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SongsOde to Joy
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4 more songs need notes this instrument does not have. Changing the size or key brings some of them into reach.

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Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 9, 1824. Public domain.

17 tines · C4–E6 · C major · The standard. Almost every tab you find is written for this.

Tap a tine, or drag across them for a glissando. On a keyboard the letters on the tines are the ones to press — they follow the tines left to right.

KalimbaFree · printable · plays in your browser

Ode to Joy — Kalimba Tabs

Ode to Joy, written out for the kalimba as number tabs with the letter under every note and set up above on the 17-key. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the kalimba waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes30, 5 pitches
  • RangeC4–G4
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo112 bpm · about 17 s
  • LevelEasy

Can a kalimba play Ode to Joy?

Yes — every size on this page plays it. The check is made note by note against what each one can actually sound. Where the tune does not fit as the library writes it, another key or octave is tried, and the table says which; where nothing fits, it names the notes that are missing.

  • 7-note✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–G4 · load it
  • 8-key✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–G4 · load it
  • 10-key✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–G4 · load it
  • 17-key✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–G4 · loaded above
  • 21-key✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–G4 · load it

Ode to Joy: kalimba tabs

The large line is the number stamped on the tine; the small line under it is its letter name. A dash holds the note another beat, an underline is half a beat, and a dot beside a note makes it half as long again. Each line is one phrase.

▶ Play it above

Ode to Joy — kalimba tabs (17-key) · tonalics.com

The 5 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 5 and you can play the whole tune.

  • 1C4×6
  • 2D4×7
  • 3E4×9
  • 4F4×4
  • 5G4×4

What to expect on a kalimba

  • It runs from C4 to G4, a fifth, using 5 different notes. Its lowest note is the lowest this instrument has, and 21 semitones of range are left above it.
  • Every move is a step or a repeated note — there is no leap anywhere in it.
  • The left thumb plays 11 notes and the right 13, with 6 on the centre tine. The thumbs alternate the whole way through: no thumb ever has to play two different tines in a row.
  • The furthest it reaches from the centre is the 2nd tine out.

About the tune

The theme of the last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, first performed in Vienna in 1824, where a choir joins the orchestra to sing Schiller’s poem “An die Freude”. An instrumental arrangement of it has been the anthem of the Council of Europe since 1972 and of the European Union since 1985.

Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 9, 1824. Public domain. More about Ode to Joy →

Ode to Joy on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation. It is not offered for the guzheng, which does not have the notes.

More songs for the kalimba

All 34 kalimba songs · Christmas songs for kalimba · The online kalimba on its own

Playing it on a real kalimba?

If it sounds wrong, check the instrument before the notes. The kalimba tuner listens through your microphone and names what each note is actually sounding.

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