How to use the melody search feature

Do you have a certain classical melody in mind, but cannot remember the name of the tune? Well, the melody feature is here to help!

Here’s how it works:

1. Transpose the main theme of the melody you are trying to name to the key of C major or C minor.

2. Enter first few notes of the theme in the key of C major or C minor using the two octave keyboard. (Listen and make sure the theme sounds correct).
3. To narrow the search results, click on the relative major or minor button on the top left.
Open melody search

Play keys

4. Click on search; your desired tune should come up. Click on it to display the sheet music.

Click on name

Display music

Here’s an example of how to use the melody search:

I’m looking for the piano piece, Fur Elise, by Beethoven (of course, if I knew the name of the piece, I wouldn’t need to use this feature…but for the sake of this explanation, let’s pretend).

1. The first 6 notes of this specific piece are the most memorable (this isn’t the case in every tune). These notes in their original key, A minor, are: E Eb E Eb E B

Our first step is to transpose the theme into C minor, which gives us the notes: G Gb G Gb G D
NOTE: it doesn’t matter whether Gb or F# is entered (and so forth). The melody search engine will recognize both as the same note.

2. Next, we enter the transposed notes with the use of the keyboard.
3. To get the best results, click the minor button on the top left of the screen, since Fur Elise is written in a minor key.
play notes

select minor

4. Click the search button to get the result. Then, click on the name of the tune to bring up the Fur Elise sheet music.
select

Display sheet music

Remember, the melody search works well with catchy and melodic themes. We are constantly expanding our sheet music archive. If you cannot find a certain musical piece, please contact us about it at [email protected] and let us know.

Enjoy!