Can I play from the hymnal on trumpet, clarinet or sax?

Not as printed. A hymnal is in concert pitch, so a B♭ trumpet or clarinet reading it sounds a step lower than the organ, and an alto sax a sixth lower. You need a part written for your instrument, like the ones on these pages, or you transpose as you read.

Why are the trumpet and flute pages in different keys?

So they sound the same. Each part is written in the key that makes it sound in the hymn's key: Amazing Grace in G for flute sounds the same as Amazing Grace in A for B♭ trumpet.

Are these hymns free to use?

Yes. The tunes were all printed long before 1930 and are in the public domain, and these melody pages are ours, released as CC0. Each page names the hymnal it follows.

Can ScoreLens read a page from my hymnal?

Not well yet. A hymnal page has four voices on two staves, and ScoreLens reads one line on one staff. It does read a printed melody or instrumental part.

Library

Hymn melodies for your instrument

Six well-known hymn tunes, melody only, for violin, cello, flute, B♭ clarinet, B♭ trumpet, E♭ alto sax and F horn. The B♭, E♭ and F parts are in written pitch, so every version sounds in the same key. Each page plays in your browser: slow it down, loop a line, play along.

Amazing Grace · NEW BRITAIN

John Newton's words were printed in 1779. The tune, NEW BRITAIN, is an anonymous American folk melody, first printed in Columbian Harmony in 1829. William Walker set Newton's words to it in his Southern Harmony in 1835.

Amazing Grace: versions by instrument
Instrument	Written in	Sounds in
Violin	G major	G major
Cello	G major	G major
Flute	G major	G major
Clarinet	A major	G major
Trumpet	A major	G major
Alto Sax	E major	G major
French Horn	D major	G major

Holy, Holy, Holy · NICAEA

Reginald Heber's words were published in 1826. John Bacchus Dykes wrote the tune for them, and the two were first printed together in Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1861.

Holy, Holy, Holy: versions by instrument
Instrument	Written in	Sounds in
Violin	D major	D major
Cello	D major	D major
Flute	D major	D major
Clarinet	E major	D major
Trumpet	E major	D major
Alto Sax	B major	D major
French Horn	A major	D major

Be Thou My Vision · SLANE

SLANE is an old Irish folk tune, printed in Patrick W. Joyce's Old Irish Folk Music and Songs in 1909 with the ballad “With My Love on the Road”. It became a hymn tune when David Evans arranged it for “Be Thou My Vision” in the Church Hymnary of 1927.

Be Thou My Vision: versions by instrument
Instrument	Written in	Sounds in
Violin	E♭ major	E♭ major
Cello	E♭ major	E♭ major
Flute	E♭ major	E♭ major
Clarinet	F major	E♭ major
Trumpet	F major	E♭ major
Alto Sax	C major	E♭ major
French Horn	B♭ major	E♭ major

It Is Well with My Soul · VILLE DU HAVRE

Horatio Spafford wrote the words late in 1873, after his daughters died when the French liner Ville du Havre sank. His friend Philip P. Bliss wrote the tune, named it after the ship, and published it in Gospel Hymns No. 2 in 1876.

It Is Well with My Soul: versions by instrument
Instrument	Written in	Sounds in
Violin	C major	C major
Cello	C major	C major
Flute	C major	C major
Clarinet	D major	C major
Trumpet	D major	C major
Alto Sax	A major	C major
French Horn	G major	C major

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing · NETTLETON

Robert Robinson wrote the words in 1758. The tune first appeared, with no composer's name, in John Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second, in 1813. It is named after the evangelist Asahel Nettleton, though there is no evidence that he wrote it.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing: versions by instrument
Instrument	Written in	Sounds in
Violin	E♭ major	E♭ major
Cello	E♭ major	E♭ major
Flute	E♭ major	E♭ major
Clarinet	F major	E♭ major
Trumpet	F major	E♭ major
Alto Sax	C major	E♭ major
French Horn	B♭ major	E♭ major

O God, Our Help in Ages Past · ST. ANNE

The tune is credited to William Croft and was first printed in 1708, in A Supplement to the New Version. It is probably named after St Anne's Church in Soho, London, where Croft was organist.

O God, Our Help in Ages Past: versions by instrument
Instrument	Written in	Sounds in
Violin	C major	C major
Cello	C major	C major
Flute	C major	C major
Clarinet	D major	C major
Trumpet	D major	C major
Alto Sax	A major	C major
French Horn	G major	C major

Questions

Can I play from the hymnal on trumpet, clarinet or sax?: Not as printed. A hymnal is in concert pitch, so a B♭ trumpet or clarinet reading it sounds a step lower than the organ, and an alto sax a sixth lower. You need a part written for your instrument, like the ones on these pages, or you transpose as you read.
Why are the trumpet and flute pages in different keys?: So they sound the same. Each part is written in the key that makes it sound in the hymn's key: Amazing Grace in G for flute sounds the same as Amazing Grace in A for B♭ trumpet.
Are these hymns free to use?: Yes. The tunes were all printed long before 1930 and are in the public domain, and these melody pages are ours, released as CC0. Each page names the hymnal it follows.
Can ScoreLens read a page from my hymnal?: Not well yet. A hymnal page has four voices on two staves, and ScoreLens reads one line on one staff. It does read a printed melody or instrumental part.

Transposing, explained

Why the trumpet part is in a different key, with a chart you can listen to: concert pitch and written pitch, and a printable transposition chart.

More to play

Easy pieces such as Ode to Joy, and études, each playing the same way.

Hear your own part before Sunday.

Photograph a printed melody or instrumental part, and ScoreLens plays it back, slower or in another key. It reads one line on one staff; full hymnal pages and handwriting are out of reach for now.