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Ode to Joy
By Ludwig van Beethoven, 1824. This happy tune is from the end of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. He wrote it when he could hardly hear at all.
What to listen for in Ode to Joy
Tap Play the map and follow the stops. It lasts about 75 seconds. Tap any stop to start from there.
- A quiet tune. Listen to the happy tune, soft and slow.
- The middle part. A new part, then the tune comes back.
- Friends join in. The tune again, and the band joins in!
- Everybody!. Now everybody plays, big and loud!
For grown-ups: the composition is in the public domain (written 1824). Peabody’s band plays it from notes read out of a published score, simplified to one tune line with chords, and some stops are played by a different band so the change is easy to hear. Read from: https://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/demo/Tunes/OdeToJoy.abc (Beethoven's tune with two or three voices, G major), checked against https://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/mirror/LesterBailey/Ode_to_Joy.abc. Notes only (no words); top line only; the tie into the last phrase struck again; harmonised here from the source's lower voices.
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