Do Ré Mi. Sharps are written #, flats b; a note held across a bar line is written once.
Melody: E E F G G F E D C C D E E D D E E F G G F E D C …
| Bar | Notes | Do Ré Mi |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | E E F G | Mi Mi Fa Sol |
| 2 | G F E D | Sol Fa Mi Ré |
| 3 | C C D E | Do Do Ré Mi |
| 4 | E D D | Mi Ré Ré |
| 5 | E E F G | Mi Mi Fa Sol |
| 6 | G F E D | Sol Fa Mi Ré |
| 7 | C C D E | Do Do Ré Mi |
| 8 | D C C | Ré Do Do |
| 9 | D D E C | Ré Ré Mi Do |
| 10 | D E F E C | Ré Mi Fa Mi Do |
| 11 | D E F E D | Ré Mi Fa Mi Ré |
| 12 | C D G | Do Ré Sol |
| 13 | E E F G | Mi Mi Fa Sol |
| 14 | G F E D | Sol Fa Mi Ré |
| 15 | C C D E | Do Do Ré Mi |
| 16 | D C C | Ré Do Do |
The chords this arrangement holds for at least two bars, read from the score with the root in the bass. Each one opens its page: the notes, every inversion and the fingering, playable on a piano.
The piece is in C major: all the chords of the key
The melody comes from the last movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, finished in 1824 and first performed in Vienna on 7 May that year. Beethoven set it to Friedrich Schiller's poem An die Freude (To Joy): the cellos and basses introduce it quietly on their own, the orchestra takes it up, and then the soloists and choir sing it - voices in a symphony, which no major composer had done before.
The plainness is deliberate. Beethoven's sketchbooks show him reworking the tune again and again to make it simpler and easier to sing. It has been the anthem of the European Union since 1985 (without the words), and Leonard Bernstein conducted the symphony in Berlin at Christmas 1989 to celebrate the fall of the Wall, with "Freude" (joy) sung as "Freiheit" (freedom).
This transcription: Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 (1824), finale: the "Freude" theme, transposed to C major; left hand by GOONS Studio. Transcribed by GOONS Studio from the original work, which is in the public domain.
For kids: Ode to Joy by colors, on a rainbow piano that lights the next key and waits.
Easy Version · C major
Easy Version · C major
Theme A · A minor
Easy Version · G majorThe full piano studio opens this score with your MIDI keyboard and sustain pedal, records what you play and exports it as a MIDI file. It comes with the GOONS Studio subscription - start with the 7-day free trial, no card required.
It is one of the best first pieces: five white keys under five fingers, stepwise movement and a melody you already know, which makes your own mistakes easy to hear. This version is level 1 of 5.
In C major the right hand starts E E F G G F E D C C D E E D D - Mi Mi Fa Sol Sol Fa Mi Ré Do Do Ré Mi Mi Ré Ré. Every bar is listed in the Notes section of this page.
Beethoven's theme is in D major, which needs F# and C#. In C major every note is a white key, so you can concentrate on the fingers. The melody is otherwise the same.
The German poet Friedrich Schiller, in 1785. Beethoven set part of his poem An die Freude in the finale of the Ninth Symphony.