Schulz's use of Beethoven's musical scores in the comic strip was groundbreaking in three ways:
1. He was committed to accuracy: "Sometimes drawing the musical scores that Schroeder plays can be very tedious," Schulz once commented, "but I love the pattern that the notes make on the page. I have always tried to be authentic in this matter."
2. Schulz often did not identify the music in the strips, thereby playfully setting up a game of "name that tune" for his readers.
3. In Schulz's most sophisticated strips, those readers who recognize what the music is and what it symbolizes have a richer appreciation of the strips' meanings.