While “Best Picture” might be the most well-known award in the Oscars, there have been some incredible award-winning songs throughout the years as well. Here is a collection of some of the most unforgettable pieces of music that won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

1930s – “Over The Rainbow”

In 1939, the movie The Wizard of Oz came out and took the world by storm. Contained in the fantastic film were numerous hit songs, with “Over The Rainbow” standing out as the most popular. “Over The Rainbow”, sung by Judy Garland, is listed as the best movie song of all time by the American Film Institute in their 100 song list.

1940s- “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah”

“Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah”, composed by Allie Wrubel with lyrics by Ray Gilbert, came out in 1946 in the Disney movie Song of the South. It’s a cheerful tune that has remained popular in all age groups. Multiple artists have covered this song, including legend Johnny Mercer.

1950s – “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)”

This hopeful song was introduced in the 1956 Alfred Hitchcock film, The Man Who Knew Too Much. This song featured actress/singer Doris Day, and quickly became one of the songs she was most known for. “Que Sera, Sera” was written by songwriting duo Jay Livingston and Ray Evans.

1960s -“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head“

“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1969. It was featured in the movie  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and was written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach. This song was hugely popular when it first came out, and reached #1 on charts in the USA, Canada, and Norway.

1970s- “Theme from Shaft“

This song was written and sung by artist Isaac Hayes for the 1971 film Shaft.  This academy-award was significant because it made Hayes the first African-American to receive the Oscar for original songs. “Theme from Shaft” went on to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA.

1980s-“(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” 

Written for the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” was/still is an extremely popular song. It went on to win multiple awards besides the Oscar, including A Golden Globe and a Grammy. This song was written by Franke Previte, John DeNicola, and Donald Markowitz, and recorded by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warner.

1990s- “My Heart Will Go On“

Also known as “Love Theme from Titanic,” this award-winner was the theme song from James Cameron’s record-breaking movie. This song was performed by Celine Dion, and quickly became her signature piece. This smash-hit reached number 1 on charts all around the world, and became one of the best-selling in history.

2000s – Lose Yourself

“Lose Yourself”, written by Eminem for the 2002 movie 8 Mile, was the first rap song to receive the Academy Award for Best Original Song. This was a massively popular song, and went on to win a Grammy and secure the #1 spot on Billboards Hot 100. The quintuple platinum song was also on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

2010s- Let It Go

Even though we’re only half-way through the Oscars of the 2010’s, “Let It Go” has surely sealed its reputation as one of the most well-known movie songs in the world. The 2013 Disney movie Frozen was the highest grossing animated film, which can be largely accredited to its soundtrack. Let It Go reached the top 5 in the Hot 100 Billboard chart, and was covered in multiple languages, making it one of the most globally recorded Disney songs.

Read more: 

• Piano accompaniment and how to master it
• 35 Beatles songs you probably didn’t know
• The 6 most famous female pianists

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Playing music in odd time signatures can be challenging–especially if you have no idea what they are or how they work. Luckily, this blog post looks at time signatures and what makes them odd.

You can recognize odd time signatures in songs when they are tough to count or dance to–it’s like they’re skipping a beat. 

Odd time signatures enable artists to harness their imagination’s depths, creating unconventional and unique music. They can be tough to grasp at first. But once you get the hang of them, they’re a piece of cake.  

So let’s take a closer look at odd time signatures, their components, and their impact on music.

What is a time signature?

Time signatures determine the song’s rhythm. 

In sheet music, they appear as two numbers, one on top of the other. For instance, the simplest and most common time signature is 4/4. 

We use them to measure or organize songs by dividing them into smaller sections. This helps musicians with timing and makes the song easier to remember. 

Time signatures consist of two elements, a beat and a measure or ‘bar‘.

Beats & measures

In musical notation, the beat represents a basic unit of time. We organize beats in bars or measures. There are many types of beats, such as half beats, quarter beats, and eighth beats, to name a few.

The time signature’s top number is the number of beats in a bar, and the lower number refers to the type of beat that you’re playing. For instance, 5/8  is five eighth notes per measure. As you can see, songwriters have countless variations to play within musical notation.

So what’s the deal with an odd time signature?

Odd time signatures.

Also known as asymmetric, unusual, complex, or irregular time signatures, a song has an odd time signature when you can’t evenly divide the beats into the bar. For example, they appear in sheet music as 5/4, 11/4, 5/8, and even 23/16.

It’s always nice when things fit perfectly into their framework. However, in the case of music, a particular number of beats can produce intricate and pleasing sounds. 

Odd time signatures are found in all types of music, including pop, electronic, and traditional, and they’re also popular in progressive rock and metal music.

Different types of odd time signatures.

When it comes to odd signatures, you can create almost anything you want. Although, some interesting examples could clarify the beat’s layout.

• 11/4—This signature contains eleven beats that are a quarter note each. We can break the beats down into 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2. You can also switch the beats to look like 1-2-3, 1-2, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, etc.
  
• 5/4—With five beats per measure, this time signature resonates at a frequency of a quarter note each. You can break this signature down into 1-2-3, 1-2, or 1-2, 1-2-3.
  
• 7/8—In this case, the signature has seven beats per measure, eight notes each 12-12-12- 1, or 123-12-12. 

As you can see, you can use time signatures–especially odd ones–in interesting and unique ways. 

How is odd time different from other signatures?

There are many different approaches that you can use regarding time signatures. 

A signature is odd because the number of beats does not fit evenly into a measure. Their distribution must be in unique patterns, creating an unconventional rhythm.

Music has a host of other time signatures, and each offers a distinct rhythm. In a simple or normal time signature, you can divide beats into two equal sections of notes. The most common forms are 4/4, 2/4, and 3/4. 

Compound signatures are similar to their simpler peers; only the beats break down into three equal parts. The introduction to Game of Thrones uses a 6/8 time signature. Some other common forms include 9/8, 12/8, and 3/8. 

Another interesting way to write music–perhaps more peculiar than the odd time signature–is the changing, or polymetric time signatures. Using a changing time signature, you can play with beats and measures, establishing a new rhythm as the song progresses.

Popular songs with an odd time signature.

Part of understanding odd time signatures is identifying their sound. Here’s a list of songs that harness irregular beats to capture their listeners’ attention, love, and praise.

• The Ocean by the timeless rock band Led Zeppelin. The song’s musical time signature operates within a 7/8  framework. 

• MGMT, a famous indie rock band, composed Electric Feel, which uses a 6/4 rhythm.

• Pink Floyd’s hit, Money, with a time signature of 7/4.

• You by Radiohead uses a changing time signature, mixing some simple and odd time signatures! The rhythm changes between 6/8 and 5/8.

Cool stuff right?

The more you practice listening to songs that use odd time signatures, the easier they are to identify, giving you a clearer idea of how they work.

However, like any skill, it takes time and practice. 

Learn how to play the songs you love in various musical time signatures with JoyTunes. Our app Simply Piano guides you through a custom lesson plan that helps you progress one step at a time.

You’ll be playing your favorite songs in no time!

FAQs

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Wondering what the best piano applications for kids in 2022 are? Let’s explore a list of the best apps to start learning piano.

Learning to play the piano through an app can be fun for kids and a time-saver for their parents. Instead of spending a few hours a day running kids to piano lessons across town, your kids can use that time to practice piano. 

Apps are designed to be fun and friendly. Most of them prepare material in simple soundbites. The child can play through different skill-building exercises and piano pieces, then move on when they master a lesson. 

If your child loves playing video games, a piano app can be a fun and motivational tool for learning to play the piano. We’ve put together a list of the best piano applications for kids today.

How to find the best piano applications for you.

With so many piano apps for kids available, the choices can be overwhelming! Different piano apps focus on various skill levels and learning goals. Some are more game-oriented, and others put a greater emphasis on piano notes and theory.

The good news is there are plenty of options to choose from! The following criteria can help you narrow down your choices.

The five best piano applications for kids today.

1. Simply

The Simply Piano app is a well-known app popular with children and adults. The music selections range from pop songs on the radio to the classics.  You can learn where the notes are on the piano, how to read sheet music, and how to play the treble and bass clefs. 

This app is compatible with acoustic pianos, electric keyboards, and digital pianos. It uses a microphone to listen as you play and gives you valuable real-time feedback. This can help you recognize and correct your mistakes as you go. 

If you don’t have a piano yet, this app can still walk you through the basics. The Touch Course allows a phone to serve as a backup piano that a child can take with them on the go. 

With the Simply Piano app, you can even purchase a family package. The whole family can learn piano on personalized profiles at a reduced rate.

Playing the piano has never been easier with this piano app. With over ten million downloads, Simply Piano is one of the most popular apps on today’s market. 

2. Flowkey

Flowkey is a simple yet comprehensive learning platform for kids. This app includes piano theory, some history of the instrument, and a good selection of tunes to play on the piano. 

Flowkey is helpful for both beginning piano students and those with more advanced skills. Kids can build their repertoire as they play and master various songs in the program. 

Whether you have an acoustic piano or a MIDI keyboard, this app can keep your fingers on the right keys. It uses a microphone to listen to the notes you play and lets you know when you strike a wrong chord. 

You can watch videos to learn more about the piano and play along with the music on your device. The Flowkey app works on both Android and iOS devices and is a great supplemental learning tool for children enrolled in piano lessons.

3. Pianokids

Pianokids target a younger audience. It uses simple practice exercises to teach kids notes —breaking down simple music lessons with educational games and puzzles. 

Young children play music and games directly on a tablet or phone. You can also print off worksheets from the app. The Pianokids app inspires a love of music in children and teaches them short soundbites of information. 

If you are looking for a way to introduce your child to music early, this app can be a fun-packed way for a kid to learn.

4. Gismart Piano

Gismart Piano can be a fun tool for kids who love to learn through play. This app turns a phone into a piano keyboard and uses games to teach your child piano.

 Even if your child isn’t familiar with music or keyboards, they can still play along with the app’s guidance. Kids can choose to play games or record their own songs. 

Gismart Piano allows a child to experiment with sounds in different octaves on the piano or other instruments. Some sounds that the app includes are the grand piano, guitar, harpsichord, organ, and accordion.

This app is more of a game than an instructional program. However, through games and experimentation with sounds, your child can develop a love for music that can spark a life-long interest in the piano.

5. Playground Sessions

With Playground Sessions, kids start in Bootcamp to learn the basics. Bootcamp takes a kid from ground-level skills to advanced levels. 

Once kids succeed in a level, they can unlock more learning tools and games to advance. Each child gets a score and points for their performance to mark their progress on a level. Your kid can even compete against others as they level up.

This app includes the opportunity for supplemental courses, in-depth theory, and improvisation. 

It can be a good fit for kids who love a challenge and competition.

However, unlike other apps, Playground Sessions is exclusive to MIDI keyboards and is incompatible with acoustic pianos. 

Download an app, and your kid can start playing today!

Apps can be a fun way for kids to learn piano. These kid-oriented platforms allow kids to succeed without the fear of failure. You can combine an app with in-person lessons or allow your child to be the master of their progress. 

For more ideas on encouraging your child’s learning experience, you can also check out this Ultimate Guide to Beginner Piano Lessons for Kids. 

Download your app of choice, and your child can start learning to play piano today! 

FAQs.

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Want to get your witch on? We’ve broken down some of your favorite musical themes from Harry Potter for beginners. 

The Harry Potter feature films are filled with magical music. They’re crafted with just the right amount of charm and suspense, drawing you into a world where broomsticks fly, potions make you fall in love, and diaries carry evil spirits. 

Musically, the Harry Potter soundtrack is complex, especially for beginners. But with your natural knack for sounds and sorcery, you will surely succeed! Pull out your wand and wander into the wonderful world of wizardry with this guide to Harry Potter sheet music for piano. 

Hedwig’s Theme.

Here is an excerpt from the sheet music for Hedwig’s Theme–one of the most popular musical motifs from the Harry Potter films. 

As you can see, this music is in the ⅜ time signature3/8, meaning that there are three eighth notes per bar. It’s also in the G major key which includes the following notes: G, A, B, C, D, E, F#.

Before diving into this sheet music, it’s essential to practice the fundamentals. Here is an exercise that trains your brain and your wand (I mean, fingers) to play in G major and 3/8:

1. Place the metronome on 125bpm in the time signature 3/8.
2. Now play the G major scale in time with the metronome–one note per click.
3. Once that feels comfortable, change up the pattern. Play three notes in a row, and then go back one note. For example, GAB, ABC, BCD, CDE, and so on. 
4. When this is sitting well, take the metronome up to 140bpm. 

Nimbus 2000.

This is one of the more upbeat and light-hearted themes in the Harry Potter films. To play this theme with the right energy, we have to learn about two musical terms: staccato and accent. 

Staccato means ‘detached’ in Italian. On the piano, this is when you play each note short and sharp, lifting your hand off the keys between each one. In music notation, it gets a small dot above the circle or head of the note. You can see them pictured on all of the notes below:

An accent is when you emphasize a note with volume and intensity. You can see it in the above sheet music with a small arrow symbol above the note head.

We recommend isolating these music techniques before you start to learn the Nimbus 2000 theme. Try the following exercise to practice playing notes staccato and with accents:

1. Put the metronome on 100 bpm in a 4/4 time signature. Play a C major scale with your right hand, one note per click.
2. Now play it again, this time making the last four notes of the scale staccato. Press lightly, but with presence, on the keys. Lift your hand slightly between each note.
3. Now turn the tempo up to 120bpm. Play the whole C major scale staccato. 
4. Play it again, accenting the first and fifth degrees of the scale. Press a little harder on these notes, and lean into the key more. Make sure the notes before and after are shorter and gentler but still staccato. 
5. If that feels comfortable, try accenting every second note of the scale. Then, every third note. 

Potter Waltz.

There’s nothing like a waltz to get your wand waving! This is a classic Harry Potter theme from the fourth movie, famous for its appearance in the ballroom scenes. A waltz is a musical form that is always in a 3/4 time signature and follows a specific pattern. 

Looking at the bass clef (lower staff) in the sheet music excerpt below, you can see that the left hand is playing a broken chord, with the root note on the first beat, and two other notes on beats two and three. 

This is a simple pattern to practice and an essential one for playing any kind of waltz. Here is an easy exercise for mastering this musical style:

1. Let’s play in the key of D major because this is the key of the Potter Waltz. We can choose four chords from the D major scale: D major, G major, E minor, and A major. 
2. Play each chord on its own, in root position (eg: D, F#, A or G, B, D).
3. Put your metronome on 100bpm in a 3/4 time signature. Now play the whole chord progression in time, playing each chord three times along with the metronome clicks. 
4. When this feels comfortable, separate the lowest note of each chord from the upper two. Play the low note on beat one (with your thumb), and the upper two together on beats two and three (with your middle and pinky fingers). For example, the chord D major would look something like this:

5. If this feels good, take the tempo up to 120bpm. Then, try it in your left hand. 

Don’t forget to sing your incantations.

The best way to learn and internalize music is to sing it aloud. Reading notes and understanding musical symbols is essential, but this shouldn’t come at the expense of developing our musical ear. 

Make sure you listen to the Harry Potter themes you want to learn, practice singing them back, and even sing along while you play. This will make your playing more musical, and more intuitive and help you acquire useful tools so that your Harry Potter experience carries through into other music you want to learn. Don’t just make a wish–say a spell! 

Find more cinematic sheet music on our Simply Piano app, that practically sits with you at the piano and teaches you to play.

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The 7 Best Songs With Unique Time Signatures

Time signatures and measures make the difference between being an awesome musician and knowing how to play a bunch of notes in a row. By changing the timing of our notes, we create that “musical” sound that gives what we play a unique personality.

Unusual time signatures can help musicians even further, combining familiar notes and beats in crazy new ways to make incredible new sounds and songs. Some of the most legendary artists and bands in history have used these time signatures to make one of a kind beats that are recognizable for their unique sound. Check out our 7 favorite songs with unusual time signatures!

Rush – Tom Sawyer (⅞ time)

Rush is one of the most famous Canadian bands in history, and “Tom Sawyer” is arguably their best-known song, featuring a great combination of standard 4/4 beats and a great instrumental breakdown in a ⅞ time signature that makes the song a powerful and exceptional rock anthem.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auLBLk4ibAk[/embedyt]

Pink Floyd – Money (7/4 time)

Featuring what is easily one of the most recognizable bass riffs in classic rock, Pink Floyd’s “Money” is a perfect example of unusual measures. The song’s bouncy bassline leads the band on a great 7/4 time signature that gives “Money” an unmistakable swagger, and a great jazzy feel.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0kcet4aPpQ[/embedyt]

The Beatles – Happiness Is a Warm Gun (4/4, 5/5, 9/8, 10/8, and on and on)

This is undoubtedly one of the Beatles’ most eccentric songs, featuring mood changes and musical styles that range from doo-wop to rock to pop.  The track features a dizzying series of changing time signatures that give each section of the song such a distinct feel from the others.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zei3xnivwFk[/embedyt]

Outkast – Hey Ya! (Emulates an 11/4 time)

While this is actually cheating, since “Hey Ya!” is technically in a 4/4 time, Andre 3000’s masterful use of a standard time signature actually gives “Hey Ya!” it’s catchy, unforgettable beat. The song uses what’s known as a cadential phrase, which combines a series of measures to create what seems like a continuous measure on a distinct signature.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWgvGjAhvIw[/embedyt]

Radiohead – 15 step (5/4 Time)

The opening song to Radiohead’s classic In Rainbows, “15 Step” applies a rarely utilized 5/4 time signature that gives the song a strangely syncopated sound. The song maintains the beat throughout, making for a high-energy romp in electronic rock.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7UKu8s84S0[/embedyt]

MGMT – Electric Feel (6/4 time)

MGMT’s laid back “Electric Feel” uses a non-standard 6/4 time signature, creating some great effects. The unusual measure gives the song a bouncing that feels like taking a walk down 70s disco lane while the drums keep it strongly grounded in modern electronica.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmZexg8sxyk[/embedyt]

Led Zeppelin – The Ocean (4/4+⅞ time)

Not one of Led Zeppelin’s best-known tracks, the song still features a fascinating drum beat that perfectly complements Jimmy Page’s unorthodox guitar riffs. The song’s unusual ⅞ measures are used to build a combination of blues and Led Zeppelin’s trademark heavy rock sound.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsKJlZi04I0[/embedyt]

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