Beethoven composed his 9th Symphony (based upon a poem called Ode to Joy by Frederic Schiller) when he was in his late forties. Of course, at that time he had already gone completely deaf. He was only able to "hear his notes" by putting the body of his piano, sans legs, on a hardwood floor and "feeling" the vibrations of the notes.

What I have found fascinating in my study of music throughout my life is that the truly great music is actually based on very simple progressions of notes. The melodies that you find yourself humming or whistling to yourself are these simple melodies. And I've fo...