Ode to Joy

• Rangefifth
• Notes30, 5 different
• ScaleMajor, no accidentals
• Length hereabout 17 s

About Ode to Joy

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.

Beethoven built it to be singable by anyone: the part given here moves by step, stays inside five notes, and states its opening phrase twice. It is one of the few symphonic themes a beginner can play complete.

Play Ode to Joy on your instrument

26 of the 27 playable instruments here have every note it needs. 26 play it where the library writes it; the rest move it to another key or octave, and each page says which. Every page has the instrument itself, with the song loaded, above the notes.

• Kalimba tabsas written · C4–G4 · fifth
• Piano letter notesas written · C4–G4 · fifth
• Mbira tabsas written · C4–G4 · fifth
• Handpan tabsas written · C4–G4 · fifth
• Oud notesas written · C3–G3 · fifth
• Violin notesas written · C4–G4 · fifth
• Cello notesas written · C3–G3 · fifth
• Erhu notesas written · D4–A4 · fifth
• Dulcimer tabas written · D4–A4 · fifth
• Xylophone letter notesas written · C4–G4 · fifth
• Marimba letter notesas written · C4–G4 · fifth
• Glockenspiel letter notesas written · C4–G4 · fifth
• Steel Drum letter notesas written · F4–C5 · fifth
• Ocarina notesas written · C4–G4 · fifth
• Harmonica tabsas written · C5–G5 · fifth
• Trumpet notesas written · C4–G4 · fifth
• Clarinet notesas written · C4–G4 · fifth
• Saxophone notesas written · C4–G4 · fifth
• Flute notesas written · G4–D5 · fifth
• Recorder notesas written · C4–G4 · fifth
• Tuba notesas written · B♭1–F2 · fifth
• Euphonium notesas written · B♭2–F3 · fifth
• Trombone notesas written · B♭2–F3 · fifth
• Accordion letter notesas written · C4–G4 · fifth
• Harp letter notesas written · C4–G4 · fifth
• Lyre tabsas written · C4–G4 · fifth

Instruments that cannot play it

• Guzheng — it would need G4, which it does not have in any size or key here.

Ode to Joy letter notes

Written in C major, from C4 to G4, with each note’s number in the scale under it — the form that transfers to any instrument. A dash holds a note another beat, an underline is half a beat, and each line is one phrase.

Where these notes come from

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

No lyrics are printed on this page or any other here: these pages are about a melody and how to play it.

More classical melodies

• Going Home (New World Largo)Antonín Dvořák, 1893
• Brahms' LullabyJohannes Brahms, 1868
• Canon in DJohann Pachelbel, c. 1680