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NotePlayMusic

Ode to Joy — left-hand melody

Read the same familiar eight-bar tune in bass clef and give your left hand a turn leading the melody.

First notesLudwig van Beethoven · Simplified melody excerpt · piano left handPiano · Left hand · C major · 4/4

80 beats per minute. Changing speed stops playback; press Play to start again.

Try it at the keyboard

  1. Place your left little finger on C3, one octave below middle C, and your thumb on G3. Start on E3 with your middle finger.
  2. Count four beats in each bar. Keep your hand relaxed as the melody moves between neighbouring notes.
  3. Listen once, then practise four bars at a time with your left hand.

About this score

NotePlayMusic adaptation of the first eight soprano bars: transposed from G major to C major, accompaniment omitted, and the dotted-crotchet/quaver endings in bars 4 and 8 replaced by two crotchets. This is a teaching excerpt, not the complete work or the original rhythm. This left-hand version places the melody an octave below our right-hand version and uses bass clef.

Source edition typeset by Peter Chubb; melody by Ludwig van Beethoven. The source edition is marked Public Domain by its typesetter.

Source notation · Source score & rights notice