Would you like to learn the famous composition Ode to Joy on the piano? You’ve come to the right place!
Also called Ode to Joy, this title is originally a poem by Friedrich Von Schiller, written in 1785. Today, it is most popular for its inclusion in the last movement of Ludwig Van Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, composed between 1822 and 1824. The fame of this piece was reinforced when it was chosen as the official anthem of the European Union in 1986.
The main themes of the text are unity and brotherhood, which made it an ideal candidate to symbolize the desire for unification of European countries.
Ode to Joy is a fairly easy song to learn on the piano. There are many different versions, some of them very simplified. If you are a beginner, you should be able to learn to play it in a short time.
In this article, we have chosen to teach you an easy version of the composition.
We have designed this article as a piano tutorial that will teach you the notes of Ode to Joy. You will first learn the notes to be played with the right hand, and then the notes to be played with the left hand. Each part is accompanied by a tutorial video that will help you learn more quickly.
At the end of the article, you can also download the free piano sheet music of Ode to Joy.
Note that you can also play Ode to Joy in our article dedicated to songs to learn with numbers on the piano. If you like the works of this pianist, we advise you to read our article on the best Beethoven songs to play on the piano.
Bonus: you can also learn to play this song at your own pace on our piano learning app La Touche Musicale.
Bonus : you can also learn to play this song at your own pace on our interactive piano learning app La Touche Musicale.
Free download: >> >> The guide to learn 10 easy piano pieces.
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Before playing Beethoven’s Ode to Joy on the piano, we will first review the basics of piano playing. The idea is to be able to find your way around a keyboard easily. If you are already comfortable with this concept, you can move on to the next part.
Look carefully at the diagram below:
The name of the notes on a piano keyboard.
The image above shows you clearly the notes associated with each key on the piano keyboard.
You can see that the keyboard is made up of several parts that are identical. The black keys, which alternate between groups of two keys and groups of three keys, are used to find our way around the keyboard and to know which key we are on.
For example, if you’re looking for the note E, you’d first look for a group of two black keys. Once you have identified this group, you need to find the white key to the right of the second black key in that group. This is your E.
Practice knowing the notes that are associated with each key on the keyboard. With this knowledge, you will be able to follow the tutorial in this article dedicated to learning the composition Ode to Joy on the piano.
We’ll start by identifying the first note to play on the keyboard to start with the right hand.
The first note to play with your right hand is an E:
E is the first note of the right hand in Ode to Joy on piano.
Found your Mi on the keyboard? Great!
Now we’ll start from this first note and play all the following notes and perform the whole right hand for this song.
Play successively all the following notes:
E – E – F – G – G – F – E – D – C – D – E – E – D – E – E – F – G – G – F – E – D – C – D – E – D – D – E – F – E – D – D – E – F – E – F – E – D – D – G – G – E – E – F – G – G – E – F – E – F – D – D – D – D – E – E – F – E – F – D – E – F – E – F – F – G – E – D – F – E – F – E – F – F – E – F – F – F – F – F – E – F – F – E – F – F – F – F – E – F – F – E – F – F – F – F – E – F – F – E – F.
If you play all these notes one after the other, you will easily recognize the melody of the song Ode to Joy played by the right hand of the piano.
Ode to Joy on the piano: the notes of the right hand.
Watch this video tutorial to learn how to play the notes of the song with your right hand on the piano.
Vous savez maintenant jouer la main gauche de cette célèbre chanson au piano, bravo !
Nous allons désormais nous concentrer sur les notes de la main gauche.
Play the notes ofOde to Joy with the right hand on an interactive app
La Touche Musicale app waits for you to play the right note with your right hand on your piano before moving on to the next one.
Having learned to play the notes with the right hand, we will now repeat the exact same pedagogical process with the left hand.
Let’s start by identifying the first two notes to be played on the keyboard. These are C and G, which must be played simultaneously:
C and G are the first notes of the left hand in Ode to Joy.
You found the first notes C and G? Great!
Now we’ll have to continue the sequence of notes with the left hand.
Press all these notes in succession:
C+G – C+G – E – F – G – C+G – C+G – E – F – G – C+G – F+G – F+G – G – D – G – C+G – C+G – E – F – G – C+G.
Play this sequence of notes one after the other to obtain the accompaniment of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy performed with the left hand on the piano.
Ode to Joy on the piano: the notes of the left hand.
All the notes we mentioned earlier are included in this tutorial video. Look carefully at all the notes that scroll by and play them simultaneously with your left hand as they arrive on the virtual piano displayed on the screen:
Play the notes of Ode to Joy with the left hand on an interactive app
The La Touche Musicale app waits for you to play the correct note with your left hand on your piano before moving on to the next.
You can now play both hands of this famous song on the piano, congratulations!
Now we will see how to play it with both hands at the same time.
Playing the piano with both hands at the same time is not an easy exercise when you are a beginner. You have to go slowly to give your brain time to assimilate the information and to progress in coordination.
We advise you to proceed small part by small part, going slowly at the beginning and then gradually accelerating the rhythm of your playing. You will see that you will learn more and more quickly because your brain will get used to the coordination exercise that you impose on it.
Ode to Joy on the piano: the notes of both hands.
This last video tutorial shows you the notes to play with both hands. Follow each of the notes to play the entire song in the sequence.
If you have trouble following the rhythm, you can slow down the speed of the video or even pause it to give you time to place your fingers in the right place on your keyboard when new notes are to be played.
Note: on La Touche Musicale app, you don’t need to pause the song. The application waits for you until you play the right note.
Play the notes of Ode to Joy with both hands on an interactive app
The La Touche Musicale app waits for you to play the right notes with both hands on your piano before moving on to the next.
Congratulations, you now know how to play one of the world’s most popular songs celebrating joy and unity!
Check out our other piano tutorials on popular songs:
– Clair de lune Piano Tutorial
– The Office Theme Song Piano Notes
– Learn to play the notes of Turkish March on Piano
In addition to offering you to learn this famous classical composition on the piano, we thought it would also be interesting to offer you to download its score.
In this last section of the article, you will find a link to download the free piano sheet music of Ode to Joy in PDF format. You can then print it out and play it from anywhere.
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