About Ode to Joy#
The tune comes from the choral finale of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, which he completed in 1824, late in his life and after he had lost most of his hearing. He set it to words from Friedrich Schiller’s poem “An die Freude,” a hymn to human brotherhood, and handed the theme first to the low strings before the chorus takes it up. Simple as the melody is, it carries the weight of the whole symphony.
Reduced to that bare tune, it is one of the kindest first songs on a 6-hole ocarina. It moves mostly by step and stays within an octave, from C up to the C above, with no wide leaps and no high notes that force an overblow. Plenty of players get through it in a single sitting.
Ode to Joy Lyrics#
Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love; Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, Opening to the sun above. Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; Drive the dark of doubt away; Giver of immortal gladness, Fill us with the light of day!
Ode to Joy Ocarina Tab#
| A | A | A# | C | C | |||||
| Bb | A | G | F | F | G | A | A | G | G |
| A | A | A# | C | C | |||||
| A# | A | G | F | F | A | A | G | F | F |
| G | G | A | F | G | A | A# | A | F | |
| G | A | A# | A | G | F | G | C | ||
| A | A | A# | C | C | A# | A | G | ||
| F | F | G | A | G | F | F |