We learned about Beethoven when we were introduced to the "Ode to Joy".  This piece, The Allegro con Brio form Symphony No. 5 just might be one of Beethovens MOST famous pieces of music.  It is also known at Beethoven's 5th.  Listen to it in the video below.

Lets look a little closer at the MOST famous part of the 5th symphony...dun, dun, dun, duuuuun.  These 4 little notes are called a MOTIF.  A motif is a short musical idea that is longer than 1 note, but is really quite short in length over all.  Even though it seems very small it is incredibly important to the entire piece of music and can be heard many times over.  Watch this video to see how important Beethoven's motif was.

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The narrator mentioned that even artists use motif's in their artwork.  Here are a few examples...

Can you create art work with your own motif.  First decide on a pattern (shape, or object) that you would like to use and then, using the examples above, create a picture with your own motif.  Use crayons or colored pencils to do this.