Beethoven, 5th Symphony

"Download?" and other FAQ for Ludwig van Beethoven's 5th Symphony 5, First mvt., accompanied by a scrolling bar-graph score.

Q: Where can I download this video for my iPhone/iPod/iPad/computer/etc.?
A: You can get it here:
http://musanim.cerizmo.com

Q: Where can I get free sheet music for this piece?
A: Here:
http://tinyurl.com/beetop67

Q: What do the colors in the bar-graph score mean?
A: The colors show which instruments are playing. Here's a chart:
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/Instruments_B5.pdf

Q: Please tell me more about the composer.
A: You can read about Beethoven here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beethoven

Q: Who is playing this?
A: I licensed this recording from
http://www.royalty-free-classical-music.org
It is performed by the Royalty Free Classical Music Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Keith J. Salmon. I don't know anything beyond that about the recording (like, whether it is a real orchestra or synthetic, who are its members, when and where was the recording made, etc.)

Q: Is there a way I could make bar-graph scores like this myself?
A: The Music Animation Machine MIDI file player will generate this display; you can get the (Windows) software here:
http://www.musanim.com/player/
There are lots of places on the web where you can get MIDI files; I usually go to the Classical Archives site first:
http://www.classicalarchives.com/

Q: Could you please do a MAM video of _________?
A: Please read this page:
http://www.musanim.com/all/MAMRequests.html

Q: How did you make this video?
A: There were a lot of steps; here's a short summary. I found a recording I could license and made the arrangements to use it. I found a MIDI file that was fairly complete, and imported that into the notation program Sibelius. I compared it to a printed copy of the score from my library and fixed things that were wrong (b5_fullscore.pdf is a snapshot taken during this process; note that there was a piano part in the MIDI file --- not something in the real score). Then, I listened to the recording and compared that to the score, and modified the score so that the timings were more like what the orchestra was actually playing (see b5_timings_adjusted.pdf). I exported this as a MIDI file and ran it through my custom frame-rendering software. Then, I made a "reduction" of the score (b5_reduction.pdf) and colored it to match the colors I was planning to use in the bar-graph score (b5_reduction_color.pdf). Unfortunately, when I squished the bar-graph score enough to make room for the notation score, too much detail was lost, so I ended up deciding not to use the notation. Then I put all the pieces (rendered frames, audio, titles) together in Adobe Premiere and exported the movie as a QuickTime file. Then, I used On2 Flix to convert the final file into Flash format (so that YouTube's conversion to their Flash format wouldn't change it in unpredictable ways), and uploaded the result. The PDFs mentioned in this description are in this ZIP file:
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/b5_scores.zip
.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• beethoven
• 5th
• symphony
• scrolling
• orchestra
• animation
• famous
• allegro
• con
• brio

[m2inla]

Thanks for using Atari's Pong graphics to bring this music to life. Just in case you suddenly awoke from a 35 year criogenic project, Microsoft os and Apple os are now considered top of the line. I regret to say the Comodore VIC 20, and the Atari 2600 are now considered outdated.

[smalin]

@m2inla I started this project in the 1970s (on long strips of paper) and started on the computer version of it on an Atari 800 in the early 1980s. I've experimented with lots of ways of showing scores, but this format has stood the test of time; videos using this format are used in music education in classrooms around the world. If you have a better way, you should consider making videos yourself.

[freeway996]

@hasuwary 1st.: i only posted it in TWO vids

2nd.: im not sure WHO is the idiot from us i said it SOUNDS like star wars and i never said williams is better then beethoven(well, i think its right but i know it is not true) i just said that this scene here is almost similar to the beginning of duel of the fates. okay?

[hasuwary]

@freeway996 omg ur idiot posting the same stupid star wars comment under each beethoven vid.

no it is not star wars it is an masterpiece of art and I like john williams too but compared to Mr.Beethoven he is a noob!

[freeway996]

4:18 lol STAR WARS??? :D

[ShedinjaSoul]

Now this is what you get when you upset an old gaming system. Loud music and Glitchy colors.

[dacry75]

pour moi c'est le plus beau morceau: MAGNIFIQUE

[Simi419]

1:30 best part

[ArchAngel028]

@smalin thanks for posting this so much, i REALLY enjoyed it.

[gustavoipassos]

"Meu nome é Éneias!"

[smalin]

@chanytube Sure --- I'm not denying his accomplishment. But even before he lost his hearing, he composed music without hearing how it sounded (for example, he's known to have taken his paper and pen on walks out in the country). So did Bach, Mozart, etc. --- most of the great composers were able to write music straight from their imagination to the paper. Beethoven's deafness was a tragedy, but his ability to write music when he was deaf was no greater than before he was deaf.

[chanytube]

@smalin right... and he could hear music in his head (and feel it in his heart) because he wasn't deaf from birth so he knew how the musical notes sounded like. But still a BIG accomplishment considering that he had to put together a "puzzle" using those notes without hearing how it sounded as he was creating it as well as when it was all completed.